Background: Various changes to the regulations under the Motor Vehicle Safety Act (2026)

Introduction

Under the Motor Vehicle Safety Act (MVSA), Transport Canada regulates the safety of motor vehicles and equipment to keep Canadian roads safe. The MVSA imposes safety standards for vehicles and motor vehicle equipment that are imported into Canada, shipped between provinces, or voluntarily labelled with a national safety mark.

We want your comments on 6 (six) regulatory topics we’re considering for changes to the Motor Vehicle Safety Regulations (MVSR), Motor Vehicle Tire Safety Regulations (MVTSR) and the Motor Vehicle Restraint Systems and Booster Seat Safety Regulations (RSSR), hereafter all three regulations will be referred to as the Regulations.

The MVSR includes the Canada Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (CMVSS). Some CMVSS incorporate Technical Standards Document (TSD). A TSD is a document that is published by the Minister, that adapts or reproduces in whole or in part an enactment of a foreign government or material produced by an international organization. Adaptations may include amendments to the content of the originating enactment or material.

Bilingual notice requirements

The MVSA requires that a company^{Footnote 1} that applies a national safety mark to any vehicle or equipment, sells any vehicle or equipment to which a national safety mark has been applied or imports any vehicle or equipment of a class for which standards are prescribed shall give notice to the Minister, the current owner and any other prescribed person for:

any defect in the design, manufacture or functioning of the vehicle or equipment; and,
any non-compliance of the vehicle or equipment.

The notice must be in writing and

in the case of a notice given to the Minister, be in either official language; and
in the case of a notice given to the current owner or a prescribed person
1. be in the person’s official language of choice, if it is known, or
2. be in both official languages.

The requirements for the contents of the notice to current owners or prescribed persons are laid out in the Regulations. In some instances, the Regulations prescribe text that must be in the notice. Currently, the prescribed text is only in the language of that document, either English or French, rather than in both English and French. In these cases, the other half of the prescribed text is in the opposing language Regulation. Given that some companies have requested that any prescribed text be provided in both languages in the Regulations, regardless of the language of the document, we are considering including both the English and French prescribed text for the notice to current owners or prescribed persons in both languages of the Regulations.

Inconsequential non-compliance

In the case that the Minister determines that a non-compliance is inconsequential to safety, as provided in subsection 10.1(3) of the MVSA, the company is not required to give notice to the current owner and any other prescribed person.

Whereas subsection 15.04(1) of the MVSR, subsection 13.04(1) of the MVTSR and subsection 110.04(1) of the RSSR, requires that companies that give notice of defect or non-compliance to the Minister publish prescribed information on the website that the company uses to communicate information directed at the Canadian market. The Regulations are silent on whether this requirement applies to inconsequential non-compliances as well. The intent of this requirement is for defects and non-compliances to be made available to the public.

We are considering amending the publication of information requirements in the Regulations to clarify that companies do not need to post inconsequential non-compliances online.

Digital speedometers

CMVSS 101 - Controls, Tell-tales, Indicators and Sources of Illumination, contains requirements for the vehicle’s speedometer. The requirements in CMVSS 101 were developed before the introduction of digital speedometers. Since digital speedometers have become more prevalent in vehicles, we’re considering amending the speedometer provisions to clarify that digital speedometers that display only one unit of measure at a time, either kilometers per hour (km/h) or miles per hour (MPH), are permitted if the unit of measure displayed is clearly identified. There would be no requirement to display both units simultaneously in either configuration.

Relocate Table

The 2014 amendments to the MVSA amended the TSD definition to allow adaptations and amendments to the content of the originating enactment or material. When amendments were last made to CMVSS 101, prior to 2014, changes were required to the Table at end of TSD 101 - Controls, Tell-tales, Indicators and Sources of Illumination, which had to be reflected in the regulatory text of CMVSS 101. As adaptations to the reproduced content of the TSD can now be made in the TSD itself, we are considering moving the Table found at the end of CMVSS 101 into TSD 101. No changes will be made to the Table during the transition.

