Weaknesses in NHTSA’s Training and Guidance Limit Its Ability To Set and Enforce Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards

What We Looked At As part of its mission to prevent and reduce vehicle crashes, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) Office of Safety Compliance (OVSC) sets Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) to improve traffic safety. FMVSS provide performance and regulatory requirements for manufacturers of motor vehicles and vehicle safety components, such as seatbelts. Given the importance to the traveling public that all vehicles and components meet Federal safety standards, we initiated this audit to assess NHTSA’s efforts to set and enforce FMVSS.   What We Found While NHTSA has established policies and procedures for evaluating FMVSS and safety-related motor vehicle standards, the Agency is limited in its ability to update, set, and enforce these standards in a timely manner. First, NHTSA has faced significant delays in processing rulemaking petitions to modify or set new FMVSS, which may put the Agency in noncompliance with Federal regulations. For example, the Agency did not respond within the required 120-day timeline to 87.5 percent of FMVSS petitions submitted between March 2016 and December 2020. Second, NHTSA lacks formal training and clear guidance for enforcing compliance with FMVSS. For example, NHTSA’s OVSC lacks documented standard procedures and training for reviewing contractors’ compliance test reports and has not implemented guidance for conducting compliance investigations. Third, NHTSA is not meeting requirements for ensuring imported vehicles meet FMVSS. NHTSA’s OVSC requires Registered Importers to submit conformity packages detailing safety modifications made to comply with FMVSS. However, NHTSA lacks a standard process for reviewing these packages, increasing the risk of unsafe vehicles operating on U.S. roads.   Our Recommendations NHTSA concurred with our six recommendations to strengthen its oversight of FMVSS to comply with Federal requirements. We consider recommendations 1 through 6 resolved but open pending completion of planned actions.