Rulemaking Petition Urges NHTSA to Eliminate Toxic Flame Retardant Chemicals from Cars
January 14, 2025
Consumer Reports, the Green Science Policy Institute, and the International Association of Fire Fighters formally filed a Petition for Rulemaking today to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) calling on the agency to update its outdated flammability standard for car interiors and child car seats. To meet this standard (FMVSS 302), automotive manufacturers add flame retardant chemicals to seat foam and other interior materials. These chemicals are often known or suspected carcinogens, endocrine disruptors, and neurotoxins.
Consumer Reports had previously delivered their consumer petition (now with over 46,000 signatures) along with a letter from 70 additional organizations to NHTSA headquarters, urging the agency to update its 1971 flammability standard for vehicle interiors and consider changing the standard so that it does not lead to the use of harmful chemicals. The organization received no response, and thus the three groups today are formally filing a rulemaking petition. Upon receipt, the agency will have 120 days to make a decision.
The petition is inspired by a peer-reviewed study by Duke University, Green Science Policy Institute, and University of Toronto researchers that tested 101 personal vehicles across 22 brands, revealing that the air inside all tested cars was polluted with harmful flame retardants. The most prevalent flame retardant, found in 100 out of 101 cars and nearly half of foam samples, is tris (1-chloro-isopropyl) phosphate (TCIPP), which the National Toxicology Program recently linked to cancer in rodents. Other flame retardants include TDCIPP and TCEP, which have been on California's Proposition 65 List as carcinogens for decades. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also recently released its TCEP risk evaluation, stating that “TCEP poses an unreasonable risk of injury to human health and the environment. TCEP has the potential to cause kidney cancer, damage the nervous system and kidneys, and harm fertility.”
“It is unacceptable that consumers are exposed every day in their cars to chemicals long known to be carcinogenic,” said Gabe Knight, senior safety policy analyst for Consumer Reports.
The Green Science Policy Institute has highlighted that there is a lack of data demonstrating a fire-safety benefit from meeting the FMVSS 302 standard. When cars do catch fire, the resulting emissions can be especially harmful due to the presence of flame retardants, for both vehicle occupants and firefighters. In a recent statement, the International Association of Fire Fighters 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.” This is an important and often underappreciated effect of flame retardant usage, especially this January, firefighter cancer awareness month.
"Everyone who rides in a car is needlessly exposed to cancer-causing, neurotoxic flame retardant chemicals because of an outdated flammability standard," according to Arlene Blum, executive director of the Green Science Policy Institute. "We hope the incoming administration will support the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in modernizing their 1971 standard so we can have cars that are both fire-safe and healthy.”
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.
"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.
Learn more here about reducing individual exposure, as well as recommendations on reducing flame retardant chemicals in vehicles for automobile manufacturers, NHTSA, and other policymakers.