The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) was signed into law on Aug. 14, 2008. The law increased the budget of the Consumer Product Safety Commission and, among other items, imposed new documentation requirements, new testing requirements and established new permissible levels of several substances, lead among them, for consumer products intended for children 12 and under.
Most of the components making up youth powersports products are in compliance with the new law. But some parts unavoidably contain small quantities of lead in excess of the CPSIA limits, such as the valve stems on the tires, aluminum in some brake components, and the terminals on the batteries. Lead in these components is necessary, either because small amounts of lead are needed for safety (such as machining the deep grooves on tire valves, which is needed to assure tire air retention) or functionality (such as the lead in battery terminals, which is needed to conduct electricity).
For weeks, the MIC and SVIA urged the CPSC to grant (and for members of Congress to support) petitions for temporary exclusions so that youth models could continue to be sold. The powersports industry demonstrated in the petitions, through the scientific analysis required by the CPSIA, that the lead-containing parts of youth ATVs and motorcycles pose no risk of increasing the lead levels in children aged 12 and younger.
The powersports industry was unable to seek exclusions until the CPSC issued proposed rules in January 2009.
On Feb. 5, the CPSC denied a request for an emergency stay, made by the National Association of Manufacturers CPSC Coalition, and joined by the MIC and SVIA. The CPSC stated that it did not have authority under the law to grant such a stay.
The CPSIA, however, includes provisions that enable the CPSC to grant exclusions for products on a case-by-case basis. The MIC and SVIA believe that the lead-content provisions of the act, which originally were aimed at toys that can be mouthed by children, were never intended to apply to youth ATVs and motorcycles.
On Feb. 10, the lead-content provisions of the CPSIA went into effect. Powersports companies are now prohibited from selling products that are intended primarily for youth, aged 12 and under, and having lead content in excess of the limits identified in the act.
The industry continues to encourage everyone in the powersports business, and its customers, to support the petitions, now in front of the CPSC, for temporary exclusions so that youth models can once again be sold.