Toyota Motor North America, Inc.; Grant of Petition for Temporary Exemption from an Electrical Safety Requirement of FMVSS No. 305 |
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David J. Friedman
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
2 January 2015
[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 1 (Friday, 2 January 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 101-104]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-30749]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
[Docket No. NHTSA-2014-0068]
Toyota Motor North America, Inc.; Grant of Petition for Temporary
Exemption from an Electrical Safety Requirement of FMVSS No. 305
AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),
Department of Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Notice of grant of a petition for a temporary exemption from a
provision of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 305,
Electric-powered vehicles: electrolyte spillage and electrical shock
protection.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the procedures in 49 CFR part 555, Toyota
Motor North America, Inc. (Toyota) petitioned the agency for a
temporary exemption from one portion of FMVSS No. 305 that requires
manufacturers to maintain a certain level of electrical isolation (or
reduce the voltage below specified levels) of high voltage electrical
components in an electric vehicle (EV) in the event of a crash. Toyota
states that their forthcoming fuel cell vehicle (FCV) models cannot
meet this requirement due to certain design characteristics innate to
FCVs. Toyota is instead using alternative strategies to help ensure
that occupants and first responders are protected in the event of a
crash. After reviewing Toyota's petition and the comments received, the
agency has decided to grant the petition. The agency has determined
that Toyota's petition for exemption would facilitate the development
or field evaluation of a low-emission motor vehicle and would not
unreasonably reduce the safety level of that vehicle.
DATES: This exemption is effective from June 1, 2015 to May 31, 2017.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jesse Chang, Office of the Chief
Counsel, NCC-112, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 1200
New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590. Telephone: (202) 366-2992;
Fax: (202) 366-3820.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Table of Contents
I. Summary of NHTSA's Decision To Grant Toyota's Petition
II. Statutory Authority for Temporary Exemptions
III. The Electrical Safety Requirement in FMVSS No. 305 and Its
Purpose
IV. Overview of Petition
V. Notice of Receipt
VI. Agency Analysis and Decision
a. Makes Easier the Development or Field Evaluation of a Low-
Emission Vehicle
b. Does Not Unreasonably Lower the Safety of the Vehicle
c. Consistent With the Public Interest
VII. Plan to Comply With the Standard at the End of the Exemption
Period and Response to Honda's Comment
VIII. Conclusion
I. Summary of NHTSA's Decision To Grant Toyota's Petition
The subject of Toyota's petition is a portion of the electrical
safety requirements in paragraph S5.3 of FMVSS No. 305 that are
intended to reduce the risk of high voltage electrical shock to the
vehicle's occupants and the first responders in the event of a crash.
Toyota stated in its petition that certain design aspects innate to
Fuel Cell Vehicles (FCVs) preclude the vehicle from meeting those
electrical safety requirements in paragraph S5.3 of FMVSS No. 305 under
certain conditions. However, Toyota stated that it will implement
various alternative strategies to ensure that the vehicle occupants and
first responders are protected from an undue risk of high voltage
electrical shock after a crash.
Because they assert that they cannot meet the requirements of FMVSS
No. 305 due to design characteristics innate to FCVs, they also state
that they cannot comply with the standard at the conclusion of the
exemption period. However, they have instead submitted a petition for
rulemaking to suggest changes to FMVSS No. 305 to help accommodate FCVs
while still ensuring a high level of protection for vehicle occupants
and first responders from dangerous electrical shock in the event of a
crash.
As further discussed below, we are granting Toyota's petition
because the exemption would facilitate the development or field
evaluation of a low-emission vehicle and would not unreasonably reduce
the safety level of that vehicle. While Toyota petitioned for this
exemption under two alternative bases, we have decided to grant
Toyota's petition on the basis that it would facilitate the development
of a low-emission vehicle. Therefore, this document will not address
the merits of Toyota's alternative basis for the petition (prevent the
sale of a vehicle whose overall safety is at least equivalent to
compliant vehicles).
II. Statutory Authority for Temporary Exemptions
The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act (``Motor Vehicle
Safety Act''), codified at 49 U.S.C. Chapter 301, provides the
Secretary of Transportation authority to exempt, on a temporary basis
and under specified circumstances, motor vehicles from a motor vehicle
safety standard or bumper standard. This authority is set forth at 49
U.S.C. 30113. The Secretary has delegated the authority for
implementing this section to NHTSA.
The Act authorizes the Secretary to grant a temporary exemption to
a vehicle manufacturer if it is consistent with the public interest and
it meets certain conditions. The relevant condition for Toyota's
petition requires the Secretary to find that ``the exemption would make
the development or field evaluation of a low-emission motor vehicle
easier and would not unreasonably lower the safety level of that
vehicle.'' \1\
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\1\ See 49 U.S.C. 30113.
