NHTSA: Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Bus Rollover Structural Integrity

SUMMARY: This document grants parts of petitions for reconsideration of a December 29, 2021, final rule that established Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 227, “Bus Rollover Structural Integrity.” The standard is intended to enhance rollover structural integrity and reduce the likelihood of ejection from over-the-road buses (motorcoaches), and other buses with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) greater than 11,793 kilograms (kg) (26,000 pounds (lb)). This final rule adjusts the definition of “transit bus” and revises the maximum allowable weight of objects intruding into the survival space during the rollover test. This document denies other requests in the petitions, including petitions to expand the applicability of the standard to other bus types and extend the compliance date by 2 years.

DATES:

Effective date: This final rule is effective December 30, 2024.

Compliance date: The compliance date of this final rule is December 30, 2024. Optional early compliance is permitted. Published in the Federal Register November 13, 2023, page 77523.

View final rule.

New Text

§571.227 Standard No. 227; Bus rollover structural integrity.

S4. * * *

Transit bus means a bus that is equipped with a stop-request system sold for public transportation provided by, or on behalf of, a Federal, State, or local government and that is not an over-the-road bus.

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S5.1 (a) Items separated from the vehicle and with a mass less than 60.0 grams that enter the survival space will not be considered for this evaluation of survival space intrusion.

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S6.1.4 The tilting platform is equipped with rigid wheel supports on the top surface as illustrated in Figure 3 of this section (figure provided for illustration purposes only). At each vehicle axle, the wheel closest to the platform's axis of rotation is supported. The rigid wheel supports are positioned to make contact with the outboard tire sidewall of the supported wheels with the vehicle positioned as specified in S7(a) to prevent sliding of the vehicle during the test. Each rigid wheel support has the following dimensions: