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Daimler Trucks North America, LLC, Receipt of Petition for Decision of Inconsequential Noncompliance Publication: Federal Register Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Byline: Otto G. Matheke III Date: 27 December 2022 Subjects: American Government  , Safety
Topic: Freightliner EconicSD |
[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 247 (Tuesday, December 27, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 79438-79440]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-28062]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
[Docket No. NHTSA-2022-0059; Notice 1]
Daimler Trucks North America, LLC, 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: Daimler Trucks North America, LLC, (DTNA) has determined that
certain model year (MY) 2022-2023 Freightliner (FCCC) EconicSD do not
fully comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No.
106, Brake Hoses. DTNA filed a noncompliance report dated May 12, 2022.
DTNA subsequently petitioned NHTSA on June 8, 2022, for a decision that
the subject noncompliance is inconsequential as it relates to motor
vehicle safety. This document announces receipt of DTNA's petition.
DATES: Send comments on or before January 26, 2023.
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 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 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: Manuel Maldonado, Safety Compliance
Engineer, NHTSA, Office of Vehicle Safety Compliance, (202) 366-8731.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
[[Page 79439]]
I. Overview
DTNA has determined that certain MY 2022-2023 Freightliner (FCCC)
EconicSD do not fully comply with paragraphs S11.3.18 and S11.3.19 of
FMVSS No. 106, Brake Hoses (49 CFR 571.106). DTNA filed a noncompliance
report dated May 12, 2022, pursuant to 49 CFR 573, Defect and
Noncompliance Responsibility and Reports. DTNA subsequently petitioned
NHTSA on June 8, 2022, 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 DTNA'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 and Equipment Involved
Approximately 149 MY 2022-2023 Freightliner (FCCC) EconicSD,
manufactured between June 24, 2019, and March 9, 2022, are potentially
involved. The part numbers of the fittings involved are A 000 990 40 78
and A 000 990 43 78.
III. Noncompliance
DTNA explains that the noncompliance is that certain fittings used
in the subject vehicle's air brake system failed to pass the tensile
strength test under boiling conditions and tensile strength test under
thermal conditioning, and therefore, do not comply with paragraphs
S11.3.18 and S11.3.19 and Table VIII of FMVSS No. 106. The subject
vehicles are equipped with an air brake system containing tubing that
has a nominal outside diameter (OD) of 8 mm and do not meet the
conditioned tensile load 75 lbf as required by Table VIII of FMVSS No.
106.
IV. Rule Requirements
Paragraphs S11.3.18 and S11.3.19 of FMVSS No. 106 include the
requirements relevant to this petition. S11.3.18 requires that a
plastic air brake tubing assembly, when subjected to a tensile pull
test, must either elongate 50 percent or withstand the conditioned
tensile load in Table VIII of FMVSS No. 106 without separation from its
end fittings, with one end of the assembly conditioned in boiling water
for 5 minutes. S11.3.19 requires that a plastic air brake tubing
assembly, when subjected to a tensile pull test, must either elongate
50 percent or withstand the conditioned tensile load in Table VIII
without separation from its end fittings after the assembly has been
subjected to four cycles of conditioning in air at minus 40 degrees
Fahrenheit (minus 40 degrees Celsius) for thirty minutes, normalizing
at room temperature, conditioning in boiling water for 15 minutes, and
normalizing at room temperature.
V. Summary of DTNA's Petition
The following views and arguments presented in this section, ``V.
Summary of DTNA's Petition,'' are the views and arguments provided by
DTNA. They have not been evaluated by the Agency and do not reflect the
views of the Agency.
DTNA describes the subject noncompliance and states that the
noncompliance is inconsequential as it relates to motor vehicle safety.
DTNA explains that the subject noncompliance occurred because DTNA
carried over a European Econic vehicle fitting into the U.S. market
that had been believed to be compliant to FMVSS No. 106. DTNA later
discovered it was not certified to paragraphs S11.3.18 and S11.3.19 of
FMVSS No. 106. DTNA says that the noncompliant fittings ``are used only
in locations protected from stresses and thermal/boiling conditions.''
