Cooper Tire & Rubber Company, Grant of Petition for Decision of Inconsequential Noncompliance

Topics:  Cooper Tire

Jeffrey M. Giuseppe
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
5 July 2016

[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 128 (Tuesday, July 5, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43708-43710]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-15750]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[Docket No. NHTSA-2016-0002; Notice 2]


Cooper Tire & Rubber Company, Grant of Petition for Decision of 
Inconsequential Noncompliance

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

ACTION: Grant of petition.

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SUMMARY: Cooper Tire & Rubber Company (Cooper), has determined that 
certain Cooper tires do not fully comply with paragraph S5.5.1(b) of 
Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 139, New pneumatic 
radial tires for light vehicles. Cooper filed a report dated January 8, 
2016, pursuant to 49 CFR part 573, Defect and Noncompliance 
Responsibility and Reports. Cooper then petitioned NHTSA under 49 CFR 
part 556 requesting a decision that the subject noncompliance is 
inconsequential to motor vehicle safety.

ADDRESSES: For further information on this decision contact Abraham 
Diaz,

[[Page 43709]]

Office of Vehicle Safety Compliance, the National Highway Traffic 
Safety Administration (NHTSA), telephone (202) 366-5310, facsimile 
(202) 366-5930.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Overview

    Pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 30118(d) and 30120(h) (see implementing rule 
at 49 CFR part 556), Cooper submitted a petition for an exemption from 
the notification and remedy requirements of 49 U.S.C. chapter 301 on 
the basis that this noncompliance is inconsequential to motor vehicle 
safety.
    Notice of receipt of the petition was published, with a 30-day 
public comment period, on March 25, 2016 in the Federal Register (81 FR 
16268). No comments were received. To view the petition and all 
supporting documents log onto the Federal Docket Management System 
(FDMS) Web site at: http://www.regulations.gov/. Then follow the online 
search instructions to locate docket number ``NHTSA-2016-0002.''

II. Tires Involved

    Affected are approximately 338 Cooper Discoverer A/T3 size 265/
70R18 Standard Load Tubeless Radial tires that were manufactured 
between September 27, 2015 and October 3, 2015.

III. Noncompliance

    Cooper explains that the DOT serial week and year appears upside 
down and backwards in the tire identification number (TIN) molded into 
the outboard sidewalls of the subject tires and those tires therefore 
do not meet the requirements specified in paragraph S5.5.1 of FMVSS No. 
139.

IV. Rule Text

    Paragraph S5.5.1 of FMVSS No. 139 requires in pertinent part:

    S5.5.1 Tire Identification Number.
    . . .
    (b) Tires manufactured on or after September 1, 2009. Each tire 
must be labeled with the tire identification number required by 49 
CFR part 574 on the intended outboard sidewall of the tire. Except 
for retreaded tires, either the tire identification number or a 
partial tire identification number, containing all characters in the 
tire identification number, except for the date code and, at the 
discretion of the manufacturer, any optional code, must be labeled 
on the other sidewall of the tire. Except for retreaded tires, if a 
tire does not have an intended outboard sidewall, the tire must be 
labeled with the tire identification number required by 49 CFR part 
574 on one sidewall and with either the tire identification number 
or a partial tire identification number, containing all characters 
in the tire identification number except for the date code and, at 
the discretion of the manufacturer, any optional code, on the other 
side wall.

