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Senate Passed Act

Congressional Record-Senate
June 24, 1966, 14256

Definitions

SEC. 101. As used in this title

(a) "Motor vehicle safety" means the performance of motor vehicles or motor vehicle equipment in such a manner that the public is protected against unreasonable risk of accidents occurring as a result of the design or construction of motor vehicles and is also protected against unreasonable risk of death or injury to persons in the event accidents do occur, and includes nonoperational safety of such vehicles.

(b) "Motor

vehicle safety standard" means a minimum standard for motor vehicle performance, or motor vehicle equipment performance, which is practicable, which meets the need for motor vehicle safety and which provides objective criteria.

(c) "Motor vehicle" means any vehicle driven or drawn by mechanical power primarily for use on the public roads, streets, and highways, other than (1) a vehicle subject to safety regulations under part II of the Interstate Commerce Act, as amended (49 U.S.C. 301 et seq.), or under the Transportation of Explosives Act as amended (18 U.S.C. 831-835), and (2) a vehicle or car operated exclusively on a rail or rails.

(d) "Motor vehicle equipment" means any system, part, or component of a motor vehicle as originally manufactured or any similar part or component manufactured or sold for replacement or improvement of such system, part, or component or as an accessory, or addition to the motor vehicle.

(e) "Manufacturer" means any person engaged in the manufacturing or assembling of motor vehicles or motor vehicle equipment, including any person importing motor vehicles or motor vehicle equipment for resale.

(f) "Distributor" means any person engaged in the sale and distribution of motor vehicles or motor vehicle equipment for resale.

(g) "Dealer" means any person who is engaged in the sale and distribution of new motor vehicles or motor vehicle equipment primarily to purchasers who in good faith purchase any such vehicle or equipment for purposes other than resale.

(h) "State" includes each of the several States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, the Canal Zone, and American Samoa.

(1) "Interstate commerce" means commerce between any place in a State and any place in another State, or between places in the same State through another State.

(1) "Secretary" means Secretary of Commerce.

(k) "Person" means an individual, partnership, corporation, association, or other form of business enterprise.

(1) "Defect" includes any defect in design, construction, components, or materials in motor vehicles or motor vehicle equipment.

(m) "United States district courts" means the Federal district courts of the United States and the United States courts of the Commonwealth of Putero Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, the Canal Zone, and American Samoa.

(n) "Vehicle Equipment Safety Commission" means the Commission established pursuant to the joint resolution of the Congress relating to highway trafic safety, approved August 20, 1958 (72 Stat. 635), or as it may be hereafter reconstituted by law.

Senate Debate

Congressional Record-Senate
June 24, 1966, 14230

Mr. MAGNUSON.

Then the question of trucks arises agricultural exempt trucks, common carrier trucks, private carrier trucks, which are now under the ICC. We left the authority for safety standards-which are good in the common carrier field-with the ICC, actually considering the size, weight, and the necessity of the speeds they must make to handle the great transportation system of this country.

I guess that, pound for pound, as much as technology can devise, the common carrier is as safe as it can be made.

I know there is no one within the sound of my voice who would not agree with me that probably some of the best drivers on the highways are truckdrivers. They are the most courteous and helpful. They have vehicles which in themselves are great, big, juggernauts which are

capable of creating great destruction and hazards; but, technologically, they are as safe as they can be made by the ICC under its standards.

Let me read from the report: The act thus covers not only passenger cars but buses, trucks, and motorcycles.

The bill excludes, however, those buses and trucks which are subject to safety regulation by the Interstate Commerce Commis sion (sec. 101(c)), although it is anticipated that should the proposed new Department be created

And the proposal provides that— safety regulation of all trucks and buses will be transferred to the Secretary of Transportation.

Such regulations would be covered by that Department.

When we come to agriculture-exempt trucks, and private carriers, over which the ICC still has jurisdiction as to minimum standards, there has been some question about the Department's having enough inspectors to do the job which we should like it to do. I doubt if it could be done wholly. But the example will be set by this bill so that manufacturers of trucks will themselves establish minimum standards. They are already doing it. Many trucks are custom built. They are built for a purpose. There would be variations in construction.

