National Highway Traffic Safety Administration February 2010 – 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 2009 AL Spaw EMA Mobile Stage 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.

This final rule responds to petitions for reconsideration of a February 6, 2007 final rule that amended Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 206 to add and update requirements and test procedures and to harmonize with the world's first global technical regulation for motor vehicles. This is the second of two documents responding to the petitions; an earlier final rule delayed the compliance date of the sliding door provisions for a year. In today's document, the agency is granting some aspects of the petitions while denying other aspects, and makes several technical amendments to the regulatory text.

This document grants in full the petition of Mazda Motor Corporation (Mazda) of the Mazda2 vehicle line in accordance with 49 CFR part 543, Exemption from the Theft Prevention Standard. 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 (49 CFR part 541).

This document proposes corrections or minor changes to some of the drawings incorporated by reference by a final rule, published on June 16, 2008, that responded to petitions for reconsideration of a December 2006 final rule that had adopted specifications and qualification requirements for a new crash test dummy called the ``ES- 2re'' test dummy. The ES-2re is a 50th percentile adult male side impact crash test dummy that will be used in an upgraded Federal motor vehicle safety standard on side impact protection and in the agency's New Car Assessment Program. This NPRM responds to requests from test dummy manufacturers First Technology Safety Systems (FTSS) and Denton ATD (Denton) to correct or make minor adjustments to the drawings of the ES-2re. This NPRM would also correct dimensional errors in Figure 22 of 49 CFR part 572, subpart E, which depicts the pendulum used in the neck qualification tests of several of the crash test dummies, including the Hybrid III and ES-2re test dummies.

This final rule amends the regulations implementing the Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save (CARS) program, published on July 29, 2009 in the Federal Register under the CARS Act. The rule change allows disposal facilities an additional 90 days, for a total of 270 days, to crush or shred a vehicle traded in under the CARS program. This additional time will allow the public to benefit from the availability of lower cost used vehicle parts from vehicles traded in under the CARS program and will provide disposal facilities with an opportunity to derive more revenue from those vehicles prior to crushing or shredding.

This notice announces publication by NHTSA of the 2008 text and data for the annual insurance cost information booklet that all car dealers must make available to prospective purchasers, pursuant to 49 CFR 582.4. This information is intended to assist prospective purchasers in comparing differences in passenger vehicle collision loss experience that could affect auto insurance costs.