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Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 213 specifies requirements for child restraint systems used in motor vehicles and was first introduced by the National Highway Safety Bureau in 1971. In 1981, the standard was modified to require dynamic testing of child restraints. Over the following 21 years, Standard No. 213 was modified on numerous occasions, most recently in June of 2003. This paper outlines the history of Standard No. 213 with a discussion of the changes that have been proposed, the comments submitted to NHTSA in response to these proposed changes, and NHTSA's final decision (rule making) regarding which changes to adopt. Detailed discussion is included regarding NHTSA's May 2002 proposal to change the crash pulse, test dummies, injury criteria, and test bench required as part of the dynamic testing. The 2002 proposal also included expansion of the standard to cover child restraints for children weighing up to 65 pounds.