MANCHIN LEADS BIPARTISAN EFFORT TO PROTECT OFF-HIGHWAY VEHICLES AGAINST REGULATORY OVERREACH

Letter

Dear Chair Hoehn-Saric:

We write to express our concern regarding the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's
(CPSC) proposed rule to prevent debris penetration into off-highway vehicles, including
recreational off-highway vehicles (ROVs) and utility task/terrain vehicles (UTVs), published as a
notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) in the Federal Register on July 21, 2022 (CPSC Docket
No. CPSC-2021-0014).

As you know, off-highway vehicles are a staple of American life. They are used for recreation,
agriculture, law enforcement, emergency services, and more. They are also an important
economic driver, especially in rural America. Powersports is a $50.1 billion industry that
includes more than 8,000 retailers, more than 73,000 employees and generates an estimated $3.4
billion in total annual payroll.

While we understand and appreciate CPSC's mission to protect consumer safety, we have
serious concerns regarding the rulemaking process and the substance of the proposed debris
penetration rule. Moreover, we are concerned about the effect the rule would have on the
availability of off-highway vehicles and on the economic footprint of the powersports industry.

The proposed rule was informed by CPSC's preliminary determination that there is an
unreasonable risk of injury and death associated with debris penetration in off-highway vehicles.
However, debris penetration incidents are rare, and injuries or fatalities resulting from debris
penetration are even rarer. Between 2009 and 2021, the NPRM identified only 107 incidents of
debris penetration which resulted in 6 fatalities and 22 injuries ranging from mostly minor cuts
and bruises to broken bones. This is despite the fact that off-highway vehicles are actually
intended to be driven in environments in which a vehicle is expected to encounter sticks or
branches. Even so, in the 12-year period identified by the NPRM, tens of millions of off-highway
vehicles were driven, and many hundreds of millions of miles were traveled. Based on CPSC's
own data, therefore, it is unclear whether the current risk of injury and death associated with
debris penetration is unreasonable.

Despite the absence of evidence to demonstrate unreasonable risk of injury and death, the
powersports industry issued new voluntary safety standards to address debris penetration.
Working with CPSC and other stakeholders in a consensus-based process governed by the
American National Standards Institute, we understand that the industry already undertook a
multi-year effort to revise safety standards to address these rare occurrences and that the
standards produced field performance data demonstrating empirical, real-world validation that
adequately addressed the rare debris penetration hazard, but that CPSC nevertheless intends to
finalize its rulemaking. The powersports industry's voluntary safety standards ought to be
considered a win for consumers and for the CPSC, as virtually every new off-highway vehicle
sold in the U.S. will certify compliance with and meet the powersports industry's revised safety
standards. In fact, given the adequacy and effectiveness of these voluntary safety standards, it
would not only be inappropriate for CPSC to finalize its rulemaking, it would also exceed
CPSC's rulemaking authority to ignore such consensus-based voluntary standards that would
eliminate or adequately reduce risk for debris penetration.

Lastly, because off-highway vehicles are highly complex and require an extended product
development lifecycle of two years or more, the proposed rule would create serious challenges to
the availability of off-highway vehicles. It would also disrupt the production of new Model Year
vehicles as it would require manufacturers to re-engineer and design those vehicles in order to
comply. This would harm first responders, government agencies, and others who rely on offhighway vehicles, as well as retailers and their employees, who may face closures.

Given our concerns, we respectfully request that CPSC withdraw the rulemaking package. We
appreciate your time and attention to this matter and look forward to receiving your response.

Sincerely,

Source