NHTSA finalizes Seat Belt Reminder Rule to increase Seat Belt Use

DTS offers testing solutions designed specifically for airbag & pretensioner testing

Final rule is estimated to save about 50 lives annually by adding a seat belt warning requirement for rear seats and enhancing warnings for driver and front passenger seats

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration finalized a rule requiring seat belt use warnings for rear seats and enhanced warnings for driver and front passenger seats, a significant action aimed at increasing seat belt use and preventing injury and death in a crash. NHTSA estimates this new rule will prevent more than 500 injuries and save about 50 lives every year, once fully implemented.

The final rule amends Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 208, “Occupant crash protection,” which previously required a seat belt warning only for the driver’s seat. The new requirements apply to passenger cars, trucks, buses with the exception of school buses, and multipurpose passenger vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating up to 10,000 pounds.

Manufacturers must meet the enhanced front seat belt warning system requirements on new vehicles starting Sept. 1, 2026. The rear seat belt warning system will be required on new vehicles as of Sept. 1, 2027. Manufacturers are welcome to comply with the rule before these deadlines.

“Wearing a seat belt is one of the easiest and most effective ways to prevent injury and death in a vehicle crash,” NHTSA Chief Counsel Adam Raviv said. “While seat belt use has improved for decades, there’s still more we can do to make sure everyone buckles up. These new requirements will help to increase seat belt use, especially for rear seat passengers, by enhancing reminders for vehicle occupants to buckle up.”

Seat belt warning systems, also called reminder systems, use visual and audible alerts to encourage seat belt use. Usage rates for rear seat passengers have consistently been below those for the front seats, with front seat belt use at about 91.6% and rear seat belt use at about 81.7% in 2022. Approximately half of all passenger vehicle occupants who died in crashes in 2022 were unbelted, according to data from NHTSA’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System.

NHTSA has finalized a significant number of safety initiatives aimed at reducing traffic deaths, such as a new requirement for passenger cars and light trucks to come equipped with automatic emergency braking systems, including pedestrian AEB, by 2029. The agency also finalized significant updates to its 5-Star Safety Ratings program, known as the New Car Assessment Program, that include new advanced driver assistance technologies, a crashworthiness pedestrian protection program, and a roadmap for future program changes over the next 10 years. These initiatives support the Department’s National Roadway Safety Strategy, launched in January 2022, which provides a roadmap to achieving the only acceptable number of deaths on our roads: zero.

More Information: nhtsa.gov/press

Author/Source: NHTSA

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Better Data for Bodies in Motion

A wearable device to monitor astronauts’ tumultuous return to Earth is helping industry

The DTS Story: In 2019, NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston selected DTS for a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project to develop a wearable data recorder for astronaut spacesuits. DTS developed the Dynamic Kinematic Recorder (DKR) for NASA. That technology was then spun off to create the TSR AIR data logger, which is now used for a variety of applications including flight testing and tracking high-value shipments like satellites.

The return to Earth is a rough ride for astronauts, from the violent turbulence of atmospheric entry to a jarring landing. Hitting the ground in a Soyuz capsule is the equivalent of driving a car backward into a brick wall at 20 mph, and it’s resulting in more head and neck injuries than NASA computer models predicted. To collect more data, NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston commissioned a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project to develop a wearable data recorder for astronaut spacesuits. One result, created by Diversified Technical Systems Inc. (DTS), is a miniature commercial device that now collects and transmits data for any application from airplane test flights to tracking high-value shipments.

Common data recorders, such as those used for laboratory testing and automotive crash testing, can be bulky and require external power sources. But even smaller versions of that technology weren’t going to work for astronauts, according to Nate Newby, occupant safety analyst at Johnson. The occupant protection tools NASA uses to predict the likelihood of injury under the unique conditions of capsule landings require kinematic measurements defining the motion of a body through space.

“Our predictive tools were adapted from the automotive world and from the military,” he said. “But our environment is a little bit different.” The head and neck are subjected to high rates of acceleration in every direction. The kind of injuries astronauts are prone to don’t occur under other conditions, so NASA had to fill that data gap to improve the predictive model.

DTS already had extensive experience in miniaturizing data recorders, including one data logger that’s embedded in the mouthguard worn by NFL players. NASA engineers worked with the company to adapt that technology and refine it during Phase I and II SBIR projects.

Astronaut Safety

DTS’s work to create a self-contained wearable device that didn’t rely on a wired data connection and was powered by an integrated battery benefited from the agency’s experience with space travel — including proven materials, knowledge of conditions that affect battery longevity, and more. The housing had to contain the hardware and software necessary to take and store motion measurements, with enough room for the power source and wireless communications technology. The project envisioned a small data recorder that could attach to an astronaut’s communications cap and automatically begin recording data when it reached a predetermined velocity.

