FCA US LLC, Receipt of Petition for Decision of Inconsequential Noncompliance |
|---|
Topics: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles
|
Otto G. Matheke III
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
13 July 2020
[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 134 (Monday, July 13, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42066-42068]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-15006]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
[Docket No. NHTSA-2019-0131; Notice 1]
FCA US LLC, Receipt of Petition for Decision of Inconsequential
Noncompliance
AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),
Department of Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Receipt of petition.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: FCA US LLC (f/k/a Chrysler Group LLC) ``FCA'' has determined
that certain model year (MY) 2004-2020 Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Fiat, and
Alfa Romeo motor vehicles do not comply with Federal Motor Vehicle
Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 101, Controls and Displays. FCA filed a
noncompliance report dated November 15, 2019, and later amended it on
December 9, 2019. FAC US subsequently petitioned NHTSA on December 9,
2019, for a decision that the subject noncompliance is inconsequential
as it relates to motor vehicle safety. This document announces receipt
of FCA's petition.
DATES: Send comments on or before August 12, 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
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
[[Page 42067]]
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
FCA has determined that certain MY 2004-2020 Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep,
Fiat, and Alfa Romeo motor vehicles do not comply with paragraph S5.2.1
of FMVSS No. 101, Controls and Displays (49 CFR 571.101). FCA filed a
noncompliance report dated November 15, 2019, and later amended it on
December 9, 2019, pursuant to 49 CFR 573, Defect and Noncompliance
Responsibility and Reports. FCA subsequently petitioned NHTSA on
December 9, 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 FCA'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 2,507,693 MY 2004-2020 Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Fiat,
and Alfa Romeo motor vehicles, manufactured between November 25, 2002,
and November 9, 2019, are potentially involved.
III. Noncompliance
FCA explains that the noncompliance is that the subject vehicles
are equipped with speedometers that allow the driver to configure the
speedometer to display the vehicle's speed in kilometers-per-hour (km/
h) only 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
Paragraph 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 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. Specifically, the
speedometer must only allow the speed to be displayed in miles per hour
(MPH) or km/h and MPH.
V. Summary of FCA's Petition
The following views and arguments presented in this section, V.
Summary of FCA's Petition, are the views and arguments provided by FCA.
They have not been evaluated by the Agency and do not reflect the views
of the Agency.
FCA described the subject noncompliance and stated that the
noncompliance is inconsequential as it relates to motor vehicle safety.
FCA submitted the following views and arguments in support of the
petition:
1. FCA states that the vehicles are initially delivered for first-
sale in a compliant state (vehicle speed displayed in MPH) and that it
is only through vehicle operator interaction that the settings can be
changed from MPH to km/h. FCA believes that this adjustment cannot be
accomplished inadvertently.
2. FCA states that the two speedometer settings are clearly and
continuously identified as ``km/h'' or ``MPH''. In addition, the two
speedometer scales are noticeably different, and that if a previous
vehicle operator changed the units, a subsequent vehicle operator would
be able to tell in a glance that the scale is not in MPH.
3. FCA states that the vehicle speed in km/h is 1.6 times greater
than speed in MPH [in terms of numeric value displayed by the
speedometer--1km/h is approximately 0.62 MPH]. FCA believes that if a
vehicle operator changes the display to km/h and then later forgets
that the change had been made, the operator will recognize that the
vehicle is moving at a slower speed than intended and adjust the speed
to match the road and vehicle conditions. This should alert the
operator to (at the next appropriate opportunity) perform the
appropriate steps to adjust the speedometer.
4. FCA also states that the owner's manuals for all of the affected
vehicles contain instructions to change the speedometer display.
Therefore, if a vehicle operator needs assistance to reconfigure the
display to MPH, instructions are available.
5. FCA further states that the owner's manuals contain toll-free
numbers to the FCA customer helplines. Therefore, if a vehicle operator
notices that the speed is unintentionally displayed in km/h and does
not know how to re-set the speed to display in MPH, e.g., as set by a
previous operator, the vehicle operator can easily contact FCA for
assistance.
6. FCA has not received any customer contacts regarding this issue,
even though this condition exists as in approximately 2.5 million
vehicles, some of which have been in service for over 16 years.
7. FCA is not aware of any crashes, injuries, or customer
complaints associated with this condition.
8. FCA states that NHTSA has previously granted inconsequential
treatment for FMVSS No. 101 noncompliance for display of the vehicle
speed in km/h only. An example of the Agency granting a similar
inconsequentiality petition for display of the vehicle speed in km/h
only is:
BMW of North America, LLC, a subsidiary of BMW AG, 80 FR
61884 (October 14, 2015).
9. It is FCA's belief that the information described above
satisfies the intent of 49 CFR part 556 and operators can safely
utilize their vehicles for the intended purposes. FCA believes that
pursuant to 49 CFR part 556, 49 U.S.C. 30118(d) and Sec. 30120(h), the
FMVSS 101 S5.2.1, this display of the vehicle speed in km/h only
noncompliance is inconsequential to motor vehicle safety and FCA should
be exempted from the notification and
[[Page 42068]]
remedy requirements of 49 U.S.C. Chapter 301, ``Motor Vehicle Safety''
for the reasons supporting exemption cited above.
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 FCA 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 FCA
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. 2020-15006 Filed 7-10-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P