19 Months Past the Deadline

The November 15, 2024 Deadline

Section 24220 of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, signed in November 2021, directed NHTSA to issue a final rule "prescribing an FMVSS that requires passenger motor vehicles manufactured after the effective date of that standard to be equipped with advanced drunk and impaired driving prevention technology" [1]. The statute set a final rule deadline of November 15, 2024.

The law also added a backstop: if NHTSA does not issue a rule by that date, the agency must submit a report to Congress explaining the reasons for the miss, and must do so annually thereafter until either a final rule is published or ten years have elapsed from the date of enactment [1]. That report has been filed. Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), joined by other traffic safety organizations, issued a public response in April 2026 calling NHTSA's progress "deeply disappointing" and the lack of a timeline unacceptable [3].

The 19-month gap between the missed deadline and the date of this article is not a clerical delay. The statute gives the agency until ten years from enactment (November 2031) to either finalize a rule or let the mandate lapse. The September 2027 enforcement date in the law is a "no later than" date keyed to the FMVSS effective date plus three years. With no effective date, the clock has not started.

What NHTSA Has Actually Done

The rulemaking is docketed as NHTSA-2022-0079, "Advanced Impaired Driving Technology," under RIN 2127-AM50. The docket category is Rulemaking, the disposition is Pending, and the most recent modification date is June 9, 2026 [2].

The substantive agency activity since the November 2024 deadline, by date:

• January 5, 2024: NHTSA published the ANPRM, "Advanced Impaired Driving Prevention Technology," at 89 FR 830. The ANPRM opened the public comment period and asked technical questions about passive driver monitoring, breath sensors, touch-based sensors, and standardized telltales for impairment detection [1].
• July 2024 onward: Comment period closed. Per the Federal Register's public comment tally, 18,367 comments were submitted to the ANPRM, making it one of the most-commented NHTSA dockets of the last decade [1][4].
• Throughout 2024 and 2025: NHTSA continued meeting with industry and academic stakeholders. Docket entries include memoranda of meetings with SobrSafe (October 2024), Oakland University and Mitsubishi Electric (July 2024), and Optalert (January 2025), among others [2].
• December 15, 2025: NHTSA published a separate Paperwork Reduction Act notice, "Advanced Drunk Driving Prevention Technology Telltale Development" (90 FR 58079), seeking public comment on a new information collection supporting "the development and evaluation of an advanced drunk driving prevention technology telltale" [5]. The notice is procedural: it asks OMB for approval to collect the data NHTSA needs to design and test a dashboard indicator. It is not the FMVSS rule itself.
• April 2026: NHTSA's statutorily required report to Congress on the missed November 2024 deadline was filed. MADD's April 30, 2026 statement, signed by traffic safety organizations, summarized the report as acknowledging that the Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety (DADSS), the public-private partnership between NHTSA and automakers, would be ready by the end of 2025, but that the agency provided "no timeline for completing the FMVSS" [3].
• June 9, 2026 (4 days before this article): Docket entry NHTSA-2022-0079-18349 records a memorandum of a meeting between NHTSA staff and the group Driven By Safety. The memorandum was posted to the public docket on the same day [2].

What is not in the docket, as of June 13, 2026: a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), a Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (SNPRM), a Final Rule, or a withdrawal of the rulemaking. A Federal Register search of NHTSA publications between December 15, 2025 and June 13, 2026 returns no new documents on RIN 2127-AM50.

The Stalemate the MADD Letter Describes

The April 2026 traffic safety letter to USDOT, signed by MADD and other organizations, put the deadlock plainly: "NHTSA's report, however, suggests the agency is waiting for automakers to voluntarily install the technology in new cars, which undermines the clear intent of the Congressional mandate. Meanwhile, automakers are waiting for NHTSA to provide the necessary leadership by issuing the FMVSS when companies could save lives now by equipping new vehicles with the technology" [3].

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety estimates that a DADSS-type system would save more than 10,000 lives every year when fully implemented [3]. The MADD letter also cites a 33% increase in drunk-driving deaths since 2019, with a death or injury from an impaired driver every 78 seconds in the United States, or roughly 37 lives lost per day [3].

The underlying technical bet is that the DADSS breath and touch sensors are ready for production, but that the rest of the system (the FMVSS performance requirements, the standardized telltale, the test procedures, the phase-in schedule) is not yet defined. NHTSA's December 2025 telltale information collection is the procedural step that would let the agency design that piece. A telltale is the dashboard indicator that lights up to tell the driver the impairment system has engaged, restricted vehicle operation, or shut down the car.

What the December 2025 Telltale Notice Actually Does

The December 15, 2025 Federal Register notice (90 FR 58079) is an "Agency Information Collection Activities; Notice and Request for Comment" under the Paperwork Reduction Act. The notice describes a proposed information collection "for which NHTSA intends to seek OMB approval on the development and evaluation of an advanced drunk driving prevention technology telltale" [5].

That is one specific deliverable in the broader rule: a standardized dashboard telltale. The original January 2024 ANPRM asked the public whether industry already has standardized telltales for impairment systems that NHTSA should consider, or whether a new standardized symbol needs to be developed [1]. The December 2025 notice is the next step: it is the data collection NHTSA needs to actually design and test that symbol.

