Reports, Forms and Record Keeping Requirements Agency Information Collection Activity Under OMB Review

Joseph M. Kolly
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
25 April 2017

[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 78 (Tuesday, April 25, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19138-19139]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-08355]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[Docket No. NHTSA-2016-0123]


Reports, Forms and Record Keeping Requirements Agency Information 
Collection Activity Under OMB Review

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, DOT.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 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.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before May 25, 2017.

ADDRESSES: Send comments to the Office of Information and Regulatory 
Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, 725 17th Street NW.,

[[Page 19139]]

Washington, DC 20503, Attention: NHTSA Desk Officer.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For additional information or access 
to background documents, contact John Kindelberger, Office of 
Regulatory Analysis and Evaluation, National Highway Traffic Safety 
Administration, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., NSA-310, Washington, DC 
20590. Mr. Kindelberger's telephone number is 202-366-4696.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Before a Federal agency can collect certain 
information from the public, it must receive approval from the Office 
of Management and Budget (OMB). In compliance with these requirements, 
this notice announces that the following information collection request 
has been forwarded to OMB. A Federal Register notice requesting 
comments on the following information collection was published on 
December 21, 2016 (81 FR 93728). The agency received no comments on 
that notice.
    Title: Tire Pressure Monitoring System--Outage Rate and Repair 
Costs (TPMS-ORRC).
    OMB Number: 2127-0626.
    Type of Request: Revision of a currently approved collection.
    Abstract: Improperly inflated tires pose a safety risk, increasing 
the chance of skidding, hydroplaning, longer stopping distances, and 
crashes due to flat tires and blowouts. Section 13 of the 
Transportation Recall Enhancement, Accountability, and Documentation 
(TREAD) Act, which Congress passed on November 1, 2000, directed NHTSA 
to conduct rulemaking actions to revise and update the Federal motor 
vehicle safety standards for tires, to improve labeling on tires, and 
to require a system in new motor vehicles that warns the operator when 
a tire is significantly underinflated.
    Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems (TPMS) were mandated in Federal 
Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 138, so that drivers are 
warned when the pressure in one or more of the vehicle's tires has 
fallen to 25 percent or more below the placard pressure, or a minimum 
level of pressure specified in the standard, whichever pressure is 
higher, and may be informed about which of the four tires is 
underinflated. As of September 1, 2007, after a phase-in period 
beginning on October 5, 2005, TPMS was required on all new light 
vehicles (i.e., passenger cars, trucks, multipurpose passenger 
vehicles, and buses with a gross vehicle weight rating of 10,000 pounds 
or less, except those vehicles with dual wheels on an axle).
    Executive Order 12866 requires Federal agencies to evaluate their 
existing regulations and programs and measure their effectiveness in 
achieving their objectives. Since the phase-in of TPMS, there has been 
only one evaluation of TPMS. The TPMS-SS (OMB #2127-0626) was conducted 
in 2011, as a special study through the infrastructure of the National 
Automotive Sampling System (NASS), to collect nationally representative 
data on how effective TPMS was in reducing underinflation in the on-
road fleet of passenger vehicles. Analysis of the survey results 
indicated that direct TPMS is 55.6-percent effective at preventing 
severe underinflation as defined in FMVSS No. 138. However, 
effectiveness was substantially lower in vehicles that were 6-7 years 
old at the time of the survey. One explanation as to why this is true 
was the possibility that the drivers of these older vehicles were not 
taking all the maintenance actions (e.g., adding TPMS sensors to new 
replacement tires, replacing non-functioning sensors on current tires, 
having the system properly re-set when needed) that were needed to 
insure the vehicles had functioning TPMS. Relevant data are needed to 
examine why the effectiveness of TPMSs in older vehicles is reduced and 
what can be done to increase it. This was the original goal of the 
TPMS-ORRC and is still a goal.
    Additionally, on December 4, 2015, the Fixing America's Surface 
Transportation (FAST) Act (Pub. L. 114-94) was signed into law. An 
amendment (Section 24115) directs the Secretary of Transportation to 
update the standard on tire pressure monitoring systems, FMVSS No. 138, 
to ensure that they cannot be overridden, reset or recalibrated in a 
way that will prevent the system from identifying a tire that is 
significantly underinflated. The Act also states that the revised 
requirements shall not contain any provision that has the effect of 
prohibiting the availability of direct or indirect tire pressure 
monitoring systems. Data are needed to help inform the required 
rulemaking. For this purpose, the design of the TPMS-ORRC field survey 
has been changed from a convenience sample to a probability sample, 
allowing nationally representative estimates; this revision also adds a 
module for indirect TPMS.
    Affected Public: Individuals and businesses.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 1,352 hours.
    Comments are Invited on: Whether the proposed collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
the Department, including: Whether the information will have practical 
utility; the accuracy of the Department's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed information collection; ways to enhance the quality, utility 
and clarity of the information to be collected; and ways to minimize 
the burden of the collection of information on respondents, including 
the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of 
information technology.

    Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. 
Chapter 35, as amended and 49 CFR 1.95.

Joseph M. Kolly,
Acting Associate Administrator, National Center for Statistics and 
Analysis.
[FR Doc. 2017-08355 Filed 4-24-17; 8:45 am]
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