National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NHTSA published a document in the Federal Register of November 20, 2006, concerning a meeting notice for a forum on Human Factors Research Necessary to Support Advanced Vehicle Safety Technologies. The document did not contain the Docket Number.

This final rule amends the agency's regulation on anthropomorphic test devices to add specifications and qualification requirements for a new mid-size adult male crash test dummy, called the ``ES-2re'' test dummy. The ES-2re dummy has enhanced injury assessment capabilities compared to devices existing today, which allows for a fuller assessment of the types and magnitudes of the injuries occurring in side impacts and of the efficacy of countermeasures in improving occupant protection. The agency plans to use the ES-2re dummy in an upgraded Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard on side impact protection.

NHTSA published a final rule in December 2004 that amended the Federal motor vehicle safety standard on brake hoses, and announced an effective date of December 20, 2006. The agency has received several petitions for reconsideration of the rule and a petition to delay the effective date of the final rule. To allow for more time to respond to petitions for reconsideration, and to give industry more time to meet new requirements, this document delays the effective date of the final rule for one year, to December 20, 2007. This decision was made after NHTSA published a notice of proposed rulemaking on November 15, 2006, soliciting public comment on whether the effective date should be extended. All commenters wrote in support of extending the effective date.

This notice solicits public comment on continuation of the requirements for the collection of information on safety standards. 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 a collection of information associated with 49 CFR Part 574, Tire Identification and Recordkeeping.

This notice announces NHTSA's publication of a Technical Report reviewing and evaluating its existing Safety Standard 208, Occupant Crash Protection. The report's title is: An Evaluation of the 1998-1999 Redesign of Frontal Air Bags.

NHTSA announces a meeting of the Federal Interagency Committee on Emergency Medical Services to be held in Washington, DC. This notice announces the date, time and location of the meeting, which will be open to the public.

This notice grants the YES! Sportscars application for temporary exemption from certain advanced air bag requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 208, Occupant Crash Protection. This exemption applies to the YES! Roadster 3.2 and 3.2 Turbo (hereinafter collectively referred to as ``the YES! Roadster''). In accordance with 49 CFR part 555, the basis for the grant is that compliance would cause substantial economic hardship to a manufacturer that has tried in good faith to comply with the standard, and the exemption would have a negligible impact on motor vehicle safety. The exemption for the YES! Roadster is effective September 1, 2006 and will remain in effect until August 31, 2009. In accordance with the requirements of 49 U.S.C. 30113(b)(2), we published a notice of receipt of the application \1\ in the Federal Register and asked for public comments.\2\ We received no comments on the application.

This document announces receipt by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) of a petition for a decision that 1999-2000 Hatty 45 foot double axle 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.

NHTSA published a final rule in December 2004 that amended the Federal motor vehicle safety standard on brake hoses. In early 2005, the agency received several petitions for reconsideration of the rule and a petition to delay the effective date of the final rule. At present, the rule is to take effect on December 20, 2006. To allow for more time to respond to petitions for reconsideration, and to give industry more time to meet new requirements, this document proposes to delay the effective date of the final rule for one year, to December 20, 2007.

Section 402 of title 23 of the United States Code requires the Secretary of Transportation to promulgate uniform guidelines for State highway safety programs. This notice revises six of the existing guidelines to reflect program methodologies and approaches that have proven to be successful and are based on sound science and program administration. The guidelines the agency is revising today are Guideline No. 3Motorcycle Safety, Guideline No. 8Impaired Driving, Guideline No. 14Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety, Guideline No. 15Traffic Enforcement Services (formerly Police Traffic Services), Guideline No. 19Speed Management (formerly Speed Control), and Guideline No. 20Occupant Protection.

This document sets forth the reasons for denial of two petitions submitted to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) requesting the agency to decide that left-hand drive (LHD) 2001-2002 Mitsubishi Evolution VII and 2003 Mitsubishi Evolution VIII LHD passenger cars that were not originally manufactured to comply with all applicable Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) are eligible for importation into the United States. The petitions contended that 2001-2002 Mitsubishi Evolution VII LHD passenger cars are eligible for importation because they have safety features that comply with, or are capable of being altered to comply with, all applicable FMVSS, and that 2003 Mitsubishi Evolution VIII LHD passenger cars are eligible for importation because they are substantially similar to vehicles that were originally manufactured for importation into and sale in the United States and that were certified as complying with the safety standards (the U.S.-certified version of 2003 Mitsubishi Evolution VIII LHD passenger cars), and are capable of being readily altered to conform to those standards.

In July 2003, the agency published a final rule updating our Federal motor vehicle safety standard on glazing materials. As part of that rulemaking, boundaries were established for shade bands on vehicle windshields in order to limit their potential encroachment on the driver's field of view. As part of the new shade band requirements, the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Recommended Practice J100 (rev. June 1995), ``Class `A' Vehicle Glazing Shade Bands,'' was incorporated by reference into the standard. However, in a July 2005 final rule responding to petitions for reconsideration of that earlier rulemaking, the standard's provisions related to shade bands requirements were amended, and as a result, a later but substantively identical version of SAE J100 (i.e., the November 1999 revision) was inadvertently included in the standard. The July 2005 final rule should have referenced SAE J100 (rev. June 1995), the document properly incorporated by reference into the safety standard. This document corrects this inconsistency resulting from administrative error.