It is not a sign that the rule is imminent. The Paperwork Reduction Act clearance process, from notice to OMB approval, typically takes 6 to 12 months. Once the information collection is approved, NHTSA still needs to publish a proposed rule, take public comment on it, address the comments, and publish a final rule. Each of those steps is a separate Federal Register publication. None of them has been initiated on RIN 2127-AM50 as of June 13, 2026.

What the Law Still Says

Section 24220 requires the FMVSS to apply to "passenger motor vehicles manufactured after the effective date of that standard." The statute ties the September 2027 enforcement date to a three-year phase-in window from the FMVSS effective date [1]. With no FMVSS effective date set, the September 2027 date is the outside bound, not the actual deadline.

The law is also explicit about what "advanced drunk and impaired driving prevention technology" means. It can be a passive driver monitoring system that detects impairment, a passive system that detects blood alcohol concentration above the per-se limit, or both. "Passive" means the system works without any action from the driver. No breathalyzer tube. No button press. Just sensors, cameras, and software deciding whether you are fit to drive.

The privacy architecture is not specified in the statute. The ANPRM solicited public comment on what data the systems should collect, how long the data should be retained, whether the data should be available to law enforcement under subpoena, and what consumer opt-out rights (if any) should exist. The agency has not yet proposed answers to any of those questions in a draft rule.

What to Watch in the Next 90 Days

Four signals to look for, in rough order of likelihood:

1. OMB approval of the telltale information collection. The December 15, 2025 notice is in the standard Paperwork Reduction Act pipeline. An OMB approval decision typically shows up in the Federal Register as a follow-up notice within 6 to 12 months of the original request. The agency has not yet published the approval.
2. New docket meetings or technical working group memos. The June 9, 2026 Driven By Safety meeting memo shows NHTSA is still taking industry meetings. Continued meetings do not signal a proposed rule, but a sudden end to the meetings would.
3. Any withdrawal or extended delay announcement from NHTSA. A formal notice of extended delay or a request for an additional comment period would signal the agency is aware it is past the implicit timeline and is restructuring the rulemaking.
4. Congressional pressure. The annual report to Congress that NHTSA is required to file (under the backstop provision of Section 24220) is now a standing record. If Congress decides to add a binding interim deadline, the rulemaking will accelerate. There is no such bill publicly circulated as of June 13, 2026.

What the rulemaking is not doing, as of this article: it is not on a Final Rule track. The published regulatory agenda and the docket activity show the agency still in the pre-NPRM engagement phase, 19 months past the statutory deadline and 15 months from the statutory backstop enforcement date.

The Bottom Line

The federal government told NHTSA in 2021 to put anti-drunk driving technology in every new car, and gave the agency three years to write the rule. NHTSA missed the deadline. It collected 18,367 public comments, opened a single information collection on a dashboard telltale, filed a statutorily required report to Congress, and continued meeting with industry. It has not published a proposed rule. The September 2027 enforcement date in the law has not started, because no FMVSS has been issued.

If you are buying a new car in the next 18 months, the federal impaired driving mandate will not affect your purchase. The privacy fight over the data those systems would collect is also on hold, because the systems are not yet required. The rule is in regulatory limbo, and the public comment record shows that everyone with a stake (insurers, automakers, civil liberties groups, victims' families) has already had their say. What is missing is a draft rule for them to react to.

References

1. Federal Register: Advanced Impaired Driving Prevention Technology ANPRM (89 FR 830, January 5, 2024). The official notice opening the rulemaking, citing Section 24220 of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the November 15, 2024 deadline, the report-to-Congress backstop, and the 18,367-comment public comment tally.
2. Regulations.gov: Docket NHTSA-2022-0079, Advanced Impaired Driving Technology (RIN 2127-AM50). The active rulemaking docket. Category: Rulemaking. Disposition: Pending. Most recent modification: June 9, 2026.
3. MADD, April 30, 2026: Traffic safety organizations to USDOT, "deeply disappointed" by NHTSA progress (Wayback Machine capture of the press release). The traffic-safety coalition response to NHTSA's report to Congress, including the 78-second drunk-driving death/injury cadence, the 33% increase since 2019, the 37-lives-per-day figure, and the DADSS-ready-by-end-of-2025 acknowledgement.
4. Regulations.gov API: NHTSA-2022-0079 comments index (18,319 docket entries, 18,367 Federal Register tally). The live comment feed. The Federal Register page reports 18,367; the regulations.gov API reports 18,319 docket entries, with the gap likely reflecting agency-side redactions and withdrawn submissions.
5. Federal Register: Advanced Drunk Driving Prevention Technology Telltale Development (90 FR 58079, December 15, 2025). The Paperwork Reduction Act information collection request supporting the dashboard telltale design work.
6. NHTSA: Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Overview. The agency's landing page for the IIJA implementation, including the impaired driving prevention technology mandate.
7. Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety (DADSS) program. The public-private research partnership developing the breath and touch alcohol sensors. MADD's letter notes NHTSA acknowledged DADSS will be ready by the end of 2025.
8. Congress.gov: H.R. 3684, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (full text, 117th Congress). The statute containing Section 24220.