View Rule

In accordance with section 32703(b)(2) of MAP-21, this rulemaking would require motorcoach advanced glazing and anti-ejection safety countermeasures. NHTSA is considering portal improvements, such as advanced glazing, to prevent partial and complete ejection of motorcoach passengers, including children. In prescribing such standards, NHTSA will consider the impact of such standards on the use of motorcoach portals as a means of emergency egress. In 2007, NHTSA published its Approach to Motorcoach Safety describing the agency´s comprehensive strategy to improve motorcoach safety. NHTSA´s approach to motorcoach safety included four priority areas: reducing the risk of passenger ejection by requiring seat belts, improving rollover structural integrity, enhancing emergency evacuation, and upgrading fire safety. The U.S. Department of Transportation´s (DOT) Motor Coach Safety Action Plan, issued in 2009 and updated in 2012, reasserted NHTSA´s 2007 plan to reduce the risk of motorcoach passenger ejection by implementing new test procedures and more stringent window retention performance requirements for passenger ejection mitigation.

Overall Description of Deadline: Subtitle G of MAP-21 titled "Motorcoach Enhanced Safety Act of 2012," includes section 32703(b)(2), which directs the Secretary of Transportation to prescribe regulations that address anti-ejection safety countermeasures, including advanced glazing within two years of the enactment of MAP-21, if such a standard meets the requirements and considerations set forth in subsections (a) and (b) of section 30111 of title 49, United States Code.