Porsche Cars North America, Inc., Receipt of Petition for Decision of Inconsequential Noncompliance, 412-413 [2019-28371]

Agencies

• National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
• DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 2 (Friday, January 3, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 412-413]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-28371]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[Docket No. NHTSA-2019-0094; Notice 1]


Porsche Cars North America, Inc., Receipt of Petition for 
Decision of Inconsequential Noncompliance

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 
Department of Transportation (DOT).

ACTION: Receipt of petition.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: Porsche Cars North America, Inc. has determined that certain 
model year (MY) 2018 Porsche 911 GT3 motor vehicles do not fully comply 
with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 108, Lamps, 
reflective devices, and associated equipment. Porsche filed a 
noncompliance report dated July 24, 2019. Porsche subsequently 
petitioned NHTSA on August 20, 2019, for a decision that the subject 
noncompliance is inconsequential as it relates to motor vehicle safety. 
This document announces receipt of Porsche's petition.

DATES: The closing date for comments on the petition is February 3, 
2020.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit written data, 
views, and arguments on this petition. Comments must refer to the 
docket number and notice number cited in the title of this notice and 
may be submitted by any of the following methods:
     Mail: Send comments by mail addressed to the U.S. 
Department of Transportation, Docket Operations, M-30, West Building 
Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 
20590.
     Hand Delivery: Deliver comments by hand to the U.S. 
Department of Transportation, Docket Operations, M-30, West Building 
Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 
20590. The Docket Section is open on weekdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 
except for Federal Holidays.
     Electronically: Submit comments electronically by logging 
onto the Federal Docket Management System (FDMS) website at https://www.regulations.gov/. Follow the online instructions for submitting 
comments.
     Comments may also be faxed to (202) 493-2251.
    Comments must be written in the English language, and be no greater 
than 15 pages in length, although there is no limit to the length of 
necessary attachments to the comments. If comments are submitted in 
hard copy form, please ensure that two copies are provided. If you wish 
to receive confirmation that comments you have submitted by mail were 
received, please enclose a stamped, self-addressed postcard with the 
comments. Note that all comments received will be posted without change 
to https://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information 
provided.
    All comments and supporting materials received before the close of 
business on the closing date indicated above will be filed in the 
docket and will be considered. All comments and supporting materials 
received after the closing date will also be filed and will be 
considered to the fullest extent possible.
    When the petition is granted or denied, a notice of the decision 
will also be published in the Federal Register pursuant to the 
authority indicated at the end of this notice.
    All comments, background documentation, and supporting materials 
submitted to the docket may be viewed by anyone at the address and 
times given above. The documents may also be viewed on the internet at 
https://www.regulations.gov by following the online instructions for 
accessing the dockets. The docket ID number for this petition is shown 
in the heading of this notice.
    DOT's complete Privacy Act Statement is available for review in a 
Federal Register notice published on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477-78).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    I. Overview: Porsche has determined that certain MY 2018 Porsche 
911 GT3 motor vehicles do not fully comply with Paragraph S8.1.4 and 
Table I-a of FMVSS No. 108, Lamps, reflective devices, and associated 
equipment. (49 CFR 571.108). Porsche filed a noncompliance report dated 
July 24, 2019, pursuant to 49 CFR part 573, Defect and Noncompliance 
Responsibility and Reports. Porsche subsequently petitioned NHTSA on 
August 20, 2019, for an exemption from the notification and remedy 
requirements of 49 U.S.C. Chapter 301 on the basis that this 
noncompliance is inconsequential as it relates to motor vehicle safety, 
pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 30118(d) and 30120(h) and 49 CFR part 556, 
Exemption for Inconsequential Defect or Noncompliance.
    This notice of receipt of Porsche's petition is published under 49 
U.S.C. 30118 and 30120 and does not represent any Agency decision or 
other exercises of judgment concerning the merits of the petition.
    II. Vehicles Involved: Approximately 2,610 MY 2018 Porsche 911 GT3 
motor vehicles, manufactured between August 30, 2017, and December 21, 
2018, are potentially involved.
    III. Noncompliance: Porsche explains that the noncompliance is that 
the subject vehicles are equipped with rear reflex reflectors that do 
not meet the height requirements as specified in paragraph S8.1.4 and 
Table I-a of FMVSS No. 108. Specifically, the rear reflex reflectors 
are mounted approximately 0.20 inches below the required 15 inches 
above road surface. The actual height is approximately 14.8 inches.
    IV. Rule Requirements: Paragraph S8.1.4 and Table I-a of FMVSS No. 
108 includes the requirements relevant to this petition. The reflective 
devices should not be mounted less than 15 inches, and no more than 60 
inches in height.
    V. Summary of Porsche's Petition:
    The following views and arguments presented in this section, V. 
Summary of Porsche's Petition, are the views and arguments provided by 
Porsche. They have not been evaluated by the Agency and do not reflect 
the views of the Agency.
    Porsche described the subject noncompliance and stated that the 
noncompliance is inconsequential as it relates to motor vehicle safety.
    Porsche submitted the following views and arguments in support of 
the petition:
    1. The installation height requirements of reflex reflectors as 
defined by paragraph S8.1.4 of FMVSS

