Working Party on Passive Safety | Session 61 | 8-12 May 2017
Geneva
Agenda Item 17.
Regulation No. 129 (Enhanced Child Restraint Systems)

34. The expert from OICA introduced ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRSP/2017/11 to update the cross references to UN Regulation No. 14 and to the new UN Regulation on ISOFIX. He also presented GRSP-61-27 to introduce the same update to the original text of UN Regulation No. 129. GRSP adopted ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRSP/2017/11, as amended by Annex VI and GRSP-61-27 as reproduced in Annex VI to this report. The secretariat was requested to submit the proposals for consideration and vote at the November 2017 sessions of WP.29 and AC.1 as: (i) draft Supplement 6 to UN Regulation No. 129 (GRSP-61-27), (ii) draft Supplement 3 to the 01 series and (iii) draft Supplement 2 to the 02 series of amendments to Regulation No. 129 (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRSP/2017/11).

35. The expert from France, Chair of the IWG on Enhanced Child Restraint Systems (ECRS), gave a presentation (GRSP-61-28) on the work progress of the IWG on amendments to the UN Regulation. He explained that ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRSP/2017/15 and ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRSP/2017/16 were aimed, amongst others, at introducing provisions for ECRS equipped with impact shields as such restraint systems were not yet covered by the 01 and 02 series of amendments. The expert from CLEPA gave a presentation (GRSP-61-33) showing concerns on the proposals tabled by France. The expert from OICA raised concern on the increased head excursion (840 mm) during the dynamic test on rearward-facing CRS. The expert from France finally introduced GRSP-61-15-Rev.1 and GRSP-61-16-Rev.1 superseding respectively ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRSP/2017/15 and ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRSP/2017/16 and including the comments received. GRSP adopted ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRSP/2017/15 and ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRSP/2017/16 as amended by Annex VI to this report. The secretariat was requested to submit the proposals for consideration and vote at the November 2017 sessions of WP.29 and AC.1 as part (see para. 34 above): (i) draft Supplement 3 to the 01 series (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRSP/2017/15) and (ii) Supplement 2 to the 02 series of amendments to UN Regulation No. 129 (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRSP/2017/16).

36. The expert from France introduced GRSP-61-17-Rev.2, superseding ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRSP/2017/17 aimed at introducing the third phase of the UN Regulation which is meant to introduce “Universal belted” and “Specific vehicle belted” category of CRS. He further explained that the basic principle of Phase 3 was to reach a compromise from misuse and bad installation and having as much as possible seat places to install CRS where ISOFIX anchorages cannot be allocated. Moreover, GRSP noted the request of guidance to Contracting Parties proposed in GRSP-61-28 concerning: (i) which kind of combinations of ECRS should be allowed (e.g. ISOFIX and Universal Belted) (ii) under which conditions and (iii) guiding principles. The expert from the Netherlands raised concerns on “inserts” used on CRS to adapt them to the size of the occupant. He stated that inserts should be identified (labelled with identification and with size information) and that requirements should be devised to prevent camouflage of bad CRS. The expert from the United Kingdom supported the principle of a performance-based approach and requested more data on misuse. However, he shared the concern of the expert from the Netherlands. The expert from IC stated that ISOFIX had the priority to avoid misuse while other solutions and combinations with ISOFIX were just secondary and should be limited. The experts from Germany and Sweden raised a study reservation and stated that “plug-and-play” solution was the key principle for having a simple and efficient system; while now the ECRS IWG was opening to combinations that could have misuse implications.

37. GRSP agreed to resume discussion on Phase 3 of the UN Regulation at its December 2017 session on the basis of more data analyses. In the same time, GRSP referred back to the IWG GRSP-61-17-Rev.2 and invited representatives of Contracting Parties of the 1958 Agreement to participate in the 21-22 June meeting of the IWG to cover the request of guidance mentioned above.

38. Finally, GRSP noted a translation into Korean language of the leaflet (GRSP-61-23) promoting UN Regulation No. 129 and appreciated the contribution of the expert from the Republic of Korea in promoting the UN Regulation in his country.

Documentation
GRSP-61-15/Rev.1 Proposal for Supplement 3 to the 01 series of amendments to Regulation No. 129 (France)
GRSP-61-16/Rev.1 Proposal for Supplement 2 to the 02 series of amendments to Regulation No. 129 (France)
GRSP-61-17/Rev.2 Proposal for the 03 series of amendments as Phase 3 of Regulation No. 129 (France)
GRSP-61-23 Translation in Korean of UNECE leaflet on UN Regulation No. 129 (Korea)
GRSP-61-27 Proposal for supplement 5 to the 00 series of amendments to Regulation No. 129 (OICA)
GRSP-61-28 Presentation of amendments to UN Regulation No. 129 (France)
GRSP-61-33 CLEPA comments on the proposals to amend Regulation No. 129 (CLEPA)
GRSP/2017/4 Collective amendments to Regulations Nos. 44 and 129 (Netherlands)
GRSP/2017/11 Proposal for amendments to the 02 series of amendments to Regulation No. 129 (OICA)
GRSP/2017/15 Proposal for Supplement 3 to the 01 series of amendments to Regulation No. 129 (France)
GRSP/2017/16 Proposal for Supplement 2 to the 02 series of amendments to Regulation No. 129 (France)
GRSP/2017/17 Proposal for the 03 series of amendments as Phase 3 of Regulation No. 129 (France)