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NHTSA established 49 CFR part 555, Temporary Exemption from Motor
Vehicle Safety and Bumper Standards, to implement the statutory
provisions concerning temporary exemptions. The requirements specified
in 49 CFR 555.5 state that the petitioner must set forth the basis of
the application by providing the required information under Part 555.6,
and the reasons why the exemption would be in the public interest and
consistent with the objectives of 49 U.S.C. Chapter 301.
A petition under the basis that the exemption would make easier the
development or field evaluation of a low-emission motor vehicle must
include the information specified in 49
[[Page 102]]
CFR 555.6(c). The main requirements of that section include: (1)
Substantiation that the vehicle is a low-emission vehicle; (2)
documentation establishing that a temporary exemption would not
unreasonably lower the safety of a vehicle; (3) substantiation that a
temporary exemption would facilitate the development or field
evaluation of the vehicle; and (4) a statement of whether the
petitioner intends to conform to the standard at the end of the
exemption period.
III. The Electrical Safety Requirement in FMVSS No. 305 and Its Purpose
In 2000, the agency created Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard
(FMVSS) No. 305 to help facilitate the safe introduction of EVs into
the marketplace.\2\ While FMVSS No. 305 addresses a number of safety
concerns relevant to EVs (e.g., battery retention and electrolyte
spillage), paragraph S5.3 of the standard (at issue here) requires EVs
to maintain electrical isolation of various major electrical components
(e.g., components related to the vehicle's propulsion) after specified
crash tests. The purpose of the requirements in S5.3 is to reduce the
risk of high voltage electrical shock to the vehicle's occupants and
first responders in the event of a crash.\3\
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\2\ See 65 FR 57980 (Sept. 27, 2000).
\3\ See id.
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NHTSA published its most recent major update to the S5.3
requirements in 2010.\4\ In this update, NHTSA expanded the types of
electrical components that would be covered by the requirement and the
options available for complying with the requirement. Namely, the
agency expanded the coverage of the standard to include other high
voltage components of the EV beyond the propulsion battery. Further,
the updated requirements recognize the different safety implications
between Alternating Current (AC) and Direct Current (DC) by
establishing different requirements for each type of electrical
component. FMVSS No. 305 further specifies various crash test
conditions under which a vehicle is required to meet the aforementioned
requirements. Depending on the particular crash scenario (e.g., frontal
barrier, rear moving barrier, and side moving deformable barrier), the
tests can be conducted at any speed up to a maximum speed of 48, 80, or
54 km/h, respectively.\5\
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\4\ See 75 FR 33515 (June 14, 2010). NHTSA also answered
petitions for reconsideration on this final rule on July 29, 2011
dealing with clarifying the definitions and test procedures of the
June 14, 2010 final rule. See 76 FR 45436.
\5\ The speed condition for each test is specified in paragraphs
S6.1 to S6.3.
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IV. Overview of Petition
In accordance with 49 U.S.C. 30113 and the procedures in 49 CFR
part 555, Toyota Motor North America, Inc. (Toyota) submitted a
petition asking the agency for a temporary exemption from the
electrical safety requirements in paragraph S5.3 of FMVSS No. 305. They
stated that they plan to manufacture FCV models and that certain
aspects of their FCV design prevent it from meeting the requirements in
S5.3 of FMVSS No. 305.
As described above, the requirements of paragraph S5.3 state that
(after certain specified crash tests) a vehicle must maintain an
electrical isolation of 500 ohms/volt for AC high voltage sources (and
DC high voltage sources without electrical isolation monitoring) or 100
ohms/volt for DC high voltage sources with electrical isolation
monitoring. Vehicles subject to FMVSS No. 305 must meet these
requirements when tested under any speed up to a maximum speed of 48,
54, or 80 km/h (depending on the particular crash test).
Toyota stated in its petition that its FCVs will be able to meet
the requirements of paragraph S5.3 of FMVSS No. 305 under some, but not
all, of the specified test speeds. The company stated that under higher
speeds (e.g., speeds similar to when an air bag would deploy), an
automatic disconnect mechanism activates to ensure that the high
voltage components will meet the requirements of paragraph S5.3.
However, Toyota stated that the automatic disconnect mechanism in its
FCVs will not be triggered in impacts at relatively low speeds. Toyota
believes it would not be appropriate to equip FCVs with sensors that
would trigger the automatic disconnect mechanism following minor
impacts (such as parking lot collisions or curb contacts) because it is
not possible to drive the vehicle after the system is disconnected.
Toyota stated that its FCV would be unable to meet the requirements of
paragraph S5.3 in such low speed crash conditions where the automatic
disconnect mechanism is not triggered.\6\
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\6\ Additional information is available in Toyota's petition.
The petition is available in the docket referenced at the beginning
of this document.
