Florida Senate - 2024                                     SB 760
       
       
        
       By Senator Hutson
       
       
       
       
       
       7-00443C-24                                            2024760__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to liability on optional equipment;
    3         creating s. 768.0429, F.S.; defining the term “covered
    4         motor vehicle”; providing that there is no obligation
    5         or duty to retrofit a covered motor vehicle with
    6         component parts or equipment in certain circumstances;
    7         providing that certain evidence is inadmissible in
    8         civil litigation; providing applicability; providing
    9         an effective date.
   10          
   11  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   12  
   13         Section 1. Section 768.0429, Florida Statutes, is created
   14  to read:
   15         768.0429 Duty of care and admissibility of evidence in
   16  certain motor vehicle accidents.—
   17         (1) For purposes of this section, the term “covered motor
   18  vehicle” means a motor vehicle for which the owner’s liability
   19  for an accident is governed by 49 U.S.C. s. 30106 (2005).
   20         (2) In any civil action where a covered motor vehicle is
   21  involved in an accident, there is no obligation or duty of care
   22  for an owner, lessor, or operator of the covered motor vehicle,
   23  or for a person renting the covered motor vehicle to another
   24  person, to retrofit the vehicle with component parts or optional
   25  equipment, or to have selected component parts or optional
   26  equipment to be included on the vehicle, if such parts or
   27  equipment were not required by the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety
   28  Standards under 49 C.F.R. part 571 applicable when the vehicle
   29  was manufactured or sold. Evidence related to such an alleged
   30  obligation or duty is inadmissible.
   31         (3) This section does not apply if the owner, lessor, or
   32  operator of the covered motor vehicle, or the person renting the
   33  covered motor vehicle to another person, fails to comply with a
   34  law or regulation issued after the vehicle was manufactured or
   35  sold requiring a mandatory recall or retrofit of the vehicle.
   36         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2024.