in effect
This is a final rule from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), part of the Department of Transportation. It cleans up the federal vehicle safety standards by deleting outdated text — mainly from the side-impact crash standard (FMVSS No. 214) — and fixing cross-references in two related standards so they no longer point to sections that are being removed.
NHTSA is removing, reserving, or rewriting a list of obsolete paragraphs in the side-impact standard, and adds a written-out definition of “raised roof” because the standard it used to borrow that definition from (FMVSS No. 216) is being removed by a separate action. Two standards for newer vehicle types — electric-powered vehicles (FMVSS No. 305a) and hydrogen-fueled vehicles (FMVSS No. 307) — are edited so their crash-test setup instructions reference only the still-valid section (S7.2.2) instead of the deleted ones (S7.1.1 and S7.2.1). The agency states these edits make no change to any actual requirement, because the deleted sections were already invalid. The rule takes effect July 6, 2026, and anyone wanting NHTSA to reconsider it had to file a petition by July 20, 2026. NHTSA skipped a fresh public comment period on the electric/hydrogen edits, calling them nonsubstantive housekeeping.
Motor vehicle manufacturers are the main audience, since these standards govern how vehicles are built and crash-tested — but because only obsolete language is being deleted, the rule imposes no new obligations or costs on them. NHTSA certified it will not have a significant economic impact on small businesses and is not a “major” rule. The general public sees no practical change to vehicle safety requirements from this action.