What Does FMVSS 213 Cover?
Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 213 is the federal performance standard every child car seat sold in the U.S. must meet: dynamic sled-impact crash testing, head-injury criteria, harness and buckle performance, and labeling requirements. Manufacturers self-certify compliance.
The one thing to know: FMVSS 213 is the federal crash-test and labeling standard every child car seat sold in the U.S. must meet, including a 2022-added side-impact sled test (FMVSS 213a) — manufacturers self-certify compliance, and it applies to new seats only.
FMVSS 213a — the 2022 side-impact addition
In June 2022, NHTSA added FMVSS 213a, a dedicated side-impact requirement developed with a new dynamic sled test, a purpose-built child test dummy, and new child-injury criteria — expanding the original standard's frontal/rear-focused testing to explicitly cover side-impact crash scenarios.
What FMVSS 213 does not tell you
Passing FMVSS 213 confirms the seat meets the federal crash-test floor when new — it does not tell you when to switch a specific child out of rear-facing, whether a specific used seat is still safe, or how the LATCH system's weight limit applies. Those are separate, related standards covered elsewhere on this site.
Always follow your product's manual and current CPSC/NHTSA guidance; this page summarizes published standards and is not a substitute for them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 213 is the federal performance standard every child car seat sold in the U.S. must meet -- dynamic sled-impact crash testing, head-injury criteria, harness and buckle performance, and labeling requirements.
A 2022 addition to the standard requiring a side-impact sled test, developed with a new child test dummy and injury criteria -- it's an added requirement on top of the original 213 frontal/rear testing.
It applies to seats as manufactured and sold new -- it doesn't independently verify a specific used seat's current condition or crash history, which is one reason Crib Lab doesn't recommend secondhand car seats.
Manufacturers self-certify that their car seats meet FMVSS 213 (and 213a) when tested per NHTSA's procedures, exercising due care in doing so -- there is no separate government pre-approval before sale.