49 USC § 32302 - Passenger motor vehicle information | Title 49 - Transportation | U.S. Code

USCPrelim is a preliminary release and may be subject to further revision before it is released again as a final version.

Current through Pub. L. 112-283. (See Public Laws for the current Congress.)

(a) Information Program.— The Secretary of Transportation shall maintain a program for developing the following information on passenger motor vehicles:

(1) damage susceptibility.

(2) crashworthiness, crash avoidance, and any other areas the Secretary determines will improve the safety of passenger motor vehicles.

(3) the degree of difficulty of diagnosis and repair of damage to, or failure of, mechanical and electrical systems.

(b) Motor Vehicle Information.— To assist a consumer in buying a passenger motor vehicle, the Secretary shall provide to the public information developed under subsection (a) of this section. The information shall be in a simple and understandable form that allows comparison of the characteristics referred to in subsection (a)(1)–(3) of this section among the makes and models of passenger motor vehicles. The Secretary may require passenger motor vehicle dealers to distribute the information to prospective buyers. The Secretary, after providing an opportunity for public comment, shall study and report to Congress the most useful data, format, and method for providing simple and understandable damage susceptibility information to consumers.

(c) Repealed Pub. L. 112–252, § 1,Jan. 10, 2013, 126 Stat. 2406.]

(d) Motor Vehicle Defect Reporting Information.—

(1) Rulemaking required.— Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of the Motor Vehicle and Highway Safety Improvement Act of 2012, the Secretary shall prescribe regulations that require passenger motor vehicle manufacturers—

(A) to affix, in the glove compartment or in another readily accessible location on the vehicle, a sticker, decal, or other device that provides, in simple and understandable language, information about how to submit a safety-related motor vehicle defect complaint to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration;

(B) to prominently print the information described in subparagraph (A) within the owner’s manual; and

(C) to not place such information on the label required under section 3 of the Automobile Information Disclosure Act (15 U.S.C. 1232).

(2) Application.— The requirements under paragraph (1) shall apply to passenger motor vehicles manufactured in any model year beginning more than 1 year after the date on which a final rule is published under paragraph (1).

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(a) Information Program.— The Secretary of Transportation shall maintain a program for developing the following information on passenger motor vehicles:

(1) damage susceptibility.

(2) crashworthiness.

(3) the degree of difficulty of diagnosis and repair of damage to, or failure of, mechanical and electrical systems.

(4) vehicle operating costs dependent on the characteristics referred to in clauses (1)–(3) of this subsection, including insurance information obtained under section 32303 of this title.

(b) Motor Vehicle Information.— To assist a consumer in buying a passenger motor vehicle, the Secretary shall provide to the public information developed under subsection (a) of this section. The information shall be in a simple and understandable form that allows comparison of the characteristics referred to in subsection (a)(1)–(3) of this section among the makes and models of passenger motor vehicles. The Secretary may require passenger motor vehicle dealers to distribute the information to prospective buyers.

(c) Insurance Cost Information.— The Secretary shall prescribe regulations that require passenger motor vehicle dealers to distribute to prospective buyers information the Secretary develops and provides to the dealers that compares insurance costs for different makes and models of passenger motor vehicles based on damage susceptibility and crashworthiness.

Source

(Pub. L. 103–272, § 1(e),July 5, 1994, 108 Stat. 1035.)

Historical and Revision Notes
Revised Section	Source (U.S. Code)	Source (Statutes at Large)
32302(a)
15:1941(c) (19th–60th words).
Oct. 20, 1972, Pub. L. 92–513, § 201(c), (e), 86 Stat. 956.
	15:1941(d) (1st–13th words).
Oct. 20, 1972, Pub. L. 92–513, § 201(d), 86 Stat. 956; July 14, 1976, Pub. L. 94–364, § 201, 90 Stat. 981.
32302(b)
15:1941(c) (1st–18th and 61st–last words), (d) (14th–last words).
32302(c)
15:1941(e).

In subsection (a), the words before clause (1) are substituted for “The Secretary shall compile the information described in subsection (c) of this section” and “existing information and information to be developed relating to” for clarity and to eliminate unnecessary words.

In subsection (b), the words “After the study has been completed” are omitted as executed. The words “To assist a consumer in buying a passenger motor vehicle” are substituted for “so as to be of benefit in their passenger motor vehicle purchasing decisions”, and the words “the Secretary shall provide to the public” are substituted for “the Secretary is authorized and directed to devise specific ways in which . . . can be communicated to consumers” and “furnish it to the public”, to eliminate unnecessary words. The word “existing” is omitted as obsolete.

In subsection (c), the words “not later than February 1, 1975” are omitted as executed. The words “prescribe regulations” are substituted for “by rule establish” for consistency in the revised title and because “rule” is synonymous with “regulation”.

The table below lists the classification updates, since Jan. 3, 2012, for this section. Updates to a broader range of sections may be found at the update page for containing chapter, title, etc.

The most recent Classification Table update that we have noticed was Wednesday, February 6, 2013

An empty table indicates that we see no relevant changes listed in the classification tables. If you suspect that our system may be missing something, please double-check with the Office of the Law Revision Counsel.

How To Use

Multiple entries for a section are listed most recent first, within the section.

The Session Year indicates which session of Congress was responsible for the changes classified. The Congress number forms the first part of the Public Law number; each Congress has two sessions.

Abbreviations used in the Description of Change column:

An empty field implies a standard amendment.
"new" means a new section or new note, or all new text of an existing section or note.
"nt" means note.
"nt [tbl]" means note [table].
"prec" means preceding.
"fr" means a transfer from another section.
"to" means a transfer to another section.
"omitted" means the section is omitted.
"repealed" means the section is repealed.
"nt ed change" and "ed change" - See the Editorial Classification Change Table [pdf].

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For serious comparison work, we suggest copying all or a portion of the Public Law text into your favorite text editor, for convenient content traversal and window control.

Sections with change type "new" are a special case, still under development. All are now listed, at the title level only.

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General Reference

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You can look for information about what it is and is not, which titles are positive law, the schedule of Supplements, etc. Under download you can find the source data we use here (GPO locator files), as well as, PDF files that look just like the paper books (these may be rather large).

Refer to the Thomas site for changes that have not yet made it into the classification tables.

49 USC	Description of Change	Session Year	Public Law	Statutes at Large
§ 32302		2012	112-252 [Sec.] 1	126 Stat. 2406
§ 32302	nt new	2012	112-252 [Sec.] 1	126 Stat. 2406
§ 32302		2012	112-252 [Sec.] 2(a)	126 Stat. 2406
§ 32302	nt new	2012	112-252 [Sec.] 2(b)	126 Stat. 2406
§ 32302		2012	112-141 [Sec.] 31305(b), 31306	126 Stat. 765

This is a list of parts within the Code of Federal Regulations for which this US Code section provides rulemaking authority.

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49 CFR - Title 49—Transportation

49 CFR 575 - CONSUMER INFORMATION

49 USC § 32302 - Passenger motor vehicle information

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