Volkswagen Group of America, Inc., Grant of Petition for Decision of Inconsequential Noncompliance

Topics:  Audi A3

Otto G. Matheke III
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
1 July 2020

[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 127 (Wednesday, July 1, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39675-39676]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-14212]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[Docket No. NHTSA-2019-0022; Notice 2]


Volkswagen Group of America, Inc., Grant of Petition for Decision 
of Inconsequential Noncompliance

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 
Department of Transportation (DOT).

ACTION: Grant of petition.

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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 amended 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 the grant of Volkswagen's 
petition.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Neil Dold, Office of Vehicle Safety 
Compliance, NHTSA, telephone (202) 366-7352, facsimile (202) 366-3081.

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 part 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.
    Notice of receipt of Volkswagen's petition was published with a 30-
day public comment period, on October 8, 2019, in the Federal Register 
(84 FR 53821). No comments were received. To view the petition and all 
supporting documents log onto the Federal Docket Management System 
(FDMS) website at https://www.regulations.gov/. Then follow the online 
search instructions to locate docket number ``NHTSA-2019-0022.''
    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 of FMVSS No. 101 must meet the 
requirements 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 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 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.

[[Page 39676]]

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 [in terms of numeric value displayed by the 
speedometer--1km/h is approximately 0.62 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 Manual 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.
    5. 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. The correction for these vehicles is a 
software fix that permits display of the speed in mph or in both mph 
and km/h simultaneously.
    6. 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.
    VI. NHTSA's Analysis: NHTSA has reviewed Volkswagen's petition that 
the subject noncompliance is inconsequential to motor vehicle safety. 
Volkswagen explains the Audi A3/RS3 vehicles are initially delivered 
for first-sale in the U.S. market compliant with FMVSS No. 101 with the 
speedometer display factory-set to mph. The subject vehicles are 
noncompliant because the driver can select an alternative speedometer 
display in the menu setting of the ``virtual cockpit.''
    Specifically, in Audi A3/RS3 vehicles equipped with a ``virtual 
cockpit,'' if the driver selects the alternative speedometer display in 
the settings menu, the speedometer displays only km/h without 
simultaneously indicating mph, as required by FMVSS No. 101. The 
purpose of FMVSS No. 101 is to reduce safety hazards caused by the 
diversion of the driver's attention from the driving task when using 
controls, telltales, and indicators.
    Volkswagen further explains that all vehicles display mph from 
factory settings and cannot be changed inadvertently. Additionally, 
when displaying km/h, the scale of the speedometer is different so it 
would be visibly apparent to the driver that the units of measure are 
different. NHTSA agrees with Volkswagen that it is unlikely that the 
switch from mph to km/h could be done inadvertently because specific 
interactions with the menu-driven vehicle settings are required by the 
operator to make the change. We believe that if an operator were to 
make this change it would be done intentionally and with some 
understanding of the implications and would not cause any impact to 
vehicle safety. Also, if an operator were unaware that a speedometer 
had been changed to display speed in km/h, they would be likely to 
travel at a slower speed rather than faster speed that might impact 
safety because the indicated numeric value of the speed in km/h would 
be 1.6 times greater than the numeric value of the speed in mph. For 
example, a driver attempting to match a speed limit of 40mph using a 
speedometer reading ``40'' in km/h would be traveling approximately 
25mph and have an opportunity to safely detect the difference between 
their speedometer reading and the speed of nearby traffic. Furthermore, 
we believe that the majority of the owners of these vehicles will 
continue to operate them using the factory-set display (with the speed 
identified in mph) and never attempt to change to the metric units.
    VII. NHTSA's Decision: In consideration of the foregoing, NHTSA 
finds that Volkswagen has met its burden of persuasion that the subject 
FMVSS No. 101 noncompliance is inconsequential to motor vehicle safety. 
Accordingly, Volkswagen's petition is hereby granted and Volkswagen is 
exempted from the obligation to provide notification of and free remedy 
for, the subject noncompliance in the affected vehicles under 49 U.S.C. 
30118 and 30120.
    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, this decision 
only applies to the subject vehicles that Volkswagen no longer 
controlled at the time it determined that the noncompliance existed. 
However, the granting of 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. 2020-14212 Filed 6-30-20; 8:45 am]
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