Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, Receipt of Petition for Decision of Inconsequential Noncompliance |
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Topics: Kelly
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Otto G. Matheke III
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
12 June 2020
[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 114 (Friday, June 12, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35994-35995]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-12717]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
[Docket No. NHTSA-2019-0130; Notice 1]
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, 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: Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (Goodyear), has determined that
certain Kelly Armorsteel KDM 1 commercial truck tires do not comply
with Federal motor vehicle safety standards (FMVSS) No. 119, New
Pneumatic Tires for Motor Vehicles with a GVWR of more than 4,536
kilograms (10,000 pounds) and Motorcycles. Goodyear filed a
noncompliance report dated November 26, 2019, and petitioned NHTSA on
November 25, 2019, for a decision that the subject noncompliance is
inconsequential as it relates to motor vehicle safety. This document
announces receipt of Goodyear's petition.
DATES: The closing date for comments on the petition is July 13, 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 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
[[Page 35995]]
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: Goodyear has determined that certain Kelly Armorsteel
KDM 1 commercial truck tires do not fully comply with paragraph S6.5 of
FMVSS No. 119, New Pneumatic Tires for Motor Vehicles with a GVWR of
More than 4,536 kilograms (10,000 pounds) and Motorcycles (49 CFR
571.119). Goodyear filed a noncompliance report dated November 26,
2019, pursuant to 49 CFR part 573, Defect and Noncompliance
Responsibility and Reports, and petitioned NHTSA on November 25, 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 Goodyear'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. Tires Involved: Approximately 76 Kelly Armorsteel KDM 1
commercial truck tires, size 11/R22.5 LRH, manufactured between August
25, 2019, and August 31, 2019, are potentially involved.
III. Noncompliance: Goodyear explained that the noncompliance is
that the Tire Identification Number (TIN) on the subject tires contains
a date code that was engraved less than the required height of 0.51 mm
(0.020 inches) and, therefore, do not meet the requirements of
paragraph S6.5 of FMVSS No. 119.
IV. Rule Requirements: Paragraph S6.5. of FMVSS No. 119 includes
the requirements relevant to this petition. Each tire shall be marked
on each sidewall with the information specified in paragraphs (a)
through (j) of this section. The markings shall be placed between the
maximum section width (exclusive of sidewall decorations or curb ribs)
and the bead on at least one sidewall, unless the maximum section width
of the tire is located in an area which is not more than one-fourth of
the distance from the bead to the shoulder of the tire. If the maximum
section width falls within that area, the markings shall appear between
the bead and a point one-half the distance from the bead to the
shoulder of the tire, on at least one sidewall. The markings shall be
in letters and numerals not less than 2 mm (0.078 inch) high and raised
above or sunk below the tire surface not less than 0.4 mm (0.015 inch),
except that the marking depth shall be not less than 0.25mm (0.010
inch) in the case of motorcycle tires.
V. Summary of Goodyear's Petition: The following views and
arguments presented in this section are the views and arguments
provided by Goodyear. They have not been evaluated by the Agency and do
not reflect the views of the Agency.
Accordingly, Goodyear described the subject noncompliance and
stated that the noncompliance is inconsequential as it relates to motor
vehicle safety.
1. Goodyear believes this noncompliance is inconsequential to motor
vehicle safety because these tires were manufactured as designed and
meet or exceed all applicable FMVSS. All of the sidewall markings
related to tire service (load capacity, corresponding inflation
pressure, etc.) are correct. The mislabeling and irregular date code is
not a safety concern and has no impact on the retreading, repairing,
and recycling industries. The affected date code stencil has been
corrected, and all future production will not contain the irregularity
in the date code.
2. Goodyear states that the date code portion of the TIN becomes
important in the event of a safety campaign, so that the consumer may
properly identify the recalled tire(s). In the unlikely event that a
safety campaign would ever become necessary for this Kelly Armorsteel
KDM 1 11/R22.5 LRH commercial truck tire made in the 34th week of 2019,
Goodyear would include in the listing of recalled TINs the TIN for
these tires with the date code portion as shown, MJ3TK2BW3419, as well
as the TIN for these tires with the date code portion shown with the
date code portion of the TIN below the regulation specified height so
that the consumer would know that tires with this TIN, MJ3TK2BW, are
included in the recall even if they have difficulty reading the date
code portion because it is not raised to the 0.51 mm level.
Goodyear concluded by expressing the belief 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 tires that Goodyear no longer
controlled at the time it determined that the noncompliance existed.
However, any decision on this petition does not relieve equipment
distributors and dealers of the prohibitions on the sale, offer for
sale, or introduction or delivery for introduction into interstate
commerce of the noncompliant tires under their control after Goodyear
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. 2020-12717 Filed 6-11-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P