Volkswagen Group of America, Inc., Receipt of Petition for Decision of Inconsequential Noncompliance |
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Topics: Volkswagen
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Otto G. Matheke III
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
12 July 2021
[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 130 (Monday, July 12, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 36594-36595]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-14743]
[[Page 36594]]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
[Docket No. NHTSA-2020-0114; Notice 1]
Volkswagen Group of 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.
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SUMMARY: Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen), has determined
that certain model year (MY) 2020-2021 Volkswagen motor vehicles do not
fully comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No.
138, Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems. Volkswagen filed a noncompliance
report dated October 23, 2020, and later amended it on November 11,
2020. Volkswagen also petitioned NHTSA on November 16, 2020, for a
decision that the subject noncompliance is inconsequential as it
relates to motor vehicle safety. This notice announces receipt of
Volkswagen's petition.
DATES: Send comments on or before August 11, 2021.
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 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 docket. 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).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kerrin Bressant, Compliance Engineer,
NHTSA, Office of Vehicle Safety Compliance, (202) 366-1110.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Overview: Volkswagen has determined that certain MY 2020-2021
Volkswagen motor vehicles do not fully comply with the requirements of
Paragraph S4.5(a) of FMVSS No. 138, Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems
(49 CFR 571.138). Volkswagen filed a noncompliance report dated October
23, 2020, and later amended it on November 11, 2020, pursuant to 49 CFR
part 573, Defect and Noncompliance Responsibility and Reports.
Volkswagen subsequently petitioned NHTSA on November 16, 2020, 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 Volkswagen'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 115,855 of the following MY
2020-2021 motor vehicles, manufactured between December 16, 2019, and
August 28, 2020, are potentially involved:
MY 2020 Volkswagen Arteon;
MY 2020 Volkswagen Passat;
MY 2021 Volkswagen Atlas;
MY 2020 Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport;
MY 2020 Volkswagen Tiguan;
MY 2020 Volkswagen Jetta; and
MY 2020 Volkswagen Jetta GLI.
III. Noncompliance: Volkswagen explains that the noncompliance is
due to an error in the owner's manual editing process and that the
subject motor vehicles may have received an owner's manual that did not
have the exact statement in English as required by paragraph S4.5(a) of
FMVSS No. 138. Specifically, the written instructions to vehicle
operators about the functionality of the tire pressure monitoring
system was not included in the exact wording per paragraph S4.5(a).
IV. Rule Requirements: Paragraph S4.5(a) of FMVSS No. 138 includes
the requirements relevant to this petition. Beginning on September 1,
2006, the owner's manual in each vehicle certified as complying with
paragraph S4 of FMVSS No. 138 must provide an image of the Low Tire
Pressure Telltale symbol (and an image of the TPMS Malfunction Telltale
warning (TPMS), if a dedicated telltale is utilized for this function)
with the following statement in English:
Each tire, including the spare (if provided), should be checked
monthly when cold and inflated to the inflation pressure recommended by
the vehicle manufacturer on the vehicle placard or tire inflation
pressure label. (If your vehicle has tires of a different size than the
size indicated on the vehicle placard or tire inflation pressure label,
you should determine the proper tire inflation pressure for those
tires.)
As an added safety feature, your vehicle has been equipped with a
tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) that illuminates a low tire
pressure telltale when one or more of your tires is significantly
under-inflated. Accordingly, when the low tire pressure telltale
illuminates, you should stop and check your tires as soon as possible,
and inflate them to the proper pressure. Driving on a significantly
under-inflated tire causes the tire to overheat and can lead to tire
failure. Under-inflation also reduces fuel efficiency and tire tread
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life, and may affect the vehicle's handling and stopping ability.
Please note that the TPMS is not a substitute for proper tire
maintenance, and it is the driver's responsibility to maintain correct
tire pressure, even if under-inflation has not reached the level to
trigger illumination of the TPMS low tire pressure telltale.
[The following paragraph is required for all vehicles certified to
the standard starting on September 1, 2007, and for vehicles
voluntarily equipped with a compliant TPMS MIL before that time.] Your
vehicle has also been equipped with a TPMS malfunction indicator to
indicate when the system is not operating properly. [For vehicles with
a dedicated MIL telltale, add the following statement: The TPMS
malfunction indicator is provided by a separate telltale, which
displays the symbol ``TPMS'' when illuminated.] [For vehicles with a
combined low tire pressure/MIL telltale, add the following statement:
The TPMS malfunction indicator is combined with the low tire pressure
telltale. When the system detects a malfunction, the telltale will
flash for approximately one minute and then remain continuously
illuminated. This sequence will continue upon subsequent vehicle start-
ups as long as the malfunction exists.] When the malfunction indicator
is illuminated, the system may not be able to detect or signal low tire
pressure as intended. TPMS malfunctions may occur for a variety of
reasons, including the installation of replacement or alternate tires
or wheels on the vehicle that prevent the TPMS from functioning
properly. Always check the TPMS malfunction telltale after replacing
one or more tires or wheels on your vehicle to ensure that the
replacement or alternate tires and wheels allow the TPMS to continue to
function properly.
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
have not been evaluated by the Agency and do not reflect the views of
the Agency. Volkswagen describes the subject noncompliance and contends
that the noncompliance is inconsequential as it relates to motor
vehicle safety.
In support of its petition, Volkswagen submitted the following
reasoning:
1. Volkswagen states that the affected manuals all have sections
devoted to describing appropriate tire pressures and the functionality
of the tire pressure monitoring system and that the affected manuals
contain equivalent instructions to those set forth in S4.5(a), just in
different words. Volkswagen compared the required language and the
actual language and believes that the comparable text present in the
owner's manuals is consistent with the rationale and intent of the
FMVSS No. 138 requirements, even though the exact words required by the
standard are not used.
2. Volkswagen asserts that NHTSA has granted similar petitions in
the past in which required owner's manual text was not present in
verbatim form, but an equivalent version of the text was present. See
65 FR 14009 (label and owner's manual missing FMVSS No. 303 required
text but include substantive equivalent) and 80 FR 68602 (owner's
manual missing description required by FMVSS No. 226).
3. Volkswagen states that as of the last dates of production for
the subject vehicles, the condition has been corrected and that any
affected vehicles held at the factory have been corrected, and unsold
units in dealer inventory will be corrected prior to sale.
4. Additionally, Volkswagen says it 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 concludes 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 Volkswagen 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 motor 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. 2021-14743 Filed 7-9-21; 8:45 am]
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