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" NHTSA May Rethink Seat Belt Standard   The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is considering a new rule requiring shoulder belts for the central position in rear seats, the Detroit News reported.   The study, citing a study by the Partners for Child Passenger Safety, says that children strapped in with a shoulder belt in the middle of the back seat are dramatically safer from serious injury in car crashes than kids who only have a lap belt.   Belted children who have a shoulder strap were 81 percent less likely to sustain serious injury than kids also seated in the center of the back seat who had only a lap belt around them, according to the study of State Farm-insured vehicles carrying at least one child that crashed between Dec. 1, 1998, and Nov. 30, 2002.   The study credits shoulder belts with reducing serious injury because there was no difference in injury rates for kids seated near the windows in either group.   NHTSA also is weighing whether to require shoulder belts in rear-facing seats, such as those located in some station wagons, and along aisles in some vans where they currently aren&amp;#039;t required.   NHTSA is on track to issue the rule by year&amp;#039;s end, a deadline Congress set in 2002.   In other safety news, the paper reported that major consumer groups petitioned federal regulators to reconsider and make tougher a regulation that would require safer power window designs.   On Sept. 13, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued new rules it said would lead to safer power window switches. The regulation will require safer window switch designs by the 2009 model year.   But the 11 groups \u2014 including Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, Kids and Cars, the Center for Auto Safety, Public Citizen Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union, and the Trauma Foundation \u2014 said the government did not go far enough with the new regulation by failing to require auto-reverse mechanisms like those on garage doors. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/a10411/nhtsa-may-rethink-seat-belt-standard/>