Great Dane Trailers, LLC, Receipt of Petition for Decision of Inconsequential Noncompliance |
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Topics: Great Dane
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Otto G. Matheke III
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
3 January 2020
[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 2 (Friday, January 3, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 413-414]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-28373]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
[Docket No. NHTSA-2018-0108; Notice 1]
Great Dane Trailers, LLC, Receipt of Petition for Decision of
Inconsequential Noncompliance
AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),
Department of Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Receipt of petition.
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SUMMARY: Great Dane Trailers, LLC (Great Dane), has determined that
certain model year (MY) 2002-2006 Great Dane Dry Freight Trailers do
not comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) No. 223,
Rear Impact Guards, and FMVSS No. 224, Rear Impact Protection. Great
Dane filed a noncompliance report dated November 12, 2018 and
subsequently amended it on December 5, 2018 and June 11, 2019. Great
Dane also petitioned NHTSA on December 6, 2018 for a decision that the
subject noncompliance is inconsequential as it relates to motor vehicle
safety. This document announces receipt of Great Dane's petition.
DATES: The closing date for comments on the petition is February 3,
2020.
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 may be
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
[[Page 414]]
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: Great Dane has determined that certain MY 2002-2006
Great Dane Dry Freight Trailers do not fully comply with paragraphs
S5.3(b) of FMVSS No. 223, Rear Impact Guards (49 CFR 571.223), and S5.1
of FMVSS No. 224, Rear Impact Protection (49 CFR 571.224). Great Dane
filed a noncompliance report pursuant to 49 CFR part 573, Defect and
Noncompliance Responsibility and Reports dated November 12, 2018 and
subsequently amended it on December 5, 2018 and June 11, 2019. Great
Dane also petitioned NHTSA on December 6, 2018 pursuant to 49 U.S.C.
30118(d) and 30120(h) and 49 CFR part 556, Exemption for
Inconsequential Defect or Noncompliance 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 Great Dane'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. Trailers Involved: Approximately 15,535 MY 2002-2006 Great Dane
Dry Freight Trailers, manufactured between July 1, 2002, and December
31, 2005, are potentially involved.
III. Noncompliance: Great Dane explained that the noncompliance is
that the rear impact certification plate on the rear impact guard of
the subject trailers does not contain the date of manufacture as
required by paragraphs S5.3(b) of FMVSS No. 223 and S5.1 of FMVSS 224.
IV. Rule Text: Paragraphs S5.3(b) of FMVSS 223 and S5.1 of FMVSS
No. 224 include the requirements relevant to this petition. Each
vehicle shall be equipped with a rear impact guard certified as meeting
Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 223.
Each guard shall be permanently labeled with the information
specified in paragraphs S5.3 (a) through (c) of FMVSS No. 223. The
information shall be in English and in letters that are at least 2.5mm
high. The label shall be placed on the forward or rearward facing
surface of the horizontal member of the guard, provided that the label
does not interfere with the retroreflective sheeting required by
paragraph S5.7.1.4.1(c) of FMVSS No. 108 (49 CFR 571.108), and is
readily accessible for visual inspection. The label is required to
containthe statement: ``Manufactured in _'' (inserting the month and
year of guard manufacture.)
V. Summary of Great Dane's Petition: The following views and
arguments are the views and arguments provided by Great Dane. They have
not been evaluated by the agency and do not reflect the views of the
agency.
Accordingly, Great Dane described the subject noncompliance and
stated that the noncompliance is inconsequential as it relates to motor
vehicle safety as follows:
1. This particular group of trailers has rear impact guard
certification plates installed that include the name of the
manufacturer, as well as the letters DOT. Great Dane believes that the
omission of the date of manufacture to be an inconsequential type of
noncompliance as it relates to vehicle safety.
2. Every trailer that Great Dane builds requiring a rear impact
guard has, in addition, a certification plate (on the front of the
trailer) that ensures the rear impact guard meets the Federal
Standards. Therefore, the subject trailers have affixed to them
certification plates certifying that the entire trailer, including the
rear impact guard, meet and/or exceed all the Federal Motor Vehicle
Safety Standards in effect on the date of manufacture as indicated.
3. Great Dane states that they believe the extra certification
plate required on the rear impact guard is redundant, further stating
that the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) filed a petition to
both NHTSA and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to
remove the requirement for the certification plate on the rear impact
guard.
4. Great Dane has never installed a third-party produced rear
impact guard on any of its trailers.
5. Due to the extreme age of the trailers in this group (13-16
years old), Great Dane believes that the notification and remedy
process would not be very effective, as most of these trailers are
probably no longer in service.
6. Great Dane states that in the long period that these trailers
have been in service, they have only recently been given notice that
the date of manufacture was omitted on the rear impact guard. The fact
that this omission went unnoticed over a period of 13-16 years provides
another reason Great Dane believes that this instance of noncompliance
should be deemed inconsequential.
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 trailers that Great Dane 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 trailers under their control after Great
Dane 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. 2019-28373 Filed 1-2-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P