The Kneeslider

Doers Builders and Positive People

CPSC Recommends No Motorcycle Exemption

By

The lead law which has virtually shut down the youth motorcycle and ATV industry will remain in effect unchanged if the Consumer Product Safety Commission has any say in the matter. For those who thought the CPSC might be scrambling to fix it after the effects became apparent, think again.

The staff of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is recommending that the agency refuse to grant an exemption for youth-model off-road motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles (ATV) from a new anti-lead law.

They admit potential lead exposure from motorcycles and ATVs is practically nonexistent, but, they don’t seem to be concerned.

With one stroke of the regulatory pen, an estimated $100 million of inventory can’t be sold, and the industry loss may reach $1 billion.

“90% of the youth fatalities and injuries on motorcycles occur when kids ride adult vehicles.” Those are what kids will ride if the CPSC ban stays in effect.

“We’re from the government, we’re here to help.” … Right.

Link: AMA
Link: Wall Street Journal

UPDATE: A news release from the CPSC today says the Acting Chairman Nancy Nord has voted to delay enforcement for one year. Another vote to delay is still needed.

Full press release below:

STATEMENT OF ACTING CHAIRMAN NANCY NORD ON THE REQUEST FOR EXCLUSIONS FROM THE LEAD CONTENT LIMITS OF THE CONSUMER
PRODUCT SAFETY IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 2008
April 3, 2009

In considering exclusions, consumer safety must direct the outcome of our deliberations. Therefore, it is with extreme reluctance that I am voting today to deny the petition, filed by companies and associations representing the ATV and motorized bike industries, for an exclusion from the lead content limits found in Section 101 of the Consumer Product Safety Improvements Act (CPSIA). I do this because the clear language of the law requires this result, not because it advances consumer safety. To the contrary, application of the lead content mandates of the CPSIA to the products made by the petitioners may have the perverse effect of actually endangering children by forcing youth-sized vehicles off the market and resulting in children riding the far more dangerous adult-sized ATV’s.

For this reason, in my capacity as chairman, I am directing compliance staff to stay enforcement of Section 101 and related provisions of the CPSIA to this category of products for twelve months and hope my colleague, Commissioner Moore, will join me in making this a unanimous decision by the Commission. During this time-out, it is my hope that Congress will consider how the law needs to be fine-tuned to address this serious child safety dilemma. This enforcement hiatus will also give industry the opportunity to examine what reasonable changes can be made in their products to bring them closer to the requirements Congress set out in the CPSIA. Staff will meet with industry to do more testing to determine how their products can meet the 300 ppm threshold Congress set and determine what is possible. I will expect periodic status reports on progress to this plan.

It is clear that the law does not give the Commission the flexibility to grant an exclusion for petitioners’ products. Congress wrote Section 101(b) in such a way as to leave little discretionary power with the agency to grant common sense exclusions. This lack of flexibility was brought to the attention of Congressional staff working on the legislation during the conference process and it was confirmed this is what was intended. As our career staff has discussed on many occasions and as we now have been formally advised
by staff, we do not have the statutory authority to grant the exclusion requested in this case.

Even though the career staff of the agency has concluded that we cannot grant the exclusion, they have NOT concluded that petitioners products present a health risk to children because of exposure to lead. To the contrary, staff states “a bigger safety concern than lead exposure is that the elimination of youth ATV sales will most likely increase the number of adult ATV’s purchased to be used by younger children; therefore increasing their risk of injury and death.”

The issues presented to us in the petition are much more complex than just ordering petitioners to “get the lead out” of their products by a certain date. Petitioners have presented persuasive evidence that lead serves a purpose in the structural integrity of the metals used in the products and that suitable substitutes are not available. They point out the impracticality of using virgin materials for these products, including issues dealing with the recycling of metals. They point out that the approach in the CPSIA is contrary to the approach taken in the rest of the world, e.g. the European Union which has looked at these issues rather extensively and made allowances. These are all issues that the Commission should have the authority to consider but under the rigid language of the CPSIA, we cannot.

The effect of denying the petition is to make Section 101(e) of the CPSIA, which limits the Commission’s authority to stay enforcement during rulemaking, no longer applicable. Therefore, during the pendency of a stay of enforcement, ATV’s and motorized bikes appropriately sized for children twelve and younger can again be available and the Commission will not seek penalties for violation of Section 101 and related provisions of the CPSIA against those who sell them. I hope that the state attorneys general will follow the lead of the agency on this matter.

All stakeholders—industry, users, Congress, and the Commission—need to come together to fix the statutory problems that have become so apparent, in a common sense approach that does not unnecessarily burden those regulated, yet provides safety for American families.

