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FMVSS 213 vs. 213b: Two Child Restraint Standards, By Design
The CFR text on FMVSS 213 and 213b, quoted directly, explains why two numbered child-restraint standards apply at once.
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Updated: Sources: 2
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What matters now
- 49 CFR §571.213 applies unless a vehicle or restraint is certified to §571.213b instead.
- §571.213b's title reads: mandatory applicability beginning December 5, 2026.
- §571.213b covers restraints manufactured on or after December 5, 2026, a date that has not yet arrived.
- §571.213 separately requires a registration form on restraints made before June 30, 2025.
Federal regulations currently name two child restraint system standards, 49 CFR §571.213 and §571.213b, and both are active at the same time by the text’s own design: §571.213 governs “unless a vehicle or child restraint system is certified to § 571.213b,” and §571.213b’s own mandatory-applicability date is December 5, 2026, for restraints “manufactured on or after” that date.
This original record-reading guide is a general reading aid, not cited evidence. It does not depict a source record; the article text and source links provide the facts.
Key points
- §571.213 remains the default, applicable standard “unless a vehicle or child restraint system is certified to § 571.213b” (eCFR, §571.213).
- §571.213b is titled “Standard No. 213b; Child restraint systems; Mandatory applicability beginning December 5, 2026” (eCFR, §571.213b).
- §571.213b’s coverage text specifies it “applies to passenger cars, multipurpose passenger vehicles, trucks and buses, and to child restraint systems for use in motor vehicles and aircraft, manufactured on or after December 5, 2026” (eCFR, §571.213b).
- Separately, §571.213 carries a registration-card requirement keyed to an earlier date: “For child restraint systems manufactured before June 30, 2025, each child restraint system, except a factory-installed built-in restraint system, shall have a registration form attached” (eCFR, §571.213).
Which Standard Applies
The current text of 49 CFR §571.213 states the section is “Applicable unless a vehicle or child restraint system is certified to § 571.213b” (eCFR, §571.213). That single clause is what puts two standards on the books at once: §571.213 is the operative rule except where a restraint or vehicle has instead been certified under the newer §571.213b.
213b’s Applicability Date
49 CFR §571.213b identifies itself, in its section title, as “Standard No. 213b; Child restraint systems; Mandatory applicability beginning December 5, 2026” (eCFR, §571.213b). The section’s coverage language is more specific about scope, stating that §571.213b “applies to passenger cars, multipurpose passenger vehicles, trucks and buses, and to child restraint systems for use in motor vehicles and aircraft, manufactured on or after December 5, 2026” (eCFR, §571.213b). December 5, 2026, is a future date relative to today, so this text describes a mandatory-applicability date that has not yet arrived.
The Registration Card Requirement
§571.213 also contains language tied to a different, earlier date that has nothing to do with §571.213b’s 2026 applicability date. It requires that “For child restraint systems manufactured before June 30, 2025, each child restraint system, except a factory-installed built-in restraint system, shall have a registration form attached” (eCFR, §571.213). This is a registration-card provision inside §571.213 itself, keyed to its own June 30, 2025 date — a separate marker from the December 5, 2026 mandatory-applicability date that governs §571.213b.
Not Covered Here
This article draws only on the text of 49 CFR §571.213 and §571.213b and does not identify which standard any specific child restraint system on a store shelf is actually certified to; that determination is made by the product’s own certification label, not by the regulation text itself. It also does not state or imply that one standard, §571.213 or §571.213b, produces a safer child restraint system than the other — the CFR text quoted here does not make that comparison. Finally, it does not address how to install any child restraint system or whether a given restraint fits a particular vehicle seat; those are separate questions the cited sections do not answer.