National Highway Traffic Safety Administration November 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NHTSA has received a petition asking the agency to extend the comment period for its proposal to upgrade the Federal motor vehicle safety standard (FMVSS) that applies to new pneumatic tires for use on vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) greater than 10,000 pounds and motorcycles. In the proposal, NHTSA established a deadline for the submission of written comments of November 29, 2010. In light of that petition and the need to ensure that all interested parties have a sufficient amount of time to fully develop their comments, the agency is extending the deadline for the submission of written comments by 30 days.

EPA and NHTSA, on behalf of the Department of Transportation, are each proposing rules to establish a comprehensive Heavy-Duty National Program that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase fuel efficiency for on-road heavy-duty vehicles, responding to the President's directive on May 21, 2010, to take coordinated steps to produce a new generation of clean vehicles. NHTSA's proposed fuel consumption standards and EPA's proposed carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions standards would be tailored to each of three regulatory categories of heavy-duty vehicles: Combination Tractors; Heavy-Duty Pickup Trucks and Vans; and Vocational Vehicles, as well as gasoline and diesel heavy-duty engines. EPA's proposed hydrofluorocarbon emissions standards would apply to air conditioning systems in tractors, pickup trucks, and vans, and EPA's proposed nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4) emissions standards would apply to all heavy-duty engines, pickup trucks, and vans. EPA is also requesting comment on possible alternative CO2-equivalent approaches for model year 2012-14 light-duty vehicles. EPA's proposed greenhouse gas emission standards under the Clean Air Act would begin with model year 2014. NHTSA's proposed fuel consumption standards under the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 would be voluntary in model years 2014 and 2015, becoming mandatory with model year 2016 for most regulatory categories. Commercial trailers would not be regulated in this phase of the Heavy- Duty National Program, although there is a discussion of the possibility of future action for trailers.

NHTSA announces a meeting of NEMSAC to be held in the Metropolitan Washington, DC area. This notice announces the date, time and location of 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 document proposes to amend Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 213, Child Restraint Systems, regarding a Hybrid III 10-year-old child test dummy that the agency seeks to use in the compliance test procedures of the standard. This document supplements a 2005 notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) and a 2008 SNPRM previously published in this rulemaking (RIN 2127-AJ44) regarding this test dummy. In the 2005 NPRM, in response to Anton's Law, NHTSA proposed to adopt the 10-year-old child test dummy into FMVSS No. 213 to test child restraints for older children. Subsequently, to address variation that was found in dummy readings due to chin-to-chest contact, NHTSA published the 2008 SNPRM to propose a NHTSA-developed procedure for positioning the test dummy in belt-positioning seats. Comments on the SNPRM objected to the positioning procedure, and some suggested an alternative procedure developed by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI). Today's SNPRM proposes to use the UMTRI procedure to position the test dummy rather than the NHTSA-developed procedure. We note that the 10-year-old child dummy may sometimes experience stiff contact between its chin and upper sternal bib region which may result in an unrealistically high value of the head injury criterion (HIC) \1\ referenced in the standard. Accordingly, NHTSA proposes that the dummy's HIC measurement will not be used to assess the compliance of the tested child restraint. This SNPRM also proposes other amendments to FMVSS No. 213, including a proposal to permit NHTSA to use, at the manufacturer's option, the Hybrid II or Hybrid III versions of the 6-year-old test dummy, and a proposal to use the UMTRI procedure to position the Hybrid III 6-year- old and 10-year-old dummies when testing belt-positioning seats.

This document grants in full the BMW of North America, LLC (BMW) petition for exemption of the Carline X1 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).

In accordance with the procedures in 49 CFR Part 555, Terrafugia, Inc. (``Terrafugia''), has petitioned the agency for a temporary exemption from certain FMVSS requirements for the Transition[reg], a Light Sport Aircraft that has road-going capability. Terrafugia seeks exemption from the FMVSS requirements for tire selection and rims for motor vehicles (FMVSS No. 110), electronic stability control systems (FMVSS No. 126), glazing materials (FMVSS No. 205), and occupant crash protection, specifically advanced air bags (FMVSS No. 208). The basis for the application is that compliance would cause substantial economic hardship to a manufacturer that has tried in good faith to comply with the standard. NHTSA is publishing this notice of receipt of an application for temporary exemption and providing an opportunity to comment in accordance with the requirements of 49 U.S.C. Sec. 30113(b)(2). NHTSA has not made any judgment on the merits of the application.

This notice announces NHTSA's publication of a Technical Report, its existing Safety Standard 223, Rear Impact Guards and Safety Standard 224, Rear Impact Protection. The report's title is: The Effectiveness of Underride Guards for Heavy Trailers.

This document responds to petitions for reconsideration of the agency's May 2007 final rule amending our head restraint standard, and to related petitions for rulemaking. This document also makes technical corrections. The May 2007 final rule was issued in response to petitions for reconsideration of our December 2004 final rule upgrading our head restraint standard. We are partially granting and partially denying the petitions for reconsideration.