National Highway Traffic Safety Administration March 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The NHTSA announces a teleconference meeting of NEMSAC to be held in April 2009. This notice announces the date, time and call-in information for the meeting, which will be open to the public. The purpose of NEMSAC is to provide a nationally recognized council of emergency medical services representatives and consumers to provide advice and recommendations regarding Emergency Medical Services (EMS) to the U.S. DOT's NHTSA.

This notice grants the Spyker Automobielen B.V. (``Spyker'') application for a limited extension of a previously received temporary exemption from certain requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 208, Occupant Crash Protection, for the Spyker C vehicle line. In accordance with 49 CFR Part 555, the basis for the grant is that compliance would cause substantial economic hardship to a low-volume 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 is effective through December 15, 2010.

Before a Federal agency can collect certain information from the public, it must receive approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Under the 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.

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.

This document grants in full the petition of Volkswagen Group of America (VW) in accordance with 543.9(c)(2) of 49 CFR part 543, Exemption from the Theft Prevention Standard, for the Audi A3 vehicle line beginning with model year (MY) 2010. 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.

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, Federal agencies must solicit public comment on proposed collections of information, including extensions and reinstatement of previously approved collections. This document describes a request for emergency clearance for a collection of information associated with product plan information to assist the agency in establishing corporate average fuel economy standards for model years 2012 through 2016 passenger cars and light trucks. The establishment of those standards is required by the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, as amended by the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007, Public Law 110-140.

This document announces a decision by NHTSA that nonconforming 1997 and 1998 left-hand drive (LHD) and 1997 through 2001 right-hand drive (RHD) Jeep Cherokee multipurpose passenger vehicles (MPVs) 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 1997 and 1998 LHD and 1997 through 2001 RHD Jeep Cherokee MPVs), and (2) they are capable of being readily altered to conform to the standards.

This document initiates rulemaking to amend Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 111, Rearview Mirrors,\1\ to improve a driver's ability to see areas to the rear of a motor vehicle in order to mitigate fatalities and injuries associated with backover incidents. The agency and Congress are concerned that vehicles have ``blind zones,'' \2\ areas behind the vehicle in which drivers may have difficulty seeing and avoiding a person or other obstacle. Through this notice, NHTSA presents its initial research efforts and solicits additional information that will enable the agency to develop an effective proposal to mitigate backover incidents related to vehicle rear blind zones.

This document proposes to extend by 18 months a requirement that trailers with antilock brake systems be equipped with an external antilock malfunction indicator lamp. It also considers making the requirement permanent. The indicator lamp requirement, which is included in the Federal motor vehicle safety standard that governs vehicles equipped with air brakes, was originally scheduled to sunset on March 1, 2009, but has been extended to September 1, 2009 in an interim final rule published in today's Federal Register. Under our proposal, the sunset date would be extended until March 1, 2011. This rulemaking is in response to a petition from the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA), which has asked that this requirement be made permanent. Extending the sunset date for an additional 18 months would enable the agency to fully analyze CVSA's request that the requirement be made permanent, and avoid a potential confusing time gap in the vehicles subject to the requirement.