In 1960s America, puffing on a cigarette behind the wheel was commonplace. Seat belts were rarely worn, and airbags had yet to be introduced. Such driver behaviors and safety shortcomings contributed to the high vehicle fatality rates that plagued those years.
To decrease vehicle crashes and deaths, Congress established the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in 1970. A year later, the new agency introduced a regulation meant to reduce the risk of fires inside cars, especially ones caused by cigarettes and matches. That regulation, Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 302, requires that vehicle components inside the occupant compartment do not burn quickly when exposed to a small open flame.
Unfortunately, there is no evidence that this fire safety regulation has prevented any car fire fatalities. Yet, more than 50 years later—in a time when lighting up in a car is passé—the standard remains unchanged. Worse yet, to meet the standard, automobile manufacturers use cancer-causing flame-retardant chemicals that could harm the health of everyone who rides in a car. These chemicals are added into vehicle seat foam, dashboard plastics, and more, without data to show they are preventing fires or fire deaths.
Flame Retardants Used in Cars Are Linked to Cancer and Other Harms
In a study by Duke University and the Green Science Policy Institute, scientists found cancer-causing flame-retardant chemicals inside the cabins of all the cars they studied—101 recent cars from 22 different brands. Astonishingly, all the cars contained one or more forms of tris flame retardants—the same carcinogenic, neurotoxic chemicals whose use was stopped in baby pajamas in the 1970s, and in furniture and children’s products more than a decade ago.
For the technically-minded, tris (1-chloro-isopropyl) phosphate (TCIPP), a flame retardant under investigation by the U.S. National Toxicology Program as a carcinogen was found in 99 percent of the cars studied. Almost all other cars had other flame retardants present, including tris (1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate (TDCIPP) and tris (2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP), both of which the state of California has identified as carcinogens under their Proposition 65.
On top of cancer, flame retardant chemicals are linked to neurological and reproductive harm. Epidemiological studies have shown that the average child in the United States has lost three to five IQ points from exposure to one flame retardant once primarily used inside cars, furniture, and children’s products to meet ineffective flammability standards. This IQ loss has been estimated to have cost billions of dollars in lost productivity across our population. And worse, a recent study estimated those with the highest levels of this same flame retardant in their blood had about four times the risk of dying from cancer compared with people with the lowest levels.
Particularly vulnerable are children, whose brains are still developing and who breathe more air pound for pound than adults. Automotive workers, rideshare and taxi drivers, and others who spend considerable time in or around cars would also have higher exposures and potentially greater health harm.
The Federal Vehicle Flammability Standard Has No Proven Benefit
In contrast to the health risks, the fire-safety benefit of the standard is not backed by science or data. In research sponsored by NHTSA, General Motors, and the Motor Vehicle Fire Research Institute, fires after simulated crashes—the most common cause of lethal vehicle fires—were found to progress very rapidly once entering the passenger compartment. This suggests that flame retardants in vehicle interiors are not contributing to survivability in post-collision vehicle fires. We also know that the presence of flame retardants can make fires smokier and more toxic, potentially impeding escape and increasing hazard to vehicle occupants, fire fighters, and other first responders.
Fixing This Safety Problem
The good news is that this is a problem NHTSA can and should address by updating its 53-year-old standard. Last week, Consumer Reports, the International Association of Fire Fighters, and the Green Science Policy Institute formally filed a Petition for Rulemaking calling on the automotive safety agency to “Get cancer-causing chemicals out of cars.”
More than a decade ago, California changed a similar 1970s flammability standard for furniture that had led to manufacturers adding flame retardants to the nation’s couches, chairs, and baby products. When it became clear that this outdated furniture flammability standard provided no real-world fire-safety benefits but led to severe health harm, it was updated in 2013 to a modern standard that is met without flame retardants.
Notably, this update has maintained, or even modestly increased, furniture fire safety by stopping smoldering fires before they reach the flammable foam inside furniture. Best of all, furniture and children’s products purchased in the last decade no longer brings toxic flame retardants into our home. Recent research verified that thanks to the updated furniture flammability standard there are now lower levels of cancer-causing flame retardants in U.S. homes.
The outdated federal automobile flammability standard has been exposing drivers, passengers, first responders, and automotive workers to cancer-causing chemicals for half a century without providing a fire safety benefit. NHTSA, the responsible agency, should begin research to find a better test and update this harmful and ineffective vehicle standard as soon as possible—so our cars can be both fire-safe and healthy.
