National Highway Traffic Safety Administration December 2007 – 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 reinstatement of previously approved collections. This document describes one collection of information for Part 565, Parts 567 and Part 541 for which NHTSA intends to seek OMB approval.

This notice updates the Conforming Products List (CPL) published in the Federal Register on June 29, 2006 (71 FR 37159) for instruments that conform to the Model Specifications for Evidential Breath Testing Devices (58 FR 48705).

This notice sets forth the reasons for the denial of a petition submitted pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 30162 by Mr. Richard H. McSwain of McSwain Engineering Inc. to NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation (ODI), received June 29, 2007, requesting that the agency commence a proceeding to determine the existence of a defect related to motor vehicle safety with respect to the manual seatback recliner mechanism in model year 1989-1992 Ford Probe vehicles (subject vehicles). After a review of the petition and other information, NHTSA has concluded that further expenditure of the agency's investigative resources on the issues raised by the petition does not appear to be warranted. The agency accordingly has denied the petition. The petition is hereinafter identified as DP07-001.

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 one collection of information for which NHTSA intends to seek OMB approval.

In this final rule, we (NHTSA) address the problem of motor home and recreation vehicle trailer overloading by amending the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) on tire selection and rims. This final rule requires manufacturers of all motor homes and recreation vehicle trailers to provide information to consumers in a label that informs the consumer about the vehicle's load carrying capacity. This information is helpful both at the time the consumer is making a purchase decision and as the consumer uses his or her vehicle. We also require that the size of tires on motor homes and recreation vehicle trailers be the same as the size of the tires listed on the tire information label. In addition, this rule provides regulatory relief for dealers from a labeling requirement in the safety standard on tire selection and rims for light vehicles. The standard's requirement can currently require dealers which add even small amounts of weight to re-label the vehicles. Under today's amendment, any party that adds weight to a completed vehicle exceeding the lesser of 1.5 percent of the vehicle's gross vehicle weight rating or 100 pounds (before first sale to the retail customer) is required to disclose this extra weight on labels affixed to the vehicles. Lesser amounts of weight may be added without changing or adding labels. It is our belief that this rule complements the efforts of the recreation vehicle industry to provide consumers with information in order to help reduce overloading motor homes and recreation vehicle trailers. This rulemaking was initiated in response to a petition from Ms. Justine May.