“The astronauts are in the spacecraft for a while, and you don’t want it to record that whole time, to minimize power and storage,” said Newby. To meet NASA’s specifications, the company needed to gather data about the kind of acceleration astronauts experience and use that information to create a mechanism that could automatically record both launch and re-entry forces.

DTS started with its core technology, designed to capture data for “dynamic testing,” primarily crash, blast, and injury biomechanics testing, according to Mike Beckage, the company’s CTO. The existing hardware and software provided reliable shock and vibration data, which NASA, a DTS customer, already relied on for a variety of aeronautics and aerospace testing.

The agency used this off-the-shelf technology to verify the structural integrity and occupant safety of the Orion crew capsule. Newby also uses a DTS device to collect data from hard landing crash tests performed using test dummies. This work and more helped the Seal Beach, California-based DTS, a brand of Vishay Precision Group Inc., build a good working relationship with NASA for over 20 years.

“A development project like this is a very interactive process, so we had regular meetings to discuss our progress. We identified technology and capabilities that we could build into the product,” said Beckage. Tapping NASA’s expertise was challenging as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted much of the project, but the company still met the final deadline.

Parachute Drops and Car Crashes

The prototype design, named DXR, met every specification except for size — it’s still a little too big for NASA’s applications. But Beckage said the company based its new TSR AIR data logger on the DXR design. NASA input on everything from new features to the final design made the 2.75-square-inch device ideal for numerous commercial applications.

Adding the TSR AIR to a tailfin or other places on an airplane makes it possible to collect in-flight data. It can also be attached to a trailer transporting high-priority cargo, not only tracking its location in real time but recording the conditions of that trip. The device has wireless charging and wireless communications capability, making it easy to keep powered and to continuously share data.

Safety testing that includes drones, parachute drops, and automobile crashes can also use the device. It can be used to track batches of pharmaceuticals as they go through production lines and the shipping process to provide information about exposure to environments that can degrade medicines as they’re moved around.

In addition to providing an array of hardware, DTS provides the services necessary to help companies get their applications up and running. Beckage said he hopes to continue integrating what the company learns from NASA technologists, serving as a conduit for sharing that store of knowledge.

“We’re thankful to have those opportunities to work on really cool applications for NASA and redefine what’s possible when it comes to testing,” said Beckage.

Euro NCAP reveals Best in Class for the SAFEST vehicles

Did You Know? DTS data acquisition systems and sensors are used to support a variety of testing for New Car Assessment Programs (NCAP) around the world. Leading the way in crashworthy test solutions are DTS’s SLICE PRO onboard data acqusition syststem and SLICE6 in-dummy DAS which collect the critical injury data that helps determine vehicle safety ratings in a variety of categories.

In 2024, five cars from China, Germany, and Japan set the standard for vehicle safety. Best in Class winners included the Škoda Superb and Volkswagen Passat (winning jointly), the MAZDA CX-80, and the ZEEKR X. The most outstanding performance was set by the Mercedes-Benz E-Class, which topped the overall safety score of cars tested last year [1].

“The automotive industry had a challenging year in 2024 marked by weak consumer confidence and difficult economic conditions. Given these difficulties, Euro NCAP finds it especially encouraging that car makers continue to place significant emphasis on safety innovation and equipping cars with the newest safety systems. This firmly places consumer safety at the forefront of automobile design, as it ought to be.” – Dr. Michiel van Ratingen, Secretary General Euro NCAP

In the Large Family Car class, the Best in Class was achieved by the Volkswagen Passat and its partner the Škoda Superb. The two vehicles, built on the same platform and part of the Volkswagen Group, delivered the same class-leading safety performance.

Chinese car makers saw another impressive performance with the very first electric pick-up tested in Europe by Euro NCAP. The Maxus eTERRON 9, a five-seat, four-door pick-up truck, scored highly across all four safety categories.

In 2024, there were no contenders for the Best in Class award in the Small Family Car class as the top-scoring vehicles had achieved a red-body part score in their safety testing, making them ineligible.

To define the ‘Best in Class,’ a calculation is made of the weighted sum of the scores in the four areas of active and passive safety assessment: Adult Occupant, Child Occupant, Pedestrian, and Safety Assist. This sum is used as the basis for comparison of the vehicles. Cars qualify for ‘Best in Class’ based on their rating with safety equipment that is fitted as standard.

Please note that from 2026 Euro NCAP will be changing the way we make our safety assessment. The five-star rating however will continue to remain a valid and trusted indicator of a new car’s safety performance.

[1] Some categories may not be represented as Euro NCAP has tested too few cars of that class in 2024.

More Information: euroncap.com/press
Author/Source: Euro NCAP

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