Consumer Reports (CR), the Green Science Policy Institute, and the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) delivered a letter and a petition with more than 32,000 signatures to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) calling on the agency to update its flammability standard for car interiors and child car seats.

The groups claim the standard, FMVSS 302, — first set in 1971 and last amended in 1998 — is outdated and causes manufacturers to add harmful flame retardant chemicals to seat foam and other materials. Those include chemicals known or suspected to cause cancer and are linked to reproductive and neurological harm.

A May 2024 peer-reviewed study by Duke University, Green Science Policy Institute, and University of Toronto researchers found that the air inside all 101 personal vehicles tested was polluted with harmful flame retardants.

More than 70 organizations signed the letter to NHTSA asking the agency to consider replacing current flammability testing with a test that doesn’t lead to harmful chemical use in vehicles.

“There are alternatives that can protect consumers from fires inside their cars while sparing them the health harms of toxic chemical exposure,” said William Wallace, associate director of safety policy for Consumer Reports, in a news release. “NHTSA should immediately launch an effort to update its outdated flammability standard for the interiors of our cars and child car seats.”

According to the May 2024 study, the most prevalent flame retardant, tris (1-chloro-isopropyl) phosphate (TCIPP), was found in 99% of tested cars and is currently under study by the National Toxicology Program as a carcinogen. Other flame retardants detected in the tested cars are known carcinogens, endocrine disruptors, and/or neurotoxins that persist and accumulate in the body over time.

“Everyone who rides in a car is needlessly exposed to cancer-causing, neurotoxic flame retardant chemicals because of an outdated flammability standard,” said Arlene Blum, Green Science Policy Institute executive director, in the release. “It is time for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to modernize their 1971 standard so we can have cars that are both fire-safe and healthy.”

The Green Science Policy Institute has found a lack of data that demonstrates any fire safety benefits by meeting the FMVSS 302 standard.

In a recent statement, IAFF said that “…these harmful chemicals do little to prevent fires for most uses and instead make the blazes smokier and more toxic for victims, and especially for first responders.”

In addition to the thousands of consumers who signed the petition, leading toxicologist Linda Birnbaum and renowned Boston firefighter Jay Fleming publicly called on NHTSA to reevaluate the standard. “With improved flammability standards and vehicle design, we can better protect people from both fire and chemical hazards,” they concluded in a joint commentary.

The letter to NHTSA added, “While evidence does not exist to support the efficacy of FMVSS 302 in preventing vehicle fire-related injuries or fatalities, we do know that the flame retardants that are primarily used create additional smoke, soot, toxic gases, dioxins, and furans, which can impede escape, cause injury, and also contribute to cancer and other health harms for first responders. One possible improvement would be to update FMVSS 302 to replace the current open flame test with a smolder test that manufacturers can pass without using harmful flame retardants.”

The groups suggested NHTSA follow California in how it replaced an outdated open flame flammability test in 2013 for upholstered furniture with a smolder test that doesn’t require using toxic flame retardant chemicals. The revised standard has been adopted at the federal level and maintains, or modestly increases, fire safety without the need for flame retardants in furniture and most children’s products, the letter states.

“Switching from one flame retardant to another will only perpetuate the problem. Instead, FMVSS 302 should be updated to reflect current fire statistics, vehicle technologies, and knowledge of flame retardant health harms,” said Lydia Jahl, senior scientist at the Green Science Policy Institute, in the release.

The groups have also asked NHTSA to reduce adolescent exposure to flame-retardant chemicals in child car seats. The seats are currently required to meet FMVSS 302 requirements.

While progress is being made, a 2022 study conducted by the Ecology Center’s Healthy Stuff lab found that many car seats, especially those that cost less, still contain hazardous chemicals, according to the release.

According to CR’s analysis of the current marketplace, buying an infant car seat with no flame retardants costs, on average, about $100 more.

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