Volkswagen Group of America, Inc., Receipt of Petition for Decision of Inconsequential Noncompliance |
|---|
Topics: Audi A3
|
Otto G. Matheke III
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
8 October 2019
[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 195 (Tuesday, October 8, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53821-53822]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-21892]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
[Docket No. NHTSA-2019-0022; Notice 1]
Volkswagen Group of America, Inc., Receipt of Petition for
Decision of Inconsequential Noncompliance
AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),
Department of Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Receipt of petition.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen), has determined
that certain MY 2017-2019 Audi A3 motor vehicles do not comply with
Federal motor vehicle safety standard (FMVSS) No. 101, Controls and
Displays. Volkswagen filed a noncompliance report dated February 18,
2019, and later amend it on September 13, 2019. Volkswagen subsequently
petitioned NHTSA on February 20, 2019, for a decision that the subject
noncompliance is inconsequential as it relates to motor vehicle safety.
This document announces receipt of Volkswagen's petition.
DATES: Send comments on or before November 7, 2019.
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 the 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 the 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 for Federal Holidays.
Electronically: Submit comments electronically by logging
onto the Federal Docket Management System (FDMS) website 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: Volkswagen has determined that certain MY 2017-2019
Audi A3 motor vehicles do not comply with paragraph S5.2.1 of FMVSS No.
101, Controls and Displays (49 CFR 571.101). Volkswagen filed a
noncompliance report dated February 18, 2019, and later amended it on
September 13, 2019, pursuant to 49 CFR 573, Defect and Noncompliance
Responsibility and Reports. Volkswagen subsequently petitioned NHTSA on
February 20, 2019, 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,
pursuant to 40 U.S.C. 30118 and 49 U.S.C. 30120, Exemption for
Inconsequential Defect or Noncompliance.
This notice of receipt of Volkswagen's 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 18,379 MY 2017-2019 Audi A3
sedan, Cabriolet, RS3, and e-Tron motor vehicles, manufactured between
July 7, 2016, and January 7, 2019, are potentially involved.
III. Noncompliance: Volkswagen explains that the noncompliance is
that the subject vehicles are equipped with speedometers that only
display the vehicle's speed in units of either miles per-hour (mph) or
kilometers-per-hour (km/h) and therefore do not meet the requirements
set forth in paragraph S5.2.1 and Table 1, Column 3 of FMVSS No. 101.
IV. Rule Requirements: Paragraphs S5.2.1 and Table 1, Column 3 of
FMVSS No. 101 provides that 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
FMVSS No. 101 for the location, identification, color, and
[[Page 53822]]
illumination of that control, telltale or indicator.
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.
V. Summary of Volkswagen's Petition: The following views and
arguments presented in this section, V. Summary of Volkswagen's
Petition, are the views and arguments provided by Volkswagen. They have
not been evaluated by the agency and do not reflect the views of the
Agency.
Volkswagen described the subject noncompliance and stated that the
noncompliance is inconsequential as it relates to motor vehicle safety.
Volkswagen submitted the following views and arguments in support
of the petition:
1. All affected Audi A3 vehicles are initially delivered for first-
sale in the U.S. market in a compliant state (speed displayed in miles-
per-hour). Only through driver interaction, within the settings menu,
can the speedometer display be changed from mph to km/h. The change
between the display settings must be done intentionally and cannot be
accomplished inadvertently.
2. In the affected 2017-2019 MY Audi A3 vehicles, the two
speedometer scales are noticeably different. Were the previous driver
to have changed the display, a subsequent driver would be able to tell
at a glance that the scale is not in mph.
3. The indicated vehicle speed in km/h is 1.6 times greater than
the speed in mph. Audi purports that if the vehicle operator changes
the display to indicate km/h and later has not changed the display back
to mph, the vehicle operator will clearly recognize that the vehicle is
moving at a lower speed than intended and adjust their vehicle speed to
match road and traffic conditions. Notice of the speed differential
advises the vehicle operator to perform the necessary steps to adjust
the speedometer back to mph (at the next appropriate opportunity).
4. The 2017-2019 MY Audi A3 Owner Manuals contains information and
instructions for changing the units displayed, via the Infotainment
system, using the MMI Settings menu. Therefore, if a vehicle operator
needs to change the display to indicate mph, instructions are
available. As of January 08, 2019, production has been corrected,
vehicles withheld at the factory have been corrected and unsold units
will be corrected prior to sale.
5. Additionally, Volkswagen is not aware of any field or customer
complaints related to this condition, nor has it been made aware of any
accidents or injuries that have occurred as a result of this issue.
Volkswagen concluded 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.
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 Volkswagen 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
Volkswagen 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)
Otto G. Matheke III,
Director, Office of Vehicle Safety Compliance.
[FR Doc. 2019-21892 Filed 10-7-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P