Department of Transportation March 9, 2022 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), this notice announces that the Information Collection Request (ICR) abstracted below will be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. The ICR describes the nature of the information collection and its expected burden. This is a request for approval for reinstatement of a previously-approved collection of information for NHTSA's Highway Grant Program, which includes State Highway Safety Program grants, the National Priority Safety Program grants, and a separate grant on racial profiling data collection. The purpose of the information collection is to collect information necessary for NHTSA to issue grants to States. To receive grants, a State must submit a Highway Safety Plan (HSP) that supports its qualifications for receiving grant funds. Specifically, the HSP consists of information on the highway safety planning process, performance report, performance plan, problem identification, highway safety countermeasure strategies, planned activities and funding amounts, certifications and assurances, and application materials that cover Section 405 grants and the reauthorized Section 1906 grant. A Federal Register Notice with a 60- day comment period soliciting comments on the following information collection was published on February 9, 2021. NHTSA received three comments. A summary of the comments and NHTSA's response to those comments is provided below.

This document grants in full the Toyota Motor North America, Inc.'s (Toyota) petition for exemption from the Federal Motor Vehicle Theft Prevention Standard (theft prevention standard) for its Lexus IS vehicle line beginning in model year (MY) 2023. The 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.

The FAA is superseding Airworthiness Directive (AD) 2020-12-08 for all Embraer S.A. Model EMB-505 airplanes. AD 2020-12-08 required inspections of the mass-balance weights of the elevators, ailerons, and rudder (flight control surfaces) and their attachment parts, and corrective actions if necessary, and revising the airworthiness limitation section (ALS) of the maintenance manual or instructions for continued airworthiness to incorporate new airworthiness limitations. This AD retains the actions required by AD 2020-12-08 and requires, for certain airplanes, cleaning and weighing certain mass-balances and installation or replacement, as applicable; and for certain other mass- balances for certain airplanes, replacement of those mass-balances. This AD was prompted by a determination that new applicable airplane serial numbers and new criteria for the replacement of affected parts are necessary. The FAA is issuing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products.

The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for all GROB Aircraft SE (type certificate previously held by GROB Aircraft AG) (GROB) Model G 115EG airplanes. This AD results from mandatory continuing airworthiness information (MCAI) issued by the aviation authority of another country to identify and correct an unsafe condition on an aviation product. The MCAI identifies the unsafe condition as in-flight detachment of a rudder actuator hinge bracket. This AD requires repairing the support structure at the attachment to the attachment bolts on certain flight control surfaces, inspecting the support structure at the attachment bolts of all flight control surfaces, and taking corrective actions if discrepancies are detected. The FAA is issuing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products.

In accordance with the procedures governing the application for, and the processing of, special permits from the Department of Transportation's Hazardous Material Regulations, notice is hereby given that the Office of Hazardous Materials Safety has received the application described herein.

This document provides the public with notice that, on February 22, 2022, Metro-North Commuter Railroad (MNR) submitted a request for amendment (RFA) to its FRA-approved Positive Train Control Safety Plan (PTCSP). As this RFA may involve a request for FRA's approval of proposed material modifications to an FRA-certified positive train control (PTC) system, FRA is publishing this notice and inviting public comment on the railroad's RFA to its PTCSP.

In accordance with the procedures governing the application for, and the processing of, special permits from the Department of Transportation's Hazardous Material Regulations, notice is hereby given that the Office of Hazardous Materials Safety has received the application described herein.

FMCSA is withdrawing a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to allow States to permit a third party skills test examiner to administer the Commercial Driver's License (CDL) skills test to applicants to whom the examiner has also provided skills training, a practice now prohibited under FMCSA regulations. FMCSA takes this action after considering the comments received following publication of the NPRM, as explained further below.

The Office of the Secretary of Transportation (OST) invites public comment on projects, issues, or topics that DOT should consider through the Non-Traditional and Emerging Transportation Technology (NETT) Council. Public comments will inform the Department's future efforts with the NETT Council.

NHTSA's New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) provides comparative information on the safety performance of new vehicles to assist consumers with vehicle purchasing decisions and to encourage safety improvements. In addition to star ratings for crash protection and rollover resistance, the NCAP program recommends particular advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) technologies and identifies the vehicles in the marketplace that offer the systems that pass NCAP performance test criteria for those systems. This notice proposes significant upgrades to NCAP, first, by proposing to add four more ADAS technologies to those NHTSA currently recommends. The new technologies are blind spot detection, blind spot intervention, lane keeping support, and pedestrian automatic emergency braking. Other plans on updating NCAP are discussed in the Supplementary Information.