Common law liability.-Section 108 (c) of the reported bill provides that compliance with any Federal motor vehicle safety standard does not exempt a person from any liability under common law. It is intended, and this subsection specifically establishes, that compliance with safety standards is not to be a defense or otherwise to affect the rights of parties under common law particularly those relating to warranty, contract, and tort liability. It follows that noncompliance even though exempt under paragraph (2) of subsection (b) of this section will not excuse any person from otherwise applicable legal liability. The centralized, mass production, high volume character of the motor vehicle manufacturing industry in the United States requires that motor vehicle safety standards be not only strong and adequately enforced, but that they be uniform throughout the country. At the same time, the committee believes that the States should be free to adopt standards identical to the Federal standards, which apply only to the first sale of a new vehicle, so that the States may play a significant role in the vehicle safety field by applying and enforcing standards over the life of the car. Accordingly, State standards are preempted only if they differ from Federal standards applicable to the particular aspect of the vehicle or item of vehicle equipment (sec. 104). The States are also permitted to set more stringent requirements for purposes of their own procurement. Moreover, the Federal minimum safety standards need not be interpreted as restricting State common law standards of care. Compliance with such standards would thus not necessarily shield any person from product liability at common law. Executive Communications Contains nothing helpful. As Introduced As H.R. 13228 in the House and S. 3005 in the Senate: contains no comparable provision. |