National Highway Traffic Safety Administration June 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This document announces receipt by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) of a petition for a decision that 2006 Lamborghini Gallardo roadster passenger cars manufactured between January 1, 2006 and August 31, 2006 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 sale in the United States and that were certified by their manufacturer as complying with the safety standards (the U.S.-certified version of the 2006 Lamborghini Gallardo roadster passenger cars manufactured between January 1, 2006 and August 31, 2006,) and (2) they are capable of being readily altered to conform to the standards.

This document announces receipt by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) of a petition for a decision that 2004 Land Rover Range Rover multipurpose passenger vehicles 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 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.

The Commonwealth of Virginia has petitioned for approval of alternate requirements governing certain aspects of the Federal odometer law. NHTSA has initially determined that Virginia's proposed alternate requirements are generally consistent with the purposes of the applicable portion of the federal odometer disclosure law. Accordingly, NHTSA preliminarily grants Virginia's petition. This is not a final agency action.

This proposed decision responds to a petition filed by Mosler Automotive (Mosler) requesting that it be exempted from the generally applicable corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standard of 27.5 miles per gallon (mpg) for model years 2008, 2009 and 2010, and that, for Mosler, lower alternative standards be established. In this document, NHTSA proposes that the requested exemption be granted to Mosler and that an alternative standard of 22.1 mpg be established for MYs 2008 through 2010.

This document responds to petitions for reconsideration of a September 11, 2007 final rule that substantially upgraded Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 214, ``Side Impact Protection,'' by incorporating a vehicle-to-pole test into the standard, adopting technically-advanced test dummies and enhanced injury criteria, and incorporating the advanced dummies into the standard's moving deformable barrier test. To respond to petitioners' concerns about lead time as quickly as possible, the agency is publishing its response to the petitions in parts. Today's document addresses lead time issues, and other matters that need to be resolved or clarified concerning lead time and the phasing-in of the new requirements. A second document will be published subsequently that addresses the other issues raised by the petitions.

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 will be 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. A Federal Register Notice with a 60-day comment period was published on March 28, 2008 (73 FR 16740).

This document denies a petition for rulemaking from the Center for Auto Safety (CAS) asking that we initiate rulemaking to require that any vehicle integrated personal communication systems including cellular phones and text messaging systems be inoperative when the vehicle is in motion.