Executive Summary

We expect 2014 to be a busy year in the area of NHTSA rulemaking and enforcement. The agency is set to push forward on a number of fronts, including: 1) development of policy and rulemaking in the areas of advanced crash avoidance technologies, autonomous vehicles, and driver distraction, and 2) implementing recently adopted enhancements to its recall processes. Moreover, we expect the agency to continue its aggressive enforcement posture, buoyed by the recent doubling of the statutory civil penalty maximum. As a consequence, manufacturers are urged to review and update (or adopt) safety compliance policies to help reduce their compliance risk. Manufacturers are encouraged to implement regulatory monitoring programs to ensure they are up-to-date on the latest agency regulatory and enforcement activities.

We expect to see significant activity in the areas of driverless/autonomous vehicles and crash avoidance technologies, distracted driving, enhancements to recall processes, and aggressive enforcement.

1. DRIVERLESS/AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES AND CRASH AVOIDANCE TECHNOLOGIES

Over the last several years, NHTSA has been carefully studying the safety benefits of various advanced crash avoidance. The agency has been particularly focused on warning technologies, such as blind spot detection and advanced lighting; intervention technologies, such as lane departure prevention, crash imminent braking (CIB), and dynamic brake support (DBS); and automatic pedestrian detection and braking. Agency research has been focused on light vehicles (passenger cars and light trucks) and heavy-duty trucks and buses.

The agency has also been studying vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications as a way to improve the effectiveness and availability of these safety systems. The agency will assess the research data, technologies, and potential countermeasures and is expected to decide on next steps during the next year. If cost-justified, the agency could propose to require that vehicles be equipped with one or more of these technologies.

NHTSA also has been actively researching autonomous vehicles in an effort to position itself to regulate them if (when) they become commercially available. The agency will continue to devote substantial resources in this area during the next year and beyond.

Suppliers should be following these developments closely. Those that may be impacted by the adoption of safety standards in any of the above areas must be prepared to comment on agency proposals and to meet with NHTSA staff to share their views. In fact, manufacturers need not wait for a proposal before providing input, as the agency would welcome prerulemaking (research stage) input from manufacturers.

2. DISTRACTED DRIVING

In April 2013, NHTSA adopted the first phase of its three-phase federal guidelines intended to address driver distraction from in-vehicle electronics. The first phase applies to original equipment in-vehicle electronic devices used by the driver to perform secondary tasks (e.g., communications, entertainment, information gathering, navigation tasks, etc.) through visual manual means. During 2014 and beyond, we expect the agency to proceed with its planned subsequent phases, which will cover: 1) portable and aftermarket devices and 2) auditory-vocal interfaces. Although these are "voluntary" federal guidelines, they are expected to strongly influence the design and performance of such systems in future model years. Therefore, suppliers whose products could be impacted should monitor the agency's activities in this area and be prepared to comment on any proposals.

3. ENHANCEMENTS TO THE RECALL PROCESSES

The next year will also bring enhancements to NHTSA's recall processes and procedures, which are contained in an August 20, 2013 final rule. Some of these were mandated by Congress in the MAP-21 amendments to the Safety Act, and others were prompted by NHTSA's review of its recall management processes. Upcoming changes include:

  • Electronic submission of all defect/noncompliance notifications through a NHTSA-operated web-based portal. This should significantly streamline the NHTSA review process and expedite public dissemination of recall information by the agency.
  • All larger-volume vehicle manufacturers — 25,000 or more per year for light vehicles and 5,000 or more per year for motorcycles — must provide a VIN-lookup tool on their websites (or on a third-party website) to enable consumers to determine the recall status of their vehicles.
  • Updates to defect notice and owner letter content and new markings on envelopes used for owner notifications.

4. AGGRESSIVE ENFORCEMENT

NHTSA has been aggressively enforcing its recall regulations these past few years and we expect this to continue. Effective July 2013, the statutory civil penalty maximum for violating NHTSA's recall regulations has doubled to $35 million. The agency has asserted the previous maximum penalty at least five times since 2010 (from $16,375,000 to $17,350,000, depending upon the year).

Since 2010, NHTSA settled allegations of untimely recalls at least eight times, imposing the maximum penalty against Toyota four times and Ford once, and settling for less than the maximum, but still in substantial amounts, with Volvo, BMW, and Prevost ($1.5 million, $3 million, and $1.5 million, respectively).

To reduce compliance risks, all vehicle and parts manufacturers should have in place safety compliance policies that provide internal guidance to company personnel for identifying and investigating potential safety defects or noncompliances, and for complying with all associated NHTSA reporting requirements (e.g., safety recall reporting, early warning reporting, and monthly submission of certain communications sent to two or more customers, manufacturers, dealers, and distributors). It is also critical that relevant personnel are trained to the policy.

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