Autocar Industries, LLC, Receipt of Petition for Decision of Inconsequential Noncompliance

AGENCY:

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Department of Transportation (DOT).

ACTION:

Receipt of petition.

SUMMARY:

Autocar Industries, LLC (Autocar Industries), has determined that certain model year (MY) 2014-2018 Autocar Xpert trucks do not fully comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 101, Controls and Displays. Autocar Industries filed a noncompliance report dated June 12, 2017, and subsequently petitioned NHTSA on June 19, 2017, for a decision that the subject noncompliance is inconsequential as it relates to motor vehicle safety.

DATES:

The closing date for comments on the petition is September 15, 2017.

ADDRESSES:

Interested persons are invited to submit written data, views, and arguments on this petition. Comments must refer to the docket and notice number cited in the title of this notice and submitted by any of the following methods:

• Mail: Send comments by mail addressed to U.S. Department of Transportation, Docket Operations, M-30, West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590.
• Hand Delivery: Deliver comments by hand to U.S. Department of Transportation, Docket Operations, M-30, West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590. The Docket Section is open on weekdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. except Federal Holidays.
• Electronically: Submit comments electronically by logging onto the Federal Docket Management System (FDMS) Web site at https://www.regulations.gov/. Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
• Comments may also be faxed to (202) 493-2251.

Comments must be written in the English language, and be no greater than 15 pages in length, although there is no limit to the length of necessary attachments to the comments. If comments are submitted in hard copy form, please ensure that two copies are provided. If you wish to receive confirmation that comments you have submitted by mail were received, please enclose a stamped, self-addressed postcard with the comments. Note that all comments received will be posted without change to https://www.regulations.gov,, including any personal information provided.

All comments and supporting materials received before the close of business on the closing date indicated above will be filed in the docket and will be considered. All comments and supporting materials received after the closing date will also be filed and will be considered to the fullest extent possible.

When the petition is granted or denied, notice of the decision will also be published in the Federal Register pursuant to the authority indicated at the end of this notice.

All comments, background documentation, and supporting materials submitted to the docket may be viewed by anyone at the address and times given above. The documents may also be viewed on the Internet at https://www.regulations.gov by following the online instructions for accessing the dockets. The docket ID number for this petition is shown in the heading of this notice.

DOT's complete Privacy Act Statement is available for review in a Federal Register notice published on April 11, 2000, (65 FR 19477-78).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Overview: Autocar Industries has determined that certain MY 2014-2018 Autocar Xpert trucks do not fully comply with Table 2 of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 101, Controls and Displays. Autocar Industries filed a noncompliance report dated June 12, 2017, pursuant to CFR part 573, Defect and Noncompliance Responsibility and Reports, and petitioned NHTSA on June 19, 2017, pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 30118(d) and 30120(h) and 49 CFR part 556, for an exemption from the notification and remedy requirements of 49 U.S.C. Chapter 301 on the basis that this noncompliance is inconsequential as it relates to motor vehicle safety.

This notice of receipt of their petition is published under 49 U.S.C. 30118 and 30120 and does not represent any agency decision or other exercise of judgment concerning the merits of the petition.

II. Vehicles Involved: Approximately 522 MY 2014-2018 Autocar Xpert trucks, manufactured between September 5, 2013 and September 5, 2017, are potentially involved.

III. Noncompliance: Autocar Industries explains that the noncompliance is that the Low Brake Air Pressure telltale for air brake systems displays the International Standards Organization (ISO) symbol for brake malfunction rather than the words “Brake Air,” as specified in Table 2 of FMVSS No. 101. Autocar Industries states that the telltale is accompanied by an audible alert and pressure gauges.

IV. Rule Text: Paragraph S5 of FMVSS No. 101 provides: “Each passenger car, multipurpose passenger vehicle, truck and bus that is fitted with a control, a telltale, or an indicator listed in Table 1 or Table 2 must meet the requirements of this standard for the location, identification, color, and illumination of that control, telltale or indicator.”

Paragraph S5.2.1 of FMVSS No. 101 provides, in pertinent part: “. . . each control, telltale and indicator that is listed in column 1 of Table 1 or Table 2 must be identified by the symbol specified for it in column 2 or the word or abbreviation specified for it in column 3 of Table 1 or Table 2.”