Link: CPSC

Comments

  2. Can you sue the Government? Do you elect the regulaters ? Obviously No, The Bikers saw this sort of thing coming 30 years ago with the helmet laws, Nobody cared ! This is the same mindset that brings you Earth Hour that is celebrated in the Media. Is this decline into Nannyism Stopable ???

  3. It’s time to split the US in half and put the liberals on one side in their protective bubbles and the conservatives on the other. I’ll hold on to my guns, my religion, and my lead contaminated motorcycle. I might even gnaw on a couple of window sills to get some of the lead paint off my old shed just to despise how over-regulated the US has become.
    Oh yeah and I forgot…in the meantime….
    The liberals can keep the homeless, homeboys, hippies and illegal aliens.

  4. I’ll tell ya’ what is frustrating, my family owns a Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Polaris and Can-Am dealership. We’ve got small bikes littering our floor all because they’ve got a smidge of lead in them. I really like how they conclude that there’s more lead exposure from drinking water than from handling a motorcycle. So what are they going to do next? Make us change all the piping in our homes to lead free ones? I’m tired of these socialistic ideals that are ruining this country and our freedom. But, I guess “we” get what “we” vote into office.

  5. Maybe the manufactures can change their marketing to target dwarfs and others of short stature. Then maybe a normal sized person could buy them for their ‘dwarf’ family members.

  6. Not all safety regulations are bad. And removing lead from children’s toys is a good thing. But this law is badly written. It’s going to ruin an awful lot of good businesses, from youth motorcycles to small toy manufacturers and crafters. It’s a shame that people are seizing on one poorly-written law as an opportunity to reject all regulation or to insult liberals.

  7. I’m used to this kind of crap out here in California, another example of “over regulation trumping common sense”. Thats why we pay so much more for gas!!!!

  8. It was not meant as an insult or to personally attack liberals. It’s funny how people are so easily offended now a days. But in turn, I did get you to comment. I am an environmentalist and volunteer my time towards biological studies involving climate change and human impacts. I do believe in this day and age with our consistently growing poplulations that things need to be regulated, but responsibly regulated and developed through well thought out regulations. Unfortunately, it’s a well known fact that over regulation is stipulated by a democratic majority and that most of these regulations are not well thought out before they are implemented. I closely watch thoughtless environmental bills become laws, only to be broken by the state that rubber stamped them because they are completely unenforceable and not properly funded.

  10. There’s a reason why we have the right to protect ourselves from our government.

    If this affected one of those officials on a personal level, the playing field might be a little different. Go Malcolm Smith!!

  11. Nationalism, Socialism, Neo-cons, Facism, NWO, Big brother..all important labels to describe this time in history..personally i would rather live free than die a slave, does 1984 ring a bell? pull that head set that clearly operates your brain out of your ear, slowly insert it up your arse, and wake up!!! What is the meaning of life if your not free to live it?

  12. “It’s funny how people are so easily offended now a days. But in turn, I did get you to comment”

    No one said they were offended (another error in the perception towards liberated minds). Comment? Yes, because you are completely wrong to assume this is only from the left.

  14. time for modern Boston Tea Party. call it The DC Lead Fest. all the dealers with left over inventory need to band together and take all these bikes they can’t sell and park them dowtown DC. right in the middle of the streets. clog them all up so traffic can’t move. roll in at like 3:00 am and dump them all in the streets.

  15. can anyone answer a simple, factual question?

    the communications i got from the AMA on the subject indicated that the reason that motos failed the lead levels test was because of the lead content inthe vehicle’s starter battery.

    is this true, or are other parts of these bikes failing lead level tests? if its just the freaking battery, for god’s sakes, then people under twelve would be prohibited under the same reason from having anything to do with anything with any internal combustion engine. i sent messages to my representative and this simple point seemed to go right by them.

  16. Boo, CPSC! Boo! Shame on you for recognizing the hardships your actions will cause and then turning a blind eye. Boo!
    You can have my child’s youth model off road motorcycles and all terrain vehicles when you pry them from his/her cold, dead hands.
    Sorry. That was in poor taste.
    …tee-hee.

  17. Chris and zip… what is the difference in the parties in Washington? And no mater the president, agencies like this have bureaucrats that never change, and just look at a new majority as a passing wind they have to be bothered by, as they exercise their power over all of us by putting non-voted laws into effect, making good people into criminals, and very, very rarely ever helping any one person.

  18. So why aren’t they sold as “pocketbikes” to “adults”? Or minus the offending parts? Or “For display use only”? That isn’t a youth motorcycle, it is a 1/2 scale model!

    While I despise the fascim behind this, there are plenty of easy ways around it. The publicity sure won’t hurt the sport.

  19. I find Nancy Nord’s statement fascinating. Clearly the CPSC is being so intransigent because they have no other choice. I do not envy that woman her job — imagine being stuck in the position of having to enforce a law that you agree is poorly written and likely to cause more harm than it prevents.

