National Highway Traffic Safety Administration May 11, 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

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 reinstatements of previously approved collections. This document describes one collection of information for which NHTSA intends to seek OMB approval.

Century Products, a Division of Graco Children's Products, Inc. (``Century Products'' and ``Graco''), of Macedonia, Ohio, has appealed a decision by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that denied Century Products' application that its noncompliance with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 213, ``Child restraint systems,'' be deemed inconsequential as it relates to safety. This notice of receipt of Century Products' appeal is published in accordance with NHTSA regulations (49 CFR 556.5 and 556.7) and does not represent any agency decision or other exercise of judgment concerning the merits of the appeal. Dates: Comments must be received no later than June 10, 2005. Addresses: You may submit comments identified by the DOT DMS docket number assigned this notice and listed above, by any of the following methods: Web site: https://dms.dot.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments on the DOT electronic docket site. Fax: (202) 493-2251. Mail: Docket Management Facility; U.S. Department of Transportation, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Nassif Building, Room PL-401, Washington, DC 20590-001. Hand Delivery: Room PL-401 on the plaza level of the Nassif Building, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal Holidays. Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to https:// www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting comments. Instructions: All submissions must include the agency name and docket number or Regulatory Identification Number (RIN) for this rulemaking. Note that all comments received will be posted without change to https://dms.dot.gov, including any personal information provided. You may review DOT's complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register published on April 11, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 70; Pages 19477-78) or you may visit https://dms.dot.gov. Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or comments received, go to https://dms.dot.gov at any time or to Room PL- 401 on the plaza level of the Nassif Building, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC, between 9 am and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal Holidays. For Further Information Contact: For non-legal issues, you may contact Mike Huntley, Office of Crashworthiness Standards, at (202) 366-0029, and fax him at (202) 493-2739. For legal issues, you may contact Christopher Calamita, Office of Chief Counsel, at (202) 366-2992, and fax him at (202) 366-3820. You may send mail to these officials at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 400 Seventh St., SW., Washington, DC 20590. Supplementary Information: Paragraph S5.1.1 of FMVSS No. 213 states that when a child restraint system is tested in accordance with S6.1, it shall ``[e]xhibit no complete separation of any load bearing structural element and no partial separation exposing either surfaces with a radius of less than \1/4\ inch or surfaces with protrusions greater than \3/8\ inch above the immediate adjacent surrounding contactable surface of any structural element of the system.'' A ``contactable surface'' is defined in S4 as ``any child restraint system surface (other than that of a belt, belt buckle, or belt adjustment hardware) that may contact any part of the head or torso of the appropriate test dummy, specified in S7, when a child restraint system is tested in accordance with S6.1.'' Century Products determined that as many as 185,175 child restraints fail to comply with FMVSS No. 213, and filed appropriate reports pursuant to 49 CFR part 573, ``Defect and Noncompliance Responsibility and Reports.'' Century Products also applied to be exempted from the notification and remedy requirements of 49 U.S.C. Chapter 301``Motor Vehicle Safety'' on the basis that the noncompliance is inconsequential to safety. Notice of receipt of the application was published in the Federal Register on May 17, 2002 (67 FR 35188). On October 24, 2003, NHTSA published a notice in the Federal Register denying Century Products' application (Docket No. NHTSA-02-12087, Notice 2; 68 FR 61037; October 24, 2003), stating in part: