By 2027, all cars in the U.S. must tell you who is buckled up in each seat.
The new requirements coming from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration apply to passenger cars, trucks, and buses, except school buses, and multipurpose passenger vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating of up to 10,000 pounds. Currently, seat belt warnings are only required for the driver, but many auto-makers already have backseat warnings in their cars.
Arizona state law says drivers and riders in the front seat must wear their seat belts, but even with the new rule change, riders in the backseat over the age of 16 don’t have to buckle up in Arizona.
Even though it’s not the law, Lisa Levine’s sons know they need to buckle up in the car no matter what seat they’re in.
“I don’t even have to tell them to buckle up," Levine said. "Since they started driving, they always put their seat belts on.”
Cathy Chase, with the Advocates for Highway & Auto Safety, says you don’t want to be unbuckled in the back seat in a crash.
“It’s commonly referred to as ‘back seat bullets’ — you can go flying into the front seat," Chase said.
According to the Arizona Department of Transportation's 2023 crash data, passengers who are not wearing seatbelts are 34 times more likely to die in a crash than passengers who do.
Chase says the new national seat belt warning regulation could bring state-level change.
“We’re hoping this new rule inspires states like Arizona that don’t have an all-occupant primary enforcement law to take action on it," Chase said.
The new rule comes as AAA of Arizona released a study saying two of every three drivers admit to dangerous driving habits, which is just another reason to buckle up.
“It makes the job of people doing everything right a lot harder when there are people driving aggressively on the road," Spokesperson Julian Paredes said.
The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration hopes their new warning rule will save 50 lives a year.
