Motor Vehicle Manufacturers' Association v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) had issued Modified Standard 208, phasing in mandatory passive restraints (airbags or passive seatbelts) in new cars; after a change in presidential administration, the agency reopened rulemaking, delayed the standard, and ultimately rescinded the passive-restraint requirement entirely, reasoning it could no longer find the requirement would produce significant safety benefits given the auto industry's shift away from continuous-spool automatic seatbelts, even though roughly 99 percent of new cars were still expected to have some form of automatic seatbelt installed.