Glazing code marking

We are looking to clarify the requirement of CMVSS 205 - Glazing Materials paragraph (13) (b), which contains vehicle glazing marking requirements. CMVSS 205 requires that each piece of glazing be marked with an approved code mark that is assigned by the Minister to each glazing material manufacturer. The marking requirements in CMVSS 205 do not accurately reflect the actual way of obtaining an approved code mark. Currently, CMVSS 205 states that each piece of glazing material installed in a vehicle shall be marked with an approved code mark, assigned by the Minister to the glazing material manufacturer. In current practice, the Minister is not assigning the code mark nor is the Minister approving the code mark. To comply with this requirement, manufacturers use the code mark assigned by the United States Department of Transportation. Since we do not assign nor approve a code mark, we are considering amending paragraph 205(13)(b) to say that manufacturers must use the United States Department of Transportation approved code mark. No other code marking requirements edits are being considered.

Bilingual Technical Standards Documents

TSD 131, School Bus Pedestrian Safety Devices, contains requirements for the stop signal arm. Currently, TSD 131 only allows for the English word “STOP” to appear on the stop signal arm while the allowance for the French word “ARRÊT” to appear on the stop signal arm is in CMVSS 131, School Bus Pedestrian Safety Devices, subsection 131(2) of the MVSR. The last amendment to TSD 131 was in 1999. As adaptations to the reproduced content of the TSD can now be made in the TSD itself, we are considering adding the allowance for the French word “ARRÊT” to the text of TSD 131 and removing subsection 131(2) as it would become a redundant requirement.

In addition to the 6 (six) regulatory topics listed above, we are also considering amendments to 4 (four) English TSDs and 5 (five) French “Document de normes techniques”. These updates would not be made as part of a regulatory amendment but rather be updated as part of the regular TSD update process.

TSDs contain requirements that companies must meet. In some TSDs, there are label requirements. Every required label placed on a vehicle must be bilingual. In some instances, the TSD prescribe the text that must be present on a label. Currently, the prescribed text is only in the language of that document, either English or French, rather than in both English and French. In these cases, the other half of the prescribed label text is in the opposing language TSD making it burdensome for companies to find the required text for the bilingual labels. We have found 5 (five) occurrences of this over 4 (four) TSDs. Given that some companies have requested that any prescribed text be provided in both languages, we are considering amending the 4 (four) English and 4 (four) French TSDs to include the bilingual label text that must be used to improve readability and ease of use of these documents.

TSD/DNT	Sections
105	S5.4.3
110	S4.3
110	S4.3.5
120	S5.3.2
135	S5.4.3

Furthermore, we are also considering the following edits:

TSD 105 – We are proposing to remove the passenger car requirements as CMVSS/TSD 105 do not apply to passenger cars.
TSD 110 – We are proposing to remove the old transitional provision date in S4.1 of TSD 110 as the date has passed and is no longer relevant.

TSD 222 – In the French version of the document only, there is a typo, using “425 W joules” while the English and US text correctly use “452 W joules”. We are also proposing adding a missing space to S5.5(a) between the words “est” and “interdit”. We are considering amending the French TSD 222 to correct these two errors.

How to participate

All Canadians and stakeholders can email feedback to us until March 31, 2026.

Email RegulationsClerk-ASFB-Commisauxreglements@tc.gc.ca and include “Consultation – Various changes under the MVSA (2026)” in the subject line.

Contact us

Standards and Regulations, Road Safety and Vehicle Regulations (ASFBE)
Transport Canada
Tower C, Place de Ville
330 Sparks St
Ottawa ON K1A 0N5
Toll-free telephone: 1-866-995-9737
Local telephone: 613-990-2309
TTY: 1-888-675-6863
Fax: 613-954-4731
Email: RegulationsClerk-ASFB-Commisauxreglements@tc.gc.ca. Include “Consultation – Various changes under the MVSA (2026)” in the subject line.

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