    Obviously the solution to this problem needs to come from Congress. Hopefully they’ll revisit this legislation and clean up the mess they’ve made.

  20. Yeah, because government can fix everything. Well, maybe in this case they can shut some folks down, but I dont see that happening unless there is cash involved. For them.

  21. I’m with “nobody”. When I go to the store to buy something how does the government know who I’m buying it for? Does this mean that I, a 36 year old tax paying citizen cannot buy a motorcycle or quad under a certain size? How do they determine which items are “youth oriented? I know 12 year olds that ride 450’s and 60 year olds that ride 90’s. Is it based on capacity? Is it based on wheel size? I don’t see how they can even enforce it anyway. I don’t see anything to worry about.

    I can go buy cigarettes, explosives, guns, sharp pointy things, alcohol… but I can’t buy a 90cc quad?!?!

    -todd

  22. The reasoning from Jon, Nobody and Todd is interesting. Perhaps the whole idea of labeling anything as “youth” is the problem. Toys R Us becomes an adult hobby store and youth motorcycles are for short adults. The toy industry shuts down and products for a diverse adult clientele are offered.

    Unfortunately, many in government treat the general public as children so we might end up with regulations like these for everyone.

    As Azzy notes, laws can turn good people into criminals and when law abiding citizens are treated like criminals because they’ve violated some overzealous and intrusive regulation, those same citizens begin to look at laws differently.

    The vast majority of people need to voluntarily comply with our laws for our legal system to work. Real criminals already ignore the law. If too many good people, as a result of too many laws, begin to pick and choose or simply ignore what they believe is unjustified, things can fall apart rather rapidly.

    “That government is best that governs least.” Thomas Jefferson

  23. Looks like the other real issue is Section 101(e) of the CPSIA. How about changing the language in Section 101(e) of the CPSIA to allow exemptions/allowances. Or is there good reason to leave it as is?

    This whole situation is one big joke. I cannot imagine the number of children sick/dead from lead poisoning is large enough to deem this law a necessity. More than likely this law is lining somebody’s pockets with gold. Somebody prove me wrong.

  24. “Obviously the solution to this problem needs to come from Congress.” ~ mark 04.03.09 at 2:23 pm

    Great. Now we’re screwed.

  25. I love reading Todd’s comments. Always on point. There’s no logic in Congress, only paper shuffling, and it’s all reactive legislation as opposed to proactive. Diligent marketers will find a way around the absurd regulation, and I’m sure once they slap a few more stickers on the ATVs, everything will be back to normal. Besides, lead acid batteries could be replaced in that market with something less toxic.

    Did you know that current EPA emissions testing requires test labs to use bottled oxygen now because the air coming out of the tailpipe is cleaner than the air we breath? How’s that for absurd?
    -brian

  26. “Did you know that current EPA emissions testing requires test labs to use bottled oxygen now because the air coming out of the tailpipe is cleaner than the air we breath? How’s that for absurd?”

    can you post a link that explains this?

  28. I new someone was going to call me out on that, I should’ve known better. I’ll look for link, but basically I heard it directly from a reputable source involved with EPA vehicle test methods.

  29. Guys & Gals,
    Did you not read the response from the Commisioner closely? She is not going seek penaties from anyone during the 1 year period, and she asked the State AG’s to ignor anyone selling products to do the same, because of the danger of kids using large ATV’s. She gets it, I read the law, there is no wiggle room. Now is the time to flood Congress & Senate with letters, WITH NO LET UP. Make this your years goal to hound your elected officials. Drive them nuts with LETTERS, NOT EMAILS. EVERY LETTER HAS TO BE OPENED AND ANSWERED. Our goal should be one million letters. That’s only 5 per rider in the USA. It’s time to really get organized!

  30. “90% of the youth fatalities and injuries on motorcycles occur when kids ride adult vehicles.”

    What has that to do with lead in the product? Can you even use that as an argument to defend a porely written law, about some toxic substance in cerain products? I dont see the connection…

  31. I’m an outsider looking in, but this seems so absurd.

    Maybe instead of giving President Obama some bikes, give them to his kids…. oh, wait

  32. Just a clarification. The law will not allow Toy R Us to become an adult hobby shop or a 90cc quad etc to be sold as adult pocket whatevers. It has a very wide scope as it includes anything what a reasonable person would think was intended for a child under 12. Rather ambiguous and crapy. I will build my children a motorcycle that fits them if I have to, but my time is valuable and I would rather buy one designed for them.
    My wife is a toxicologist and was also shocked with the poorly thought out and miserably executed law. I agree that we all need to flood DC with letters and phone calls. Please. Good luck to all.
    Peace.

  33. If you have to pay to register and title an ohv with the state it was purchased in how can they call in a toy?