in effect
This is a correction to a final rule issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), part of the U.S. Department of Transportation. It fixes an error in an earlier final rule (published January 7, 2025) that updated the federal safety standards for child car seats and their vehicle anchor points. The original rule accidentally left out the deadline by which car seats had to meet its new requirements, and this document fills in that missing deadline. It takes effect March 20, 2025.
The correction adds the compliance date that was omitted: amendments to the child restraint systems standard (FMVSS No. 213b) apply to car seats manufactured on or after January 8, 2028. Car seat makers may comply earlier if they choose, but are not required to before that date. For seats made before January 8, 2028, older label wording is still allowed (for example, saying “top anchorage strap” instead of “tether strap”), while the new labeling, marking, and terminology rules become mandatory for seats made on or after that date. One separate requirement — a 165 mm limit on the length of the tether hardware assembly — applies to seats manufactured on or after January 8, 2025. The correction does not change the separate phase-in schedule for the vehicle anchorage standard (FMVSS No. 225), which still starts September 1, 2028 (20 percent), rises to 50 percent in 2029 and 100 percent on and after September 1, 2030.
Child restraint (car seat) manufacturers are the main parties affected, since they now have a firm deadline and specific labeling, marking, and terminology rules tied to when a seat is made. Vehicle manufacturers are affected by the related anchorage standard (FMVSS No. 225), whose timeline is unchanged here. Parents and other consumers are affected indirectly, through the wording and pictograms on car seat labels meant to make lower anchors and tethers easier to use correctly.