Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 213a; Child Restraint Systems-Side Impact Protection; Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 213; Child Restraint Systems, Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 213b; Child Restraint Systems; Incorporation by Reference
Built by the Tribune's code from the Federal Register. No AI wrote this page. Published in the Federal Register Sept. 9, 2026. Document 2026-18380. Updated Nov. 6, 2026.
- What it does
This final rule amends the safety standards for child restraint systems (CRSs). NHTSA is amending Federal motor vehicle safety standard (FMVSS) No. 213a, "Child restraint systems--side impact protection," to exempt school bus CRSs from the standard's requirements as long as they meet specified labeling requirements; to delay the compliance date from June 30, 2025 to December 5, 2026; to amend the dummy selection requirements so that the Child Restraint Air Bag Interaction twelve-month-old test dummy (CRABI-12MO) will not be used to test forward-facing CRSs; and to amend positioning procedures for that dummy. The first two of these amendments are in response to petitions from CRS manufacturers. NHTSA is also amending FMVSS No. 213, "Child restraint systems" and FMVSS No. 213b, "Child restraint systems; Mandatory applicability beginning December 5, 2026," to exclude school bus CRSs from the requirements to provide attachments for connection to the vehicle's child restraint anchorage system and to change certain labeling requirements to reflect how school bus child restraints are used.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's summary, as published in the Federal Register.
- What changed in the regulation
1 part of Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations:
Wording on eCFR: the day before it took effect and from the day it took effect (first part listed).
- Compared with
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has published 23 final rules in 2026 so far, compared with 10 in all of 2025.
Counted by the Tribune from Federal Register records since Jan. 1, 2025.
- Before this
2 earlier Federal Register documents under regulation identifier 2127-AM62 since Jan. 1, 2025.
- July 2, 2025 Notice of enforcement discretion. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 213a; Child Restraint Systems-Side Impact Protection; Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 213; Child Restraint Systems, Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 213b; Child Restraint Systems
- May 30, 2025 Notice of proposed rulemaking; Grant of petitions for rulemaking and other proposals. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 213a; Child Restraint Systems-Side Impact Protection; Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 213; Child Restraint Systems, Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 213b; Child Restraint Systems
- What happens next and when
Effective date: The effective date of this final rule is October 9, 2026.
The agency's dates, word for word.
The record as published
| Document number | 2026-18380 |
|---|---|
| Action | Final rule; grant of petitions for rulemaking and other amendments. |
| Agencies | Transportation Department; National Highway Traffic Safety Administration |
| Published | Sept. 9, 2026 |
| Effective date | Oct. 9, 2026 |
| Regulation identifier (RIN) | 2127-AM62 |
| Docket | NHTSA-2025-0046 |
Source: the Federal Register (public domain). The document in the Federal Register