To amend title 49, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of Transportation to require automobile manufacturers to provide automatic door locks and interior-opening trunk locks on new passenger cars manufactured after 2005.

January 28, 2003

Mr. ANDREWS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

To amend title 49, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of Transportation to require automobile manufacturers to provide automatic door locks and interior-opening trunk locks on new passenger cars manufactured after 2005.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Auto Safety Assurance Act of 2003'.

SEC. 2. ANTICARJACKING AUTOMOBILE SAFETY LOCKS.

(a) IN GENERAL- Title 49 of the United States Code is amended by inserting after section 30127 the following new section:

`Sec. 30128. Occupant safety locks

`Not later than January 1, 2004, the Secretary of Transportation shall prescribe under this chapter an amendment to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 206 (49 C.F.R. 571.206) issued under the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966. The amendment shall require that all passenger cars (as such term is defined in section 30127(a)(3)) manufactured after December 31, 2005, shall be fitted with--

`(1) equipment that automatically locks the doors of the vehicle when--

`(A) the vehicle transmission is engaged; or

`(B) the vehicle reaches a specified rate of speed; and

`(2) vehicle trunk lock mechanisms that permit unlatching from inside the trunk.'.

(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT- The table of sections at the beginning of subtitle IV of title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding after the item related to section 30127 the following new item:

`30128. Occupant safety locks.'.

END