National Highway Traffic Safety Administration June 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This notice grants the petition of Terrafugia for a temporary exemption from certain FMVSS requirements for tire selection and rims for motor vehicles (FMVSS No. 110), electronic stability control (ESC) systems (FMVSS No. 126), glazing materials (FMVSS No. 205), and advanced air bag requirements (FMVSS No. 208). The basis for the exemption is that compliance with these requirements would cause substantial economic hardship to a manufacturer that has tried in good faith to comply with the standard. This action follows our publication in the Federal Register of a document announcing receipt of Terrafugia's petition and soliciting public comments.

This final rule amends regulations concerning vehicle modifications which accommodate people with disabilities to update and expand a reference in an exemption relating to the Federal motor vehicle safety standard for side impact protection. The expanded exemption facilitates the mobility of drivers and passengers with disabilities.

This document requests comments on data about passenger motor vehicle thefts that occurred in calendar year (CY) 2009 including theft rates for existing passenger motor vehicle lines manufactured in model year (MY) 2009. The preliminary theft data indicate that the vehicle theft rate for CY/MY 2009 vehicles (1.33 thefts per thousand vehicles) decreased by 21.3 percent from the theft rate for CY/MY 2008 vehicles (1.69 thefts per thousand vehicles). 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.

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 has been 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. The Federal Register Notice with a 60-day comment period was published on March 3, 2011 (76 FR 11848). No comments were received. This document describes the collection of information for which NHTSA intends to seek OMB approval. The collection of information described is the ``Consolidated Child Restraint System Registration, Labeling and Defect Notification.'' (OMB Control Number: 2127-0576)

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 reinstatements of previously approved collections. This document describes the collection of information for which NHTSA intends to seek OMB approval.

In accordance with the procedures in 49 CFR Part 555, Tesla Motors, Inc., has petitioned the agency for renewal of a temporary exemption from certain advanced air bag requirements of FMVSS No. 208. The basis for the application is that the petitioner avers that compliance would cause it substantial economic hardship and that it has tried in good faith to comply with the standard.\1\ This notice of receipt of an application for renewal of temporary exemptions is published in accordance with statutory and administrative provisions. NHTSA has made no judgment on the merits of the application.

This document announces receipt by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) of a petition for a decision that 2007 Dodge Durango multipurpose passenger vehicles (MPV) manufactured for the Mexican market (Mexican market 2007 Dodge Durango MPV), 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 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 2007 Dodge Durango MPV,) and they are capable of being readily altered to conform to the standards.

This document corrects or makes minor changes to some of the drawings incorporated by reference into NHTSA regulations by a final rule published on June 16, 2008, concerning a 50th percentile adult male side crash test dummy called the ``ES-2re'' test dummy. The corrections and adjustments to the drawings respond to requests from test dummy manufacturers First Technology Safety Systems (FTSS) and Denton ATD (Denton). This final rule also corrects dimensional errors in a figure 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.