Porsche Cars North America, Inc., Receipt of Petition for Decision of Inconsequential Noncompliance |
|---|
Topics: Porsche 911
|
Otto G. Matheke III
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
3 January 2020
[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 2 (Friday, January 3, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 412-413]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-28371]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
[Docket No. NHTSA-2019-0094; Notice 1]
Porsche Cars North 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: Porsche Cars North America, Inc. has determined that certain
model year (MY) 2018 Porsche 911 GT3 motor vehicles do not fully comply
with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 108, Lamps,
reflective devices, and associated equipment. Porsche filed a
noncompliance report dated July 24, 2019. Porsche subsequently
petitioned NHTSA on August 20, 2019, for a decision that the subject
noncompliance is inconsequential as it relates to motor vehicle safety.
This document announces receipt of Porsche'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 number 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 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, a 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: Porsche has determined that certain MY 2018 Porsche
911 GT3 motor vehicles do not fully comply with Paragraph S8.1.4 and
Table I-a of FMVSS No. 108, Lamps, reflective devices, and associated
equipment. (49 CFR 571.108). Porsche filed a noncompliance report dated
July 24, 2019, pursuant to 49 CFR part 573, Defect and Noncompliance
Responsibility and Reports. Porsche subsequently petitioned NHTSA on
August 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 49 U.S.C. 30118(d) and 30120(h) and 49 CFR part 556,
Exemption for Inconsequential Defect or Noncompliance.
This notice of receipt of Porsche's petition is published under 49
U.S.C. 30118 and 30120 and does not represent any Agency decision or
other exercises of judgment concerning the merits of the petition.
II. Vehicles Involved: Approximately 2,610 MY 2018 Porsche 911 GT3
motor vehicles, manufactured between August 30, 2017, and December 21,
2018, are potentially involved.
III. Noncompliance: Porsche explains that the noncompliance is that
the subject vehicles are equipped with rear reflex reflectors that do
not meet the height requirements as specified in paragraph S8.1.4 and
Table I-a of FMVSS No. 108. Specifically, the rear reflex reflectors
are mounted approximately 0.20 inches below the required 15 inches
above road surface. The actual height is approximately 14.8 inches.
IV. Rule Requirements: Paragraph S8.1.4 and Table I-a of FMVSS No.
108 includes the requirements relevant to this petition. The reflective
devices should not be mounted less than 15 inches, and no more than 60
inches in height.
V. Summary of Porsche's Petition:
The following views and arguments presented in this section, V.
Summary of Porsche's Petition, are the views and arguments provided by
Porsche. They have not been evaluated by the Agency and do not reflect
the views of the Agency.
Porsche described the subject noncompliance and stated that the
noncompliance is inconsequential as it relates to motor vehicle safety.
Porsche submitted the following views and arguments in support of
the petition:
1. The installation height requirements of reflex reflectors as
defined by paragraph S8.1.4 of FMVSS
[[Page 413]]
No. 108 are intended to assure a sufficient luminous intensity of the
reflex reflectors towards the source of illumination. Although the rear
reflex reflectors' installation height falls slightly below the
specified minimum height by 0.20 inches (5 mm), Porsche has confirmed
that the rear reflex reflectors meet or exceed all applicable FMVSS
requirements regarding the luminous intensity performance as stated
under Sec. 571.108, S14 and all other relevant requirements of FMVSS
No. 108 of paragraphs S8.1 and S8.2. Porsche provided a copy of the
photometric test results for the rear reflex reflectors, which Porsche
believes shows that the installation height does not affect the
performance of the luminous intensity of the rear reflex reflectors or
the visibility of the subject vehicles.
2. Porsche is unaware of any accidents, injuries, warranty claims
or customer complaints related to the slight shortfall of the rear
reflex reflectors' installation height. The absence of indicant data
supports the conclusion that the minimal deviation in mounting height
does not affect the performance of the rear reflectors or the
visibility of the subject vehicles.
3. Porsche notes that NHTSA has previously granted a similar
petition. See 79 FR 69558, November 21, 2014. In that petition, Harley-
Davidson described the noncompliance with FMVSS No. 108 where the rear
reflex reflectors were mounted an average of 0.3 inches to 0.7 inches
below the required 15 inch height. NHTSA determined that this
noncompliance, where the deviation from the specified height was even
greater than in the present case, was inconsequential to motor vehicle
safety based primarily on the lack of reduction in conspicuity as
compared to compliant vehicles. Porsche respectfully suggests that its
noncompliant vehicles are also equally conspicuous.
4. The purpose of the FMVSS No. 108 reflex reflector requirement is
to prevent crashes by permitting early detection of an unlighted motor
vehicle at an intersection or when parked on or by the side of the
road, and the height requirement is intended ``to ensure adequate
reflex reflector performance relative to headlamps that would
illuminate them.'' See 82 FR 24204 (May 25, 2017). Porsche stated that
the photometry performance of the reflex reflectors in the subject
vehicles well exceeds the minimum performance standards outlined in
FMVSS No. 108, Table XVI. Based on the photometry performance of the
reflectors in the subject vehicles, and the fact that the vehicles meet
or exceed the requirements of paragraphs S8.l and S8.2 of FMVSS No.
108, with regard to reflection performance, Porsche believes the
vehicles satisfy the safety objectives of the standard.
5. The noncompliance issue has been corrected in production
vehicles and all vehicles currently being produced meet applicable
mounting height requirements.
6. The mounting height of the reflex reflectors complies with the
minimum height requirements of the United Nations ECE regulations.
Those regulations specify a minimum mounting height of 250 mm (9.84
inches) for rear retro-reflectors. See UN R48, Sec. 6.14.4.2. The
reflex reflectors in the subject Porsche vehicles, with a mounting
height of 14.8 inches, are well within this requirement.
Porsche 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 Porsche 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 Porsche
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. 2019-28371 Filed 1-2-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P