National Highway Traffic Safety Administration October 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This doclument announces receipt by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) of a petition for a decision that 1999-2005 Ducati ST4s motorcylces 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 (1) they are substantially similar to vehicles that were originally manufactured for importation into and sale in the United States and that were certified by their manufacturer as complying with the safety standards, and (2) they are capable of being readily altered to conform to the standards.

This document denies a petition for rulemaking submitted by Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda), to amend Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 213, ``Child restraint systems.'' Honda requested that FMVSS No. 213 be amended to limit the weight of all child restraint systems used with the 3-year-old dummy. Honda stated that such an amendment would assure the proper operation of weight-based occupant detection systems used to meet the air bag suppression requirements of FMVSS No. 208, ``Occupant crash protection.''

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 April 22, 2005 (70 FR 20962).

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 collection and its expected burden. The Federal Register Notice with a 60-day comment period was published on April 27, 2005 [Vol. 70 FR 21838]. This document describes collection of information for which NHTSA intends to seek OMB approval.

This notice grants in full the petition of Fuji Heavy Industries U.S.A., Inc. (Fuji) for an exemption in accordance with Sec. 543.9(c)(2) of 49 CFR part 543, Exemption from the Theft Prevention Standard, for the Subaru B9 Tribeca vehicle line beginning with model year (MY) 2006. 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.

This document responds to a petition for reconsideration of the August 24, 2004 final rule that amended regulations pertaining to the importation by registered importers (RIs) of motor vehicles that were not originally manufactured to comply with all applicable Federal motor vehicle safety, bumper, and theft prevention standards. The agency is not adopting the changes requested in the petition, except for one asking the agency to allow RIs to import motor vehicles that have been modified to comply with the Theft Prevention Standard and one asking the agency to allow an imported nonconforming motor vehicle to be operated on public roads prior to bond release solely for the purpose of conducting required EPA testing. Also, the agency has decided to eliminate the requirement for applicants for RI status to submit to the agency the social security numbers of its principals.

In response to a petition for rulemaking submitted by Ms. Barbara Sanford, NHTSA published a Request for Comments (RFC) in the Federal Register on January 22, 2003 that included several questions regarding convex mirrors on commercial trucks. The Sanford petition asked the agency to amend our Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) for rearview mirrors to require that all commercial trucks traveling on interstate highways have convex mirrors affixed to their front right and left fenders in order to provide drivers of these vehicles an increased field-of-view during lane change maneuvers, which the petitioner stated is necessary to eliminate a blind spot caused by the elevated position of commercial truck drivers relative to passenger cars. Prior to receiving the Sanford petition, the agency had decided to conduct research on heavy truck mirror systems, including fender- mounted mirrors. For reasons discussed in this document, the agency is withdrawing the RFC and is terminating this rulemaking, because additional research is necessary to assess the potential safety benefits of convex mirrors in this application.