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In support of their petition, Toyota stated that this exemption
would make the development or field evaluation of a low-emission motor
vehicle easier and would not unreasonably lower the safety level of the
vehicle.\7\ Toyota requests the exemption (under either basis) for 2
years (June 1, 2015 to May 31, 2017) and has stated that it would not
produce more than 2,500 exempted FCVs within any 12-month period during
the exemption.
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\7\ Toyota also petitioned under an alternative basis stating
that compliance with FMVSS No. 305 would prevent it from selling a
motor vehicle with an overall safety level at least equal to the
overall safety level of non-exempt vehicles. However, as stated
above, we have decided to grant this exemption under the basis that
it would facilitate the development of a low-emission vehicle. Thus,
we do not reach the merits of Toyota's alternative basis in this
document. To view the application, go to http://www.regulations.gov
and enter the docket number set forth in the heading of this
document.
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In support of its assertion that the exemption would facilitate the
development of a low-emission vehicle, Toyota states that its FCVs
qualify as a low-emission vehicle because its FCVs will not emit
particulate matter. Further, Toyota states that the FCV's noncompliance
with paragraph S5.3 of FMVSS No. 305 would not unreasonably lower the
safety of the vehicle because the vehicle has additional safety
features designed to protect vehicle occupants and first responders in
the event of a crash. First, Toyota equipped the FCV high voltage
sources with physical barriers that they believe would prevent any
direct physical contact with live voltage sources after the crash.
Second, Toyota ensured that all physical barriers would be grounded to
the chassis with a grounding resistance of less than 0.1 ohms. The
company states that this would protect against any indirect contact
with high voltage sources. Finally, Toyota states that the high voltage
sources would continue to maintain an electrical isolation of 100 ohms/
volt. Through the combination of these three attributes, Toyota
believes that the noncompliance with paragraph S5.3 would not
unreasonably lower the safety of its FCVs.
V. Notice of Receipt
On June 11, 2014, we published in the Federal Register (79 FR
33639) a notice of receipt of Toyota's petition for temporary
exemption, and provided an opportunity for public comment. We received
one comment from American Honda Motor Co., Inc., (Honda) seeking to
clarify that their fuel cell vehicle (the Honda FCX Clarity) is
compliant with the requirements of FMVSS No. 305 and that their future
vehicles will also be compliant with the standard.
In addition, Honda supported Toyota's assertion that the current
electrical isolation requirements in S5.3 may not accommodate lower
electrical
[[Page 103]]
isolation requirements for DC high voltage sources such as fuel cells
and propulsion batteries. Honda agreed that vehicles cannot take
advantage of the separate electrical isolation requirements specified
in S5.3 for DC high voltage sources (100 ohms/volt) in low speed
crashes when the automatic disconnect is not triggered. Honda stated
that in such low speed crashes, the AC and DC sources are connected and
so the isolation resistance measured across the AC source is the
combined resistance of the AC and DC sources.\8\ In order to obtain an
electrical isolation measurement greater than or equal to 500 ohms/volt
across the AC high voltage source when the automatic disconnect is not
triggered, the DC source would need to have an electrical isolation
greater than or equal to 500 ohms/volt.
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\8\ The AC and DC high voltage sources are in parallel
configuration so that the effective resistance of the combined
system is RAC x RDC/
(RAC+RDC), where RAC is the
isolation resistance of the AC source and RDC is the
isolation resistance of the DC source.
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VI. Agency Analysis and Decision
After reviewing Toyota's petition, the agency has determined that
granting a temporary exemption in this case would make the development
or field evaluation of a low-emission motor vehicle easier without
unreasonably lowering the safety level of that vehicle and would be
consistent with the public interest.
a. Makes Easier the Development or Field Evaluation of a Low-Emission
Vehicle
First, we conclude that Toyota's FCV models would be considered a
low-emission vehicle for the purposes of the Sec. 30113 of the Motor
Vehicle Safety Act because FCVs are vehicles that do not emit any air
pollutants from their tailpipes.\9\ Further, we believe that the
temporary exemption would make easier the development of those
vehicles. As Toyota stated in their petition, obtaining field
information about new technologies (especially information about
consumer reaction and real world performance) would facilitate Toyota's
development and decisions on potential modifications to future versions
of their FCVs. Given the nature of this technology as a zero-emission
technology and the information that Toyota intends to obtain from the
field operation of these vehicles, we believe that Toyota has fulfilled
this criterion.
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\9\ A vehicle is considered a low-emission vehicle for the
purposes of Sec. 30113 of the Motor Vehicle Safety Act if it emits
air pollutants significantly below the standards for new vehicle set
under Sec. 202 of the Clean Air Act. Since FCVs do not emit such
pollutants, they are considered low-emissions vehicles under Sec.
30113.
