National Traffic

and Motor Vehicle
Safety Act of 1966
As Amended

Legislative History

Volume IV
1985

U.S.Department of Transportation

National Highway Traffic Safety

Volume IV of this legislative history contains the documents related to the enactment of the "Motor Vehicle and Schoolbus Safety Amendments of 1974" and a section-by-section analysis of those amendments.

The format for the section-by-section analyses followed in the earlier volumes of this history is continued in this one. The sectionby-section analysis for the 1974 Amendments thus contains relevant excerpts from the legislative documents which have some bearing on the meaning or intent of each section. For each section, the legislative documents are presented in the following order: 1. The Bill As Enacted

Throughout this volume the page numbers provided for the House and Senate debates are from the bound edition of the Congressional Record, not the daily edition.

The legislative events leading to the enactment of the 1974 Amendments may be briefly summarized as follows: 1. On January 12, 1973, Senator Magnuson introduced S. 355,

a bill "To amend the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 to provide for remedies of defects without charge, and for other purposes."

2. On January 30-31, 1973, hearings (entitled "Auto Safety Repairs At No Cost") were held on S. 355 before the Senate Commerce Committee.

3. On February 8, 1973, Representative Aspin introduced H.R. 4187, a bill "To amend the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 to authorize safety design standards for schoolbuses, to require certain safety standards be established for schoolbuses, to require the investigation of certain schoolbus accidents, and for other purposes."

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

On March 13, 1973, Representative Moss introduced H.R. 5529, a bill "To amend the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 to authorize appropriations for the fiscal years 1974, 1975, and 1976, to provide for the recall of certain defective motor vehicles without charge to the owners thereof, and for other purposes."

On May 3, 1973, Representative Staggers introduced H.R. 7505, a bill "To amend the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 to authorize appropriations, and for other purposes."

On March 23; April 13, 16-18; May 7-11, and 29, 1973, hearings (entitled "Amendments to the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966") were held on H.R. 7505, H.R. 5529, S. 355, and H.R. 4187 (and all identical or similar bills) before the Subcommittee on Commerce and Finance of the House Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee.

On May 14, 1973, the Senate Committee on Commerce reported S. 355. Senate Report No. 93-150 accompanied S. 355 as reported.

On May 17, 1973, the Senate passed S. 355 as reported by the Senate Committee on Commerce.

On July 11, 1974, the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce reported H.R. 5529. House Report No. 93-1191 accompanied H.R. 5529 as reported.

On August 12, 1974, the House agreed to House Resolution 1304 for consideration of H.R. 5529, passed H.R. 5529 as reported by the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce with three additional amendments to H.R. 5529 as reported, and subsequently vacated this passage and passed S. 355, a similar Senate-passed bill, in lieu of H.R. 5529, after being amended to contain the language of the House bill as passed.

On August 15, 1974, the Senate called for a conference on S. 355.

On September 9, 1974, Senators Buckley and Eagleton introduced an amendment (No. 1851) to S. 3934, the Federal-Aid Highway Amendments of 1974, to revoke the Federal motor vehicle safety standard which requires a safety belt interlock and buzzer system in new automobiles. On September 10, 1974, Senators Magnuson, Hartke, Moss, Hart, and Stevens introduced Senate Resolution 398 to express the sense of the Senate that purchasers should be offered the option of an interlock override device, that any

14.

type of interlock or warning system should be an interim measure and that the Department of Transportation should make passive restraints standard equipment, and that urged the insurance industry in cooperation with State insurance regulators to establish auto insurance premium rates which reflect the relative injury reducing characteristics of various restraint systems.

On September 11, 1974, the Buckley and Eagleton Amendment was agreed to by the Senate and was withdrawn in order to instruct the conferees on S. 355, which was pending in conference, as to the Senate's views on the seatbelt interlock system issue.

15. On October 8, 1974, the House printed the Conference Report on S. 355 in the Congressional Record.

16. On October 10, 1974, the Senate agreed to the Conference Report on S. 355. There were no floor amendments.

17. On October 15, 1974, the House agreed to the Conference Report on S. 355. There were no floor amendments.

18. On October 27, 1974, the President approved the "Motor Vehicle and Schoolbus Safety Amendments of 1974" (Public Law 93-492). On October 28, 1974, The Presidential Signing Statement was issued.