National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Before a Federal agency can collect certain information from the public, the agency must receive approval from the Office of Management and Budget (``OMB''). Under procedures established by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), before seeking OMB approval, Federal agencies must solicit public comment on proposed collections of information, including extensions and reinstatements of previously approved collections. In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice describes one collection of information for which NHTSA intends to seek OMB approval.

This notice sets forth the reasons for the denial of a petition (Defect Petition DP06-003) submitted on August 24, 2006 by Mr. William B. Jeffers III of Garner, North Carolina to NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation (ODI), requesting that the agency commence a proceeding to determine the existence of a defect related to motor vehicle safety in model year (MY) 2002 to 2006 Toyota Camry and Camry Solara vehicles (the ``subject vehicles'') for incidents relating to vehicle engine surging. After reviewing the concerns raised by the Petitioner and other information, NHTSA has concluded that further expenditure of the agency's investigative resources on the issues raised by the petition is not warranted. The agency, accordingly, has denied the petition.

This document announces receipt by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) of a petition for a decision that 2006-2007 Carrocerias Alcides Cimarron trailers that were not originally manufactured to comply with all applicable Federal motor vehicle safety standards (FMVSS) are eligible for importation into the United States because they have safety features that comply with, or are capable of being altered to comply with, all such standards.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this notice announces that the Information Collection Request (ICR) abstracted below has been forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and comment. The ICR describes the nature of the information collections and their expected burden. The Federal Register Notice with a 60-day comment period was published on November 28, 2006 [68 FR 68887-68888].

Before a Federal agency can collect certain information from the public, it must receive approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Under procedures established by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, before seeking OMB approval, Federal agencies must solicit public comment on proposed collections of information, including extensions and reinstatement of previously approved collections. This document describes an existing collection of information for Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 106, for which NHTSA intends to seek renewed OMB approval.

Section 402 of title 23 of the United States Code requires the Secretary of Transportation to promulgate uniform guidelines for State highway safety programs. NHTSA is seeking comments on proposed amendments to six (6) of the existing guidelines and one (1) new guideline to reflect program methodology and approaches that have proven to be successful and are based on sound science and program administration. The guidelines the agency proposes to revise are as follows: Guideline No. 4 Driver Education; Guideline No. 5 Non-Commercial Driver Licensing (formerly Driver Licensing); Guideline No. 7 Judicial and Court Services (formerly Traffic Courts); Guideline No. 10 Traffic Records; Guideline No. 17 Pupil Transportation Safety; and Guideline No. 21 Roadway Safety. This notice also proposes a new guideline, Guideline No. 12 Prosecutor Training and Outreach. NHTSA has developed Guideline No. 12 because it has found that conducting educational and training outreach to judges and prosecutors is an important element for law enforcement efforts to be truly effective as a deterrent to dangerous driving behaviors. NHTSA believes the proposed revisions and additions will provide more accurate, current and detailed guidance to the States. The guidelines will be made publicly available on the NHTSA Web site.

We are amending our safety standard on door locks and door retention components in order to add and update requirements and test procedures and to harmonize with the world's first global technical regulation for motor vehicles. Today's final rule adds test requirements and test procedures for sliding doors, adds secondary latched position requirements for doors other than hinged side doors and back doors, provides a new optional test procedure for assessing inertial forces, and extends the application of the standard to buses with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of less than 10,000 pounds, including 12-15 passenger vans. Today's final rule also eliminates an exclusion from the requirements of the standard for doors equipped with wheelchair platform lifts.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced a two day Brain Injury Symposium to be held in Washington, DC (Federal Register/Vol. 71, No. 217/ Thursday, November 9, 2006/ Notices). This notice supplements the agenda for the symposium (see the previous announcement for further information, NHTSA-2006-26249:1).

This document announces receipt by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) of a petition for a decision that 1996 BMW K75 motorcycles that were not originally manufactured to comply with all applicable Federal motor vehicle safety standards (FMVSS) are eligible for importation into the United States because they have safety features that comply with, or are capable of being altered to comply with, all such standards.

This notice announces that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is holding a public hearing and is seeking comment on a report titled, ``The New Car Assessment Program Suggested Approaches for Future Program Enhancements.'' The report, published by NHTSA, outlines both near and long-term approaches that the agency is considering to further enhance its New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) crashworthiness and crash avoidance activities to encourage additional safety improvements, and to provide consumers with relevant information that will aid them in their new vehicle purchasing decisions. NHTSA's objective with these approaches is to improve not only overall vehicle safety but the quality of the information that it provides to consumers, especially with the emergence of advanced technologies. This notice requests comments on the possible approaches contained in the report and any additional actions that could be taken to improve motor vehicle safety information for consumers. Additionally, this notice announces the agency's intent to hold a public hearing on its suggested approaches for enhancing the program.

On August 18, 2005, NHTSA published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) proposing to amend our certification regulation to require that, in addition to the vehicle identification number (VIN), a suffix that identified attributes about the bus body be recorded on the certification label of each bus manufactured in two or more stages. The NPRM also proposed a new regulation to require manufacturers of buses manufactured in two or more stages to obtain a manufacturer's identifier and to submit information to NHTSA about the bus bodies manufactured. NHTSA has identified an alternative approach to obtain accurate bus accident data for analysis and safety improvement that it believes is more efficient and less burdensome. Therefore, we are terminating this rulemaking.

This document grants in full the Mitsubishi Motors R&D of America (Mitsubishi) petition for exemption of the Mitsubishi Eclipse vehicle line in accordance with 49 CFR Part 543, Exemption from the Theft Prevention Standard. This petition is granted because the agency has determined that the antitheft device to be placed on the line as standard equipment is likely to be as effective in reducing and deterring motor vehicle theft as compliance with the parts-marking requirements of the Theft Prevention Standard (49 CFR part 541). Mitsubishi requested confidential treatment for some of the information and attachments it submitted in support of its petition. In a letter dated June 26, 2006, the agency granted the petitioner's request for confidential treatment of most aspects of its petition.

This document grants in full the Nissan North America, Inc.'s (Nissan) petition for exemption of the Versa vehicle line in accordance with 49 CFR Part 543, Exemption from the Theft Prevention Standard. This petition is granted because the agency has determined that the antitheft device to be placed on the line as standard equipment is likely to be as effective in reducing and deterring motor vehicle theft as compliance with the parts-marking requirements of the Theft Prevention Standard (49 CFR Part 541). Nissan requested confidential treatment for the information and attachments it submitted in support of its petition. In a letter dated November 2, 2006, the agency granted the petitioner's request for confidential treatment of most aspects of its petition.