This subseries concerns the regulations for passenger automobiles and other types of vehicles within the United States and its territories. The majority of these safety standards were implemented in the late 1960s after the passage of the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Act in 1966, but the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration continuously developed and refined safety standards regulations throughout Vinson's tenure at the agency. Each safety standard provides minimum performance requirements for a specific aspect of the automobile, such as brakes, headlights, tires, warning devices, seat belts, and crash protection. Federal procedures for enforcing these safety standards and other regulations pertaining to vehicle registration, importation, safety standards exemptions, theft protection, and civil penalties are also included. The folders in this subseries are arranged by the different parts, sections, and safety standards that govern American automobiles. Many of the files contain detailed information about individual safety standard regulations and often include the Federal Register dockets and compliance correspondence associated with each requirement. They also document the development of the motor vehicle safety procedures that worked to address American automobile fatalities and injuries throughout the second half of the twentieth century.