In accordance with the procedures in 49 CFR part 555, Panoz Auto-Development Company has petitioned the agency for a temporary exemption from certain advanced air bag requirements of FMVSS No. 208. The basis for the application is that compliance would cause substantial economic hardship to a manufacturer that has tried in good faith to comply with the standard.\1\

This document announces decisions by NHTSA that certain motor vehicles not originally manufactured to comply with all applicable Federal motor vehicle safety standards(FMVSS) are eligible for importation into the United States because they are substantially similar to vehicles originally manufactured for importation into and/or sale in the United States and certified by their manufacturers as complying with the safety standards, and they are capable of being readily altered to conform to the standards or because they have safety features that comply with, or are capable of being altered to comply with, all applicable FMVSS.

This document publishes the final data on thefts of model year (MY) 2004 passenger motor vehicles that occurred in calendar year (CY) 2004. The final 2004 theft data indicate a decrease in the vehicle theft rate experienced in CY/MY 2004. The final theft rate for MY 2004 passenger vehicles stolen in calendar year 2004 (1.83 thefts per thousand vehicles) decreased by 0.54 percent from the theft rate for CY/MY 2003 (1.84 thefts per thousand vehicles) when compared to the theft rate experienced in CY/MY 2003. Publication of these data fulfills NHTSA's statutory obligation to periodically obtain accurate and timely theft data and publish the information for review and comment.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) seeks comments on the economic impact of its regulations on small entities. As required by Section 610 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act, we are attempting to identify rules that may have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. We also request comments on ways to make these regulations easier to read and understand. The focus of this notice is rules that specifically relate to passenger cars, multipurpose passenger vehicles, trucks, buses, trailers, incomplete vehicles, motorcycles, and motor vehicle equipment.

As part of a comprehensive plan for reducing the serious risk of rollover crashes and the risk of death and serious injury in those crashes, this document proposes to establish a new Federal motor vehicle safety standard (FMVSS) No. 126 to require electronic stability control (ESC) systems on passenger cars, multipurpose vehicles, trucks and buses with a gross vehicle weight rating of 4,536 Kg (10,000 pounds) or less. ESC systems use automatic computer-controlled braking of individual wheels to assist the driver in maintaining control in critical driving situations in which the vehicle is beginning to lose directional stability at the rear wheels (spin out) or directional control at the front wheels (plow out). Based on our own crash data studies, NHTSA estimates that the installation of ESC will reduce single-vehicle crashes of passenger cars by 34 percent and single vehicle crashes of sport utility vehicles (SUVs) by 59 percent, with a much greater reduction of rollover crashes. Preventing single-vehicle loss-of-control crashes is the most effective way to reduce deaths resulting from rollover crashes. This is because most loss of control crashes culminate in the vehicle leaving the roadway, which dramatically increases the probability of a rollover. NHTSA estimates that ESC has the potential to prevent 71 percent of passenger car rollovers and 84 percent of SUV rollovers in single-vehicle crashes. NHTSA estimates that ESC would save 5,300 to 10,300 lives and prevent 168,000 to 252,000 injuries in all types of crashes annually if all light vehicles on the road were equipped with ESC systems. ESC systems would substantially reduce (by 4,200 to 5,400) of the more than 10,000 deaths each year on American roads resulting from rollover crashes. About 29 percent of model year (MY) 2006 light vehicles sold in the U.S. were equipped with ESC, and manufacturers intend to increase the number of ESC installations in light vehicles to 71 percent by MY 2011. This rule would require a 100 percent installation rate for ESC by MY 2012 (with exceptions for some vehicles manufactured in stages or by small volume manufacturers). Of the overall projected annual 5,300 to 10,300 highway deaths and 168,000 to 252,000 injuries prevented, we would attribute 1,536 to 2,211 prevented fatalities (including 1,161 to 1,445 involving rollover) to this proposed rulemaking, in addition to the prevention of 50,594 to 69,630 injuries.

This document grants in part and denies in part the Saleen application for an extension of a temporary exemption from the automatic restraint requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 208, Occupant Crash Protection, and grants an additional exemption from the advanced air bag requirements of that standard, both for the Saleen S7. The basis for the request was that compliance would cause substantial economic hardship to a low-volume manufacturer that has tried in good faith to comply with the standard. The extension of the exemption from the automatic restraint requirements is effective September 1, 2006 and will remain in effect until August 31, 2007. The exemption from the advanced air bag requirements is effective September 1, 2006 and will remain in effect until August 31, 2009.

This final rule amends regulations on insurer reporting requirements. The appendices list those passenger motor vehicle insurers that are required to file reports on their motor vehicle theft loss experiences. An insurer included in any of these appendices must file three copies of its report for the 2003 calendar year before October 25, 2006. If the passenger motor vehicle insurers remain listed, they must submit reports by each subsequent October 25.