U.S. Legislative News

NAFA Weighs in on Rule to Exempt Glider Vehicle Kits

On November 9, 2017, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a proposed rule that seeks to exempt the glider industry from the Obama Administration’s medium-and-heavy-duty truck Phase 2 Greenhouse Gas Emission and Fuel Efficiency Standards. In its announcement, the EPA said that under its proposed interpretation of the Clean Air Act, it lacks the authority to regulate glider vehicles, glider vehicle engines, and glider vehicle kits.

On January 5, 2018, NAFA signed onto a Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) Coalition letter opposing the EPA’s proposal to rescind the provisions of the rule related to glider kits or new vehicles to be equipped with older, more polluting engines. The DERA Coalition, of which NAFA is a member, is a uniquely broad coalition of environmental, science-based, public health, commercial, and industry groups, which strongly support efforts to encourage diesel fleet modernization to the cleanest available diesel technology.

“The DERA Coalition supports the Phase 2 final rule restrictions on glider kits. Our members have worked together in support of technologies and programs that have resulted in the production and adoption of the cleanest and most fuel efficient diesel trucks ever. EPA’s decision to allow the growth of glider kits, encouraging the use of less clean engines and after-treatment technologies would undermine the substantial investments our member companies have made in clean diesel technology, and will make attainment of National Ambient Air Quality Standards even more difficult for local communities,” the letter stated.

Underride Guard Legislation Introduced

Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) have introduced legislation that will require the installation of front, rear, and side underride guards on all trailers, semitrailers, and single-unit trucks more than 10,000 pounds. Reps. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) and Mark DeSaulnier (D-Calif.) have introduced a similar bill in the House.

Under the Stop Underrides Act of 2017 (H.R. 4622/S. 2219), rear and side underride guards will be required and considered compliant if they prevent a passenger vehicle traveling 35 mph from driving underneath the trailer. For front underride guards, the U.S. Department of Transportation will be tasked to complete research on their ability to prevent trucks from overriding a passenger vehicle.

Underride guards will be subject to Commercial Vehicles Safety Alliance inspections to ensure compliance. Any driver not in compliance with underride guard rules, including guards in poor or unsafe conditions, will be placed out of service. Underride guards will also be subjected to pre-trip inspections.

Additionally, the Stop Underrides Act will establish the Committee of Underride Protection to oversee the rulemaking process. The committee will include truck and trailer manufacturers, motor vehicle engineers, motor vehicle crash reconstructionists, traffic safety organizations, public health professionals, and at least two people whose families have been affected by an underride crash.

The Stop Underrides Act of 2017 is endorsed by the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety and the National Safety Council. A copy of the bill can be found here. 

Takata Further Expands Air Bag Recall

Air bag maker Takata is recalling an additional 3.3 million faulty air bag inflators. This time the recall covers frontal air bags in certain 2009, 2010, and 2013 vehicles made by Honda, Toyota, Audi, BMW, Daimler Vans, Fiat Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Jaguar-Land Rover, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru, and Tesla. Automakers will provide specific models in paperwork that will be filed later this month with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

The latest recalls are part of the largest series of automotive recalls in U.S. history, with 19 automakers having to recall up to 69 million inflators in 42 million vehicles. Notices of the expanded recalls were posted January 6 on NHTSA’s website.

Many automakers have been slow to replace the potentially deadly inflators. A report by an independent monitor said that as of September 15, 2017, automakers have recalled 43.1 million inflators. Of those, only 18.5 million, or 43 percent, have been replaced. NHTSA has said the Takata recalls are unprecedented in size and complexity and have resulted in groundbreaking lessons that will help automakers reach their repair goals.

Consumer Safety Groups Take Issue over Voluntary Self-Driving Standards

Last fall, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) issued “Automated Driving Systems 2.0: A Vision for Safety,” a revised policy framework for self-driving cars. In the revised framework, the agency reversed course on the previous administration’s call for automakers to submit a safety assessment showing their self-driving cars meet a set of guidelines before they could place the cars on public roads. Instead, the updated guidance said automakers can choose to submit a voluntary 12-point safety self-assessment if they want to demonstrate to the public that their self-driving cars are safe.

Since then, only one developer, Google spinoff Waymo, has published a safety report. This suggests that the agency’s voluntary standards have failed, argue some consumer safety groups like Consumer Watchdog. “Without enforceable safety rules,” the group argued, “autonomous vehicle developers are using public highways as private laboratories to test their wares," said John Simpson, Consumer Watchdog's Privacy and Technology Project Director in a January 4 press release.

Upon release of the revised framework, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said that DOT and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) are already working on a “3.0” version that will be released in 2018 and offer an even more flexible approach to automated vehicle safety technologies.