1. Introduction

The purpose of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 214, Side Impact Protection, is to reduce the risk of serious and fatal injury to occupants of passenger cars, multipurpose passenger vehicles, trucks and buses in side impact crashes. The final rule for the crash test portions of the standard was phased-in beginning with 1994 model year (MY) production passenger cars and required 100 percent compliance by 1997 MY. In Europe, although efforts for developing a side impact regulation have been in process for many years, it is only recently that European Union (EU) Directive 96/27/EC was adopted. In general, both the U.S. and the EU side impact standards address the same safety needs, i.e., to reduce fatalities and injuries in side crashes. However, there are major variations in test procedures and performance criteria between the two that may lead to or require different vehicle designs, creating barriers to trade that are inconsistent with the New Transatlantic Agenda and Action Plan signed by President Clinton in December 1995 in Madrid. Speaking at the Conference of Enhanced Safety of Vehicles in May 1996, spokesmen for domestic and foreign automobile manufacturers expressed similar concerns over the differences in the U.S. and EU side impact regulations. On September 16, 1996, Congressional conferees noted these variations in the standards and stated that such "differences are inconsistent with the need for the International Harmonization of motor vehicle safety standards." The conferees directed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to study these differences and to submit a report to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations by April 30, 1997, outlining the agency's plan for achieving harmonization of side impact standards.