§ 579.25 - Reporting requirements for manufacturers of child restraint systems.

§ 579.25 Reporting requirements for manufacturers of child restraint systems.

For each reporting period, a manufacturer who has manufactured for sale, sold, offered for sale, introduced or delivered for introduction in interstate commerce, or imported child restraint systems into the United States, shall submit the information described in this section. For paragraphs (a) and (c) of this section, the manufacturer shall submit information separately with respect to each make, model, and production year of child restraint system manufactured during the reporting period and the four production years prior to the earliest production year in the reporting period, including models no longer in production. For paragraph (c) of this section, if any consumer complaints or warranty claims regarding a model of child restraint system do not specify the production year of the system, the manufacturer shall submit information for “unknown” production year in addition to the up-to-five production years for which the manufacturer must otherwise report the number of such consumer complaints/warranty claims.

(a) Production information. Information that states the manufacturer's name, the quarterly reporting period, the make, the model, the production year, the type, and the production. The production shall be stated as either the cumulative production of the current model year to the end of the reporting period, or the total calendar year production for each calendar year for which production has ceased.

(b) Information on incidents involving death or injury. For all child restraint systems manufactured during a production year covered by the reporting period and the four production years prior to the earliest production year in the reporting period:

(1) A report on each incident involving one or more deaths or injuries occurring in the United States that is identified in a claim against and received by the manufacturer or in a notice received by the manufacturer which notice alleges or proves that the death or injury was caused by a possible defect in the manufacturer's child restraint system, together with each incident involving one or more deaths occurring in a foreign country that is identified in a claim against and received by the manufacturer involving the manufacturer's child restraint system, if the child restraint system is identical or substantially similar to a child restraint system that the manufacturer has offered for sale in the United States. The report shall be submitted as a report on child restraint systems and organized such that incidents are reported alphabetically by make, within each make alphabetically by model, and within each model chronologically by production year.

(2) For each such incident described in paragraph (b)(1) of this section, the manufacturer shall separately report the make, model, and production year of the child restraint system, the incident date, the number of deaths, the number of injuries for incidents occurring in the United States, the State or foreign country where the incident occurred, and each system or component of the child restraint system that allegedly contributed to the incident, coded as follows: 51 buckle and restraint harness, 52 seat shell, 53 handle, 54 base, 98 where a system or component not covered by categories 51 through 54 is specified in the claim or notice, and 99 where no system or component of the child restraint system is specified in the claim or notice. If an incident involves more than one such code, each shall be reported separately in the report. If the production year of the child restraint system is unknown, the manufacturer shall specify the number “9999” in the field for production year.

(c) Numbers of consumer complaints and warranty claims, and field reports. Separate reports on the numbers of those consumer complaints and warranty claims, and field reports, which involve the systems and components that are specified in codes 51 through 54 in paragraph (b)(2) of this section. Each such report shall state, separately by each such code, the number of such consumer complaints and warranty claims, or field reports, respectively, that involves the systems or components indicated by the code. If an underlying consumer complaint and warranty claim, or field report, involves more than one such code, each shall be counted separately in the report with no limit on the number of codes to be included. No reporting is necessary if the system or component involved is not specified in such codes.

(d) Copies of field reports. For all child restraint systems manufactured during a production year covered by the reporting period and the four production years prior to the earliest production year in the reporting period, a copy of each field report (other than a dealer report or a product evaluation report) involving one or more of the systems or components identified in paragraph (b)(2) of this section, containing any assessment of an alleged failure, malfunction, lack of durability, or other performance problem of a child restraint system (including any part thereof) that is originated by an employee or representative of the manufacturer and that the manufacturer received during a reporting period. These documents shall be submitted alphabetically by make, within each make alphabetically by model, and within each model chronologically by production year. For purposes of this paragraph, if a field report refers to more than one make or model of child restraint system produced by a manufacturer, the manufacturer shall submit the report under the first such model in alphabetical order. If a field report refers to more than one production year of a specified make/model, the manufacturer shall submit it by the earliest production year to which it refers.

[67 FR 45873, July 10, 2002, as amended at 68 FR 18143, Apr. 15, 2003; 68 FR 35144, June 11, 2003; 72 FR 29444, May 29, 2007]