V. Summary of Cooper's Petition

    Cooper believes that this noncompliance is inconsequential as it 
relates to motor vehicle safety.
    In support of its petition, Cooper submitted the following 
information and analysis of the subject noncompliance:
    1. Cooper cited paragraph S5.5.1(b) of FMVSS No. 139, which 
requires tires manufactured on or after September 1, 2009 to be labeled 
with the TIN required by 49 CFR part 574 on the intended outboard 
sidewall of the tire.
    2. Cooper also noted that 49 CFR 574.5 states that ``[e]ach tire 
manufacturer shall conspicuously label on one sidewall of each tire it 
manufactures . . . a tire identification number containing the 
information set forth in paragraphs (a) through (d) of this section.'' 
The company further noted that 49 CFR 574.5(d) specifies that ``[t]he 
fourth grouping, consisting of four numerical symbols, must identify 
the week and year of manufacture,'' with the first two symbols 
identifying the week and the last two identifying the year.
    3. Cooper stated that the subject tires, on the outboard side only, 
were molded with an upside down and backwards DOT serial week and year. 
The serial number stamping should read: ``DOT UPH4 1A6 3915.'' The 
outboard side, which includes the date code, was molded with the date 
code information oriented incorrectly upside down and backwards, which 
resulted in the characters being out of proper sequence.
    4. Cooper explained that the existence of the stamping error was 
determined by visual examination of a subject tire on October 21, 2015 
by warehouse personnel in Grand Prairie, TX. Upon further 
investigation, it was determined that only tires cured in one press 
location (E10L) during one production week (3915) were affected. Tires 
with the same SKU code were also curing in another press (Z11L), but 
these tires were stamped correctly. Cooper stated that sorting of its 
internal inventories revealed that for curing press E10L, during DOT 
serial week 3915, there was a total net cure of 518 tires, of which 180 
tires have been accounted for in its warehouse. There were 338 tires 
distributed. Cooper made the final determination that a noncompliance 
exists as to those 338 tires on January 6, 2015.
    5. Cooper states that the 338 subject tires do meet and/or exceed 
all performance requirements and all other labeling and marking 
requirements of FMVSS No. 139.
    Furthermore, Cooper is not aware of any crashes, injuries, customer 
complaints, or field reports associated with the subject tires.
    Cooper has informed NHTSA that the subject tires located in its 
inventory count reconciliation have been returned to the company's 
Findlay, OH plant, where they will be corrected prior to being released 
for sale.
    In summation, Cooper believes that the described noncompliance is 
inconsequential to motor vehicle safety, and that its petition, to 
exempt Cooper from providing recall notification of the noncompliance, 
as required by 49 U.S.C. 30118, and remedying the noncompliance, as 
required by 49 U.S.C. 30120, should be granted.

NHTSA'S Decision

    NHTSA'S Analysis: The agency believes that in the case of a tire 
labeling noncompliance, one measure of its inconsequentiality to motor 
vehicle safety is whether the mislabeling would affect the 
manufacturer's or consumer's ability to identify the mislabeled tires 
properly, should the tires be recalled for performance related 
noncompliance. In this case, the nature of the labeling error does not 
prevent the correct identification of the affected tires. 49 CFR 574.5 
requires the date code portion of the tire identification number to be 
placed in the last or correct position. In Cooper's case it is in the 
right-most position, however, the manufacturer date code is upside 
down. Because the label is located on the tire sidewall, it is not 
likely to be misidentified. A reader will be able to read the date 
code, by spinning the tire, and therefore inverting the date code will 
allow it to easily be read.
    NHTSA'S Decision: In consideration of the foregoing, NHTSA finds 
that Cooper has met its burden of persuasion that the subject FMVSS No. 
139 noncompliance in the affected tires is inconsequential to motor 
vehicle safety. Accordingly, Cooper's petition is hereby granted and 
Cooper is consequently exempted from the obligation of providing 
notification of, and a free remedy for, that noncompliance under 49 
U.S.C. 30118 and 30120.
    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

[[Page 43710]]

defect or noncompliance. Therefore, this decision only applies to the 
subject tires that Cooper no longer controlled at the time it 
determined that the noncompliance existed. However, the granting of 
this petition does not relieve equipment distributors and dealers of 
the prohibitions on the sale, offer for sale, or introduction or 
delivery for introduction into interstate commerce of the noncompliant 
tires under their control after Cooper 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.

Jeffrey M. Giuseppe,
Director, Office of Vehicle Safety Compliance.
[FR Doc. 2016-15750 Filed 7-1-16; 8:45 am]
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