[[Page 413]]

No. 108 are intended to assure a sufficient luminous intensity of the 
reflex reflectors towards the source of illumination. Although the rear 
reflex reflectors' installation height falls slightly below the 
specified minimum height by 0.20 inches (5 mm), Porsche has confirmed 
that the rear reflex reflectors meet or exceed all applicable FMVSS 
requirements regarding the luminous intensity performance as stated 
under Sec.  571.108, S14 and all other relevant requirements of FMVSS 
No. 108 of paragraphs S8.1 and S8.2. Porsche provided a copy of the 
photometric test results for the rear reflex reflectors, which Porsche 
believes shows that the installation height does not affect the 
performance of the luminous intensity of the rear reflex reflectors or 
the visibility of the subject vehicles.
    2. Porsche is unaware of any accidents, injuries, warranty claims 
or customer complaints related to the slight shortfall of the rear 
reflex reflectors' installation height. The absence of indicant data 
supports the conclusion that the minimal deviation in mounting height 
does not affect the performance of the rear reflectors or the 
visibility of the subject vehicles.
    3. Porsche notes that NHTSA has previously granted a similar 
petition. See 79 FR 69558, November 21, 2014. In that petition, Harley-
Davidson described the noncompliance with FMVSS No. 108 where the rear 
reflex reflectors were mounted an average of 0.3 inches to 0.7 inches 
below the required 15 inch height. NHTSA determined that this 
noncompliance, where the deviation from the specified height was even 
greater than in the present case, was inconsequential to motor vehicle 
safety based primarily on the lack of reduction in conspicuity as 
compared to compliant vehicles. Porsche respectfully suggests that its 
noncompliant vehicles are also equally conspicuous.
    4. The purpose of the FMVSS No. 108 reflex reflector requirement is 
to prevent crashes by permitting early detection of an unlighted motor 
vehicle at an intersection or when parked on or by the side of the 
road, and the height requirement is intended ``to ensure adequate 
reflex reflector performance relative to headlamps that would 
illuminate them.'' See 82 FR 24204 (May 25, 2017). Porsche stated that 
the photometry performance of the reflex reflectors in the subject 
vehicles well exceeds the minimum performance standards outlined in 
FMVSS No. 108, Table XVI. Based on the photometry performance of the 
reflectors in the subject vehicles, and the fact that the vehicles meet 
or exceed the requirements of paragraphs S8.l and S8.2 of FMVSS No. 
108, with regard to reflection performance, Porsche believes the 
vehicles satisfy the safety objectives of the standard.
    5. The noncompliance issue has been corrected in production 
vehicles and all vehicles currently being produced meet applicable 
mounting height requirements.
    6. The mounting height of the reflex reflectors complies with the 
minimum height requirements of the United Nations ECE regulations. 
Those regulations specify a minimum mounting height of 250 mm (9.84 
inches) for rear retro-reflectors. See UN R48, Sec.  6.14.4.2. The 
reflex reflectors in the subject Porsche vehicles, with a mounting 
height of 14.8 inches, are well within this requirement.
    Porsche concluded that the subject noncompliance is inconsequential 
as it relates to motor vehicle safety and that its petition, to be 
exempted from providing notification of the noncompliance, as required 
by 49 U.S.C. 30118, and a remedy for the noncompliance, as required by 
49 U.S.C. 30120, should be granted.
    NHTSA notes that the statutory provisions (49 U.S.C. 30118(d) and 
30120(h)) that permit manufacturers to file petitions for a 
determination of inconsequentiality allow NHTSA to exempt manufacturers 
only from the duties found in sections 30118 and 30120, respectively, 
to notify owners, purchasers, and dealers of a defect or noncompliance 
and to remedy the defect or noncompliance. Therefore, any decision on 
this petition only applies to the subject vehicles that Porsche no 
longer controlled at the time it determined that the noncompliance 
existed. However, any decision on this petition does not relieve 
vehicle distributors and dealers of the prohibitions on the sale, offer 
for sale, or introduction or delivery for introduction into interstate 
commerce of the noncompliant vehicles under their control after Porsche 
notified them that the subject noncompliance existed.

    Authority:  (49 U.S.C. 30118, 30120: Delegations of authority at 
49 CFR 1.95 and 501.8).

Otto G. Matheke III,
Director, Office of Vehicle Safety Compliance.
[FR Doc. 2019-28371 Filed 1-2-20; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4910-59-P