This bill directs the Secretary of Transportation to start a rulemaking to create a Federal motor vehicle safety standard to reduce injuries and deaths from "frontovers" and other low-speed incidents. A frontover is when a vehicle moving forward strikes someone in an area the driver cannot see. The rulemaking must begin within 1 year of enactment and the final standard must be issued within 1 year after the rulemaking starts. Full compliance must be required within 2 years after the final standard is issued. The rule must set a direct visibility standard and require detection of objects and people in the driver’s field of view and blind zones. The detection list includes motor vehicles, pedestrians (including toddlers and small children), bicyclists, vulnerable road users, wheelchair or assistive device users, micromobility or motorcycle riders, and other people, equipment, vehicles, or animals the Secretary identifies. The standard must require a driver notification system, an active intervention system, and distinct auditory and visual alerts (which may include haptic alerts) when those systems engage. The Secretary may set a short phase-in schedule but must still meet the overall compliance deadline. The bill also amends existing rule deadlines to require a final rule and a compliance date that lead to passenger vehicles sold on or after that compliance date being equipped with the required crash avoidance technologies. Separately, the bill requires the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Non-Traffic Surveillance (NTS) System to add elements for frontovers and backovers within 30 days of enactment, and the Secretary must notify Congress when that change is complete. If the final motor vehicle safety standard has not been promulgated as required, the Secretary must send Congress a report starting 2 years after enactment and every 90 days after that explaining the timeline, reasons for delay, and steps being taken.
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The bill states its purpose is to reduce injury and death to children and others, including vulnerable road users and pets, during frontovers and other low-speed incidents. It requires visibility, detection, notification, and intervention technologies and improved data reporting to help meet that goal.
No publicly available information.