4. NHTSA Plans for Side Impact Harmonization

The Functional Equivalence Process, recently developed by NHTSA in coordination with industry and consumer groups, will be directly applied in assessing harmonization between the U.S. regulation and the EU directive. A public workshop on the process was held at NHTSA on January 16, 1997 [1]. A flowchart and explanatory notes showing the generic process can be found in Appendix B. Reduced to its basic terms, regulations are considered functionally equivalent when they address the same safety need and provide the same or greater safety benefit.

As noted above, the U.S. regulation and the EU directive are intended to address the side crash safety problem. However, as also noted above and by Congress, there are significant differences in the prescribed test procedures and requirements. Different crash test barriers, dummies and injury criteria are used for the U.S. regulation than prescribed for the EU directive. NHTSA will determine the potential for international harmonization of these requirements by:

1.  
2. Analyzing past research and performing new tests to determine the relative safety benefits offered by each regulation.
3. Coordinating with industry and other interested groups to establish consensus on the activities, eliminate duplication of work, and reduce cost.
4. Determining if functional equivalence exists or can be established between the two requirements.
5. Coordinating with EU to assess harmonization options and approaches.

NHTSA also will perform any necessary research to fill voids in knowledge and will assess the time and resources necessary to carry this effort forward.