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b. Does Not Unreasonably Lower the Safety of the Vehicle
Second, we conclude that granting this temporary exemption would
not unreasonably lower the safety of these vehicles. As Toyota
described in their petition, their vehicles would comply with the
requirements of FMVSS No. 305 under the higher speed testing
conditions. However, the FCVs would be unable to comply with the
standard under testing conditions where the automatic disconnect does
not activate to separate the AC and DC high voltage. These test
conditions would be the lower speed conditions (such as speeds where an
air bag would not deploy).
However, we do not believe that this non-compliance would
unreasonably lower the safety of Toyota's FCVs in this case for two
reasons. First, Toyota intends to design its FCVs to be fully compliant
with FMVSS No. 305 at higher crash speeds. Thus, under many of the
crash conditions that can occur in the real world, the Toyota FCVs will
be no different from any other vehicle with high voltage electrical
components that comply with FMVSS No. 305. Second, Toyota stated in its
petition that it will implement alternative safety measures to ensure
the safety of the vehicle occupants and first responders will be
protected from electric shock hazards after a crash. As described
above, Toyota intends to use the combination of three additional safety
features (a physical barrier to prevent physical contact with the high
voltage source + the grounding of the physical barriers to the chassis
+ the maintaining of an electrical isolation of 100 ohms/volt) to
address the safety concern under lower speed crash conditions.
When considering the narrower set of circumstances under which
Toyota's FCVs would be non-compliant with the requirements of FMVSS No.
305 in conjunction with the alternative safety countermeasures that
Toyota intends to incorporate, we do not believe that granting the
exemption would unreasonably lower the safety of Toyota's FCVs.
c. Consistent With the Public Interest
Finally, we believe that granting Toyota's petition is consistent
with the public interest. FCVs implement an alternative fuel technology
in motor vehicles. They are zero-emissions like battery electric
vehicles. However, as stated in Toyota's petition, they can have
driving range, refueling time, and cold weather performance advantages
over pure battery electric vehicles. We believe that this temporary
exemption would not only increase consumer choice in the vehicle
market, but would also help demonstrate to the public the viability of
this type of electric vehicle technology. Further, we believe that the
information Toyota intends to collect through the field operation of
these FCVs (e.g., consumer reaction and real world performance
information) will contribute to not only Toyota's development of future
FCV models but also the aggregate knowledge of real world use of FCVs.
Additionally, we believe that the requested exemption will have a
limited impact on general motor vehicle safety because Toyota will be
limited to an annual production of 2,500 vehicles under this exemption.
Further, prospective purchasers will be notified that the vehicle is
exempted from the electrical isolation requirements of FMVSS No. 305.
Under Sec. 555.9(b), a manufacturer of an exempted vehicle must affix
securely to the windshield or side window of each exempted vehicle a
label containing a statement that the vehicle conforms to all
applicable FMVSSs in effect on the date of manufacture ``except for
Standard Nos. [listing the standards by number and title for which an
exemption has been granted] exempted pursuant to NHTSA Exemption
No._.'' Under Sec. 555.9(c), this information must also be included on
the vehicle's certification label.\10\
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\10\ See 49 CFR part 555.9.
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VII. Plan To Comply With the Standard at the End of the Exemption
Period and Response to Honda's Comment
As Toyota believes that issues inherent with the design of FCVs
prevent it from fully complying with the requirements of FMVSS No. 305,
Toyota states that it does not anticipate it will be able to comply
with the standard in the future. However, it instead stated its
intention to petition for rulemaking and recommend to the agency a
solution that will ensure the same level of safety as FMVSS No. 305
currently offers while still accommodating the design challenges
related to FCVs. We note that Honda also supported the position that
this is a technical issue with the standard via their comment that FCVs
are unable to take advantage of the lower isolation resistance
requirements for DC high voltage sources without an automatic
disconnect to separate them from the AC sources.
The agency has already received Toyota's petition for rulemaking on
this matter and the agency will be considering the merits of that
petition.
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While we have determined in this notice that Toyota's FCV design (along
with their alternative safety measures) do not unreasonably degrade
safety for the purposes of this exemption, we have not yet made any
determinations regarding Toyota's petition for rulemaking.
VIII. Conclusion
In accordance with 49 U.S.C. 30113(b)(3)(B)(iii), we are granting
Toyota NHTSA Temporary Exemption No. EX 14-02 from paragraph S5.3 of
FMVSS No. 305 provided that Toyota implements the alternative measures
to ensure electrical safety as described above. The exemption shall be
effective from June 1, 2015 to May 31, 2017, as indicated in the DATES
section of this document.
Authority: 49 U.S.C. 30113; delegations of authority at 49 CFR
1.95.
Issued in Washington, DC, on December 22, 2014 under authority
delegated in 49 CFR 1.95 and 501.5.
David J. Friedman,
Deputy Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2014-30749 Filed 12-31-14; 8:45 am]
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