Therefore, DTNA believes that the subject noncompliance should be
deemed inconsequential to motor vehicle safety because the noncompliant
fittings are protected from the stresses that are tested by paragraphs
S11.3.18 and S11.3.19 of FMVSS No. 106.
DTNA states that the noncompliant fittings have been used for 9
years in the European market and 3 years in the U.S. and Canadian
markets, and ``there has been no evidence of airline separations.''
DTNA investigated claims related to tensile loads on the noncompliant
fittings that were used in the subject vehicles across all of the
vehicles with the same fitting that were sold in Europe, the United
States, and Canada, and found no evidence of problems.
DTNA describes the location of the noncompliant fitting in the
subject vehicle and provides photos to show that the noncompliant
fittings ``are mounted with protections and stress relief, such that
there are none of the tensile loads against which the FMVSS [No.] 106
provision was intended to protect.'' Due to the location of the
fittings, DTNA contends that they ``would not be subjected to any
loads'' and the area ``is expected to be free from debris, boiling
water, abnormally high temperatures, and so forth, such that the
integrity of the fittings would not be affected.'' Further, DTNA states
the noncompliant fittings have never failed and DTNA is not aware of
``any scenarios which would cause the air fittings to separate from the
connection points.''
DTNA says that it tested a sample of the tubing configuration used
in the subject vehicles and found that the tubing failed during all
four pull strength tests at an average of 37.5 lbf for tensile load
strength, which is 50 percent less than what is required by S12.19 of
FMVSS No. 106. However, DTNA stated its belief that the tubing would
not be subjected to tensile forces as high as the 75 pounds required by
FMVSS No. 106 due to the location of the air brake system used in the
subject vehicles, as described above.
DTNA claims that NHTSA precedent supports granting DTNA's petition
for the subject noncompliance. DTNA refers to the granting of a
petition submitted by Coupled Products, Inc.\1\, in which brake hose
assemblies it produced did not comply with the tensile strength
requirement provided in S5.3.4 of FMVSS No. 106 (a hydraulic brake hose
assembly is required to withstand a pull of 325 pounds without
separations of the hose from its end fittings during a slow pull test,
and a pull of 370 pounds during a fast pull test) and the water
absorption and tensile strength requirement provided in S5.3.6 (a
hydraulic brake hose assembly, after immersion in water for 70 hours,
is required to withstand a pull of 325 pounds without separation of the
hose from its end fittings during a slow pull test, and a pull of 370
pounds during a fast pull test). DTNA believes that, like the
noncompliance that Coupled Products, Inc., described, the noncompliant
fittings used in the subject vehicles are also ``restrained within
assemblies under the cab body and protected under the dash,''
therefore, DTNA contends that there are no forces acting upon the
noncompliant fittings.
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\1\ Coupled Products, Inc., Grant of Petition for Decision of
Inconsequential Noncompliance; 70 FR 35774 (June 21, 2005).
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DTNA concludes by again contending 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, be granted.
DTNA's complete petition and supporting documents are available by
logging onto the Federal Docket
[[Page 79440]]
Management System (FDMS) website at: https://www.regulations.gov and by
following the online search instructions to locate the docket number as
listed in the title of this notice.
VI. Additional Information
On July 6, 2022, NHTSA contacted DTNA for clarification on certain
parts of its petition. DTNA provided the name of the fabricating
manufacturer for the hose assemblies, Arco, and provided the intended
OD of the hose assemblies, 8 mm. DTNA also clarified the statements
describing the testing of the sample tubing configuration. DTNA
provided the test results and found that the average tensile load at
which the noncompliant component failed was 37.5 lbf.
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 and equipment that
DTNA 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 brake hoses and equipment under
their control after DTNA 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. 2022-28062 Filed 12-23-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P