Congressional Record-Senate
June 24, 1966, 14231

Mr. RIBICOFF.

Safety standards prescribed under the terms of this bill would be intended to protect the American public from unreasonable risk of accidents occurring as a result of motor vehicle design or construction and also from unreasonable risk of death and injury should an accident occur. The Commerce Committee

rightly saw fit to extend this definition to nonoperational safety aspects of motor vehicles so that it covers such items as a faulty jack that slips and injures a motorist changing a tire, or an improperly designed hood or trunk lid which falls and injures someone.

Congressional Record-Senate
June 24, 1966, 14221
Mr. MAGNUSON.

Yet the committee was presented with graphic evidence that the interior design of many 1966 model cars reveal interiors bristling with rigid tubes, angles, knobs, sharp instruments, and heavy metal of small radius of curvature. While such objects are sometimes placed and shaped as they are for the convenience of driver and passenger, substantial safety improvement could be achieved without inconvenience to the car occupants.

The committee was likewise made aware of the substantial needless hazards to pedestrians presented by external fins, ornamental protrusions, sharp edges, stylistically angled bumpers.

Finally, motor vehicles can also be a source of injury to people when the vehicle is not in use as a vehicle. Thousands of minor injuries, and some major ones, occur in entering and exiting the vehicle, and during the service and maintenance of the vehicle. Many of these injuries can be avoided or diminished in severity by careful design, such as the common “hand caught in the door" accidents, engine compartment hoods falling, vehicles slipping off jacks, and burns from engine components.

Congressional Record-Senate

August 31, 1966, 21486 and 21487

Mr. MAGNUSON.

Thus, the conferees adopted the House treatment of trucks and buses, which clarified the Secretary's authority to set standards for all trucks and buses, but preserved the authority of the ICC to require the addition of nonstructural safety features subsequent to manufacture.

I yield to the Senator from Michigan. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Does the Senator from Maryland yield to the Senator from Michigan?

Mr. TYDINGS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I may yield to the Senator from Michigan without losing my right to the floor.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The Senator from Michigan is recognized.

Mr. HART. Mr. President, I have just two points on which I should like to hear the reaction of the able chairman of the committee. The first has to do with the

standards that would be applied in the

instances of trucks and buses.

Would not the Secretary, in setting the initial standards for trucks and buses, generally have to follow the existing ICC safety regulations?

Mr. MAGNUSON. Presumably the Secretary would have to rely, at least at the beginning, heavily upon the ICC standards. Of course, he is not limited to them. He may use any existing standards applicable to trucks or buses.

Mr. HART. Does the chairman know of any existing safety standards for trucks and buses except the ICC regulations?

Mr. MAGNUSON. No, I do not; and as the Senator knows, the ICC regulations are quite strict. Offhand I do not know of any. GSA regulations might apply to some light trucks that are used by the Government, but they would apply to only that type of vehicle.

Mr. HART. Realizing the shortness of time between now and the end of January of next year, when the initial standards must be issued, and realizing, as the Senator says, that the ICC regulations appear to be, if not the only ones, certainly the most complete existing standards for trucks and buses

Mr. MAGNUSON. And they are the result of long experience by the ICC in connection with safety regulations.

Mr. HART. Indeed; and, additionally, the fact that manufacturers are now following those regulations in the production of buses and trucks-in view of those facts, is it not to be expected that the Secretary would use the ICC regulations as at least the general basis for his initial set of standards for trucks and buses?

Mr. MAGNUSON. I think that would

be a very reasonable expectation. At least to begin with.

Mr. HART. In any event, the Secretary would be under the obligation to insure that they be, as the bill now reads, "reasonable, practicable, and appropriate for the particular vehicle."

Mr. MAGNUSON. Yes; that is correct.

