U.S. to issue new regulations on safety standards for motor vehicles

Recently, the United States notified the WTO Secretariat of the "Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard; Accelerator Control System" (G/TBT/N/USA/699).

In the announcement of the development of this safety standard, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) of the US Department of Transportation proposed to revise the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard for the Throttle Control System (ACS) in two ways. One is that NHTSA proposes a more comprehensive solution to the failure modes of electronic throttle control (ETC) systems and incorporates test procedures for hybrid vehicles and certain other vehicles into this safety standard. The second is NHTSA's proposal to add a new regulation on the brake priority system (ie the BTO system), which requires that brake signals be prioritized in the event of simultaneous depression of the brake and accelerator pedals. Brake priority proposals apply to new passenger vehicles with a rated gross vehicle weight of not more than 10,000 pounds (4,536 kilograms) and use electronic throttle control (ETC) systems, multi-purpose passenger vehicles, trucks, and buses.

The proposed approval date and proposed effective date of this notified regulation are to be determined.