Table 2 appears as follows:

V. Summary of Petition: Autocar Industries described the subject noncompliance and stated its belief that the noncompliance is inconsequential as it relates to motor vehicle safety.

In support of its petition, Autocar Industries submitted the following reasoning:

(a) Autocar Industries notes that the purpose of the low brake air pressure telltale is to alert the driver to a low air condition, consistent with the requirements of FMVSS No. 121, S5.1.5 (warning signal). The ISO symbol for brake malfunction instead of “Brake Air,” an audible alert that occurs in the subject vehicles would alert the driver to an air issue with the brake system. Once alerted, the driver can check the actual air pressure by reading the primary and secondary air gauges and seeing the contrasting color on the gauges indicating low pressure.

(b) NHTSA stated in a 2005 FMVSS No. 101 rulemaking that the reason for including vehicles over 10,000 pounds GVWR in the application of the standard is that drivers of heavier vehicles need to see and identify their displays just like drivers of lighter vehicles. See 70 FR 48295, 48298 (Aug. 17, 2005). Drivers of commercial vehicles conduct pre-trip daily inspections. For vehicles with pneumatic brake systems, the in-cab air brake checks for warning light and buzzer, at 60 PSI, would familiarize the driver with the specific telltale displayed and audible warning in the event a low-air condition occurred during operation.

(c) There are two scenarios when a low brake air pressure condition could exist: a parked vehicle and a moving vehicle. In both conditions, the driver would be alerted to a low-air condition by the following means:

• Red contrasting color of the ISO brake malfunction telltale.
• Audible alert to the driver as long as the vehicle has low air.
• Dual indicator air pressure gauge for the primary and secondary air reservoirs clearly indicating the level of air pressure in the system.
• Red contrasting color on the air gauges indicating pressure below 60 PSI.

The functionality of both the parking brake system and the service brake system remains unaffected by using the ISO symbol for brake malfunction instead of “Brake Air” for the telltale in the subject vehicles.

(d) NHTSA Precedents—Autocar Industries notes that NHTSA has previously granted petitions for decisions of inconsequential noncompliance for similar brake telltale issues. See Docket No. NHTSA-2012-0004, 78 FR 69931 (November 21, 2013) (grant of petition for Ford Motor Company); Docket No. NHTSA-2014-0046, 79 FR 78559 (December 30, 2014) (grant of petition for Chrysler Group, LLC); and Docket No. NHTSA-2016-0103, 82 Federal Register 17084 (April 7, 2017) (grant of petition for Daimler Trucks North America). In all of these instances, the vehicles at issue did not have the exact requirements listed in FMVSS No. 101 table 2. The available warnings were deemed sufficient to provide the necessary driver warning. Autocar Industries respectfully suggests that the same is true for the subject vehicles: the red “BRAKE PRESSURE” telltale, the audible alert, and the contrasting colors on the air pressure gauges are fully sufficient to warn the driver of a low brake air pressure situation.

Autocar Industries concluded by expressing the belief that the subject noncompliance is inconsequential as it relates to motor vehicle safety, and that its petition to be exempted from providing notification of the noncompliance, as required by 49 U.S.C. 30118, and a remedy for the noncompliance, as required by 49 U.S.C. 30120, should be granted.

To view Autocar Industries' petition analyses in its entirety you can visit https://www.regulations.gov by following the online instructions for accessing the dockets and by using the docket ID number for this petition shown in the heading of this notice.

NHTSA notes that the statutory provisions (49 U.S.C. 30118(d) and 30120(h)) that permit manufacturers to file petitions for a determination of inconsequentiality allow NHTSA to exempt manufacturers only from the duties found in sections 30118 and 30120, respectively, to notify owners, purchasers, and dealers of a defect or noncompliance and to remedy the defect or noncompliance. Therefore, any decision on this petition only applies to the subject vehicles that Autocar Industries no longer controlled at the time it determined that the noncompliance existed. However, any decision on this petition does not relieve vehicle distributors and dealers of the prohibitions on the sale, offer for sale, or introduction or delivery for introduction into interstate commerce of the noncompliant vehicles under their control after Autocar Industries notified them that the subject noncompliance existed.

Authority: 49 U.S.C. 30118, 30120: delegations of authority at 49 CFR 1.95 and 501.8.