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Senate Committee Report

Senate Report 1301, Pages 2, 3, and 5

Until the industry had been subjected to the prod of heightened 2 public interest and governmental concern, new models showed little improvement in safe design or in the incorporation of safety devices. Such elemental safe design features as safety door latches made their

appearance as standard equipment only a decade after their desirability and feasibility had been established.

As late as 1959, in testimony before a committee of Congress, the chairman of the Automotive Manufacturer's Association's Engineering Advisory Committee was still resisting the suggestion that seat belt fittings be made standard equipment on all automobiles.

For too many years, the public's proper concern over the safe 3 driving habits and capacity of the driver (the "nut behind the wheel") was permitted to overshadow the role of the car itself. The "second collision"-the impact of the individual within the vehicle against the steering wheel, dashboard, windshield, etc.-has been largely neglected. The committee was greatly impressed by the critical distinction between the causes of the accident itself and causes of the resulting death or injury. Here, the design of the vehicle as well as the public willingness to use safety devices, such as seat belts, are the critical factors. Recessed dashboard instruments and the use of seat belts can mean the difference between a bruised forehead and a fractured skull.

The committee heard compelling testimony that passenger cars can be designed and constructed so as to afford substantial protection against the "second collision" for both driver and passenger; further, that some of these design changes can be achieved at little or no additional manufacturing cost.

Yet the committee was presented with graphic evidence that the' interior design of many 1966 model cars reveal interiors bristling with rigid tubes, angles, knobs, sharp instruments, and heavy metal of small radius of curvature. While such objects are sometimes placed and shaped as they are for the convenience of driver and passenger, substantial safety improvement could be achieved without inconvience to the car occupants.

The committee was likewise made aware of the substantial needless hazards to pedestrians presented by external fins, ornamental protrusions, sharp edges, stylistically angled bumpers.

Finally, motor vehicles can also be a source of injury to people when the vehicle is not in use as a vehicle. Thousands of minor injuries, and some major ones, occur in entering and exiting the vehicle, and during the service and maintenance of the vehicle. Many of these injuries can be avoided or diminished in severity by careful design, such as the common "hand caught in the door" accidents, engine compartment hoods falling, vehicles slipping off jacks, and burns from engine components.

SCOPE OF THE BILL

The critical definitions which delimit the scope of the bill are those 5 of "motor vehicle" and "motor vehicle safety."

"Motor vehicle" for purposes of coverage of the act is defined as "any vehicle driven or drawn by mechanical power primarily for use on the public roads, streets, and highways * **" *" (sec. 101 (c)). The act thus covers not only passenger cars but buses, trucks, and motorcycles. The bill excludes, however, those buses and trucks which are subject to safety regulation by the Interstate Commerce Commission (sec.

101(c)), although it is anticipated that should the proposed new Department of Transportation be created, safety regulation of all trucks and buses will be transferred to the Secretary of Transportation. In the interim, to avoid the imposition of dual standards on these vehicles, the bill requires that the Secretary not adopt standards which differ in substance from applicable safety regulations issued by the ICC (sec. 103(g)).

"Motor vehicle safety" is defined as "the performance of motor vehicles or motor vehicle equipment in such a manner that the public is protected against unreasonable risk of accident occurring as the result of the design or construction of motor vehicles; and is also protected against unreasonable risk of death or injury to persons in the event accidents do occur, and includes nonoperational safety of such vehicles" (sec. 101(a)).

Thus the bill is intended to reach not only the safety of driver, passenger, and pedestrian, but the safety of those who must work with or otherwise come in contact with the vehicle while it is not operating.

Executive Communications

Contains nothing helpful.

As Introduced

As H.R. 13228 in the House and S. 3005 in the Senate:

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(a) "Motor vehicle safety" means the performance of 11 motor vehicles or motor vehicle equipment in such a manner 12 that the public is protected against unreasonable risk of 13 accidents occurring as a result of the design of motor vehicles 14 and is also protected against unreasonable risk of death, 15 injury or property damage in the event accidents do occur. (b) "Motor vehicle safety standard" means a minimum 17 standard for motor vehicle performance, or motor vehicle

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