This action withdraws a rulemaking action initiated with the issuance of a proposal in 1996. In that proposal, NHTSA proposed to extend the requirements of the passenger car brake system standard to trucks, buses, and mutlipurpose passenger vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of 4,536 kilograms (10,000 pounds) or less. In a 1997 final rule, NHTSA extended the passenger car brake requirements to trucks, buses, and multipurpose passenger vehicles with GVWRs of 3,500 kilograms (7,716 pounds or less). At that time, the agency deferred its decision on the issue of whether to include vehicles with GVWRs of 3,501 kilograms and 4,536 kilograms.
NHTSA believes that the limited safety benefit that
could be derived from requiring these vehicles to comply with Standard No. 135 would not be justified by the considerable costs and burden of redesigning their brake systems. In response to comments by the vehicle manufacturers about the proposal, NHTSA conducted the passenger car brake sequence test on four late-model vechicles with GVWRs between 3,501 kilograms and 4,536 kilograms. All vehicles were tested to the hydraulic brake standard, which specifies performance standards for hydraulic braking systems hydraulically-braked vehicles with a GVWR greater than 3,500 kilograms (7,716 pounds). All of the tested vehicles failed some aspect(s) of the test sequence, tending to confirm manufacturers' assertions that redesign of the braking systems of vehicles in this category may be necessary to meet the passenger car brake standard.
Accordingly, NHTSA is withdrawing the rulemaking action initiated in 1996.
U.S. DOT/NHTSA - Withdrawal of Rulemaking
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