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Agency Information Collection Activities; Notice and Request for Comment; Record Retention Publication: Federal Register Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Byline: Stephen A. Ridella Date: 4 November 2022 Subjects: American Government  , Safety
Topic: |
[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 213 (Friday, November 4, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66771-66773]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-24032]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
[Docket No. DOT-NHTSA-2022-0011]
Agency Information Collection Activities; Notice and Request for
Comment; Record Retention
AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),
Department of Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: This is a reinstatement of a previous approved information
collection.
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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA),
this notice announces that the Information Collection Request (ICR)
abstracted below is being forwarded to the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) for review and approval. A Federal Register Notice with a
60-day comment period soliciting comments on the following information
collection was published on July 20, 2022. No comments were received.
DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before December 5, 2022.
ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed
information collection, including suggestions for reducing burden,
should be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget at
www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. To find this particular information
collection, select ``Currently under Review--Open for Public Comment''
or use the search function.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For additional information or access
to background documents, contact Paul Simmons, Office of Defect
Investigation (NEF-110), (202) 366-2315, National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration, Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey
Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590, email paul.simmons@dot.gov. Please
identify the relevant collection of information by referring to its OMB
Control Number 2121-0042.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the PRA (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), a
Federal agency must receive approval from the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) before it collects certain information from the public and
a person is not required to respond to a collection of information by a
Federal agency unless the collection displays a valid OMB control
number. In compliance with these requirements, this notice announces
that the following information collection request will be submitted
OMB.
Title of Collection: Record Retention--49 CFR part 576.
OMB Control Number: 2127-0042.
Form Numbers(s): N/A.
Type of Request: This is a reinstatement of a previous approved
Information Collection.
Type of Review Requested: Regular.
Length of Approval Requested: Three years.
[[Page 66772]]
Summary of the Collection of Information
Under 49 U.S.C. 30166(e), NHTSA ``reasonably may require a
manufacturer of a motor vehicle or motor vehicle equipment to keep
records, and a manufacturer, distributor or dealer to make reports, to
enable [NHTSA] to decide whether the manufacturer, distributor, or
dealer has complied or is complying with this chapter or a regulation
prescribed under this chapter.''
To ensure that NHTSA will have access to this type of information,
the agency exercised the authority granted in 49 U.S.C. 30166(e) and
promulgated 49 CFR part 576 Record Retention, initially published on
August 20, 1974 and most recently amended on July 10, 2002 (67 FR
45873), requiring manufacturers to retain one copy of all records that
contain information concerning malfunctions that may be related to
motor vehicle safety for a period of five calendar years after the
record is generated or acquired by the manufacturer. Manufacturers are
also required to retain for five years the underlying records related
to early warning reporting (EWR) information submitted under 49 CFR
part 579. The information collections support NHTSA's mission by
increasing the effectiveness of NHTSA's investigations into potential
safety related defects.
Description of the Need for the Information and Proposed Use of the
Information
The records that are required to be retained per 49 CFR part 576
are used to promptly identify potential safety-related defects in motor
vehicles and motor vehicle equipment in the United States. When a trend
in incidents arising from a potentially safety-related defect is
discovered, NHTSA relies on this information, along with other agency
data, to determine whether or not to open a formal defect investigation
(as authorized by Title 49 U.S.C. chapter 301--Motor Vehicle Safety).
NHTSA normally becomes aware of possible safety-related defects because
it receives consumer complaints.
Agency experience has shown that manufacturers receive
significantly more consumer complaints than does the agency. This is
because the consumer with the product does not know whether their
particular vehicle or equipment has a problem that is common with an
entire group of vehicles or equipment. Whereas consumers know the
manufacturer of their vehicle or equipment, relatively few know how to
file a complaint with the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration's Auto Safety Hotline. The complaints filed with the
manufacturer give the agency a fair indication of how widespread the
potential problem may be.
If the manufacturer did not retain its records, NHTSA would be
unable to enforce the statutory requirements that the manufacturer
notify the agency and other persons of a safety-related defect when the
manufacturer ``learns'' of the defect, and notify the agency and other
persons of a noncompliance when it ``decides in good faith'' that the
noncompliance exists. Without access to the manufacturer's records, it
would be impossible for anyone other than the manufacturer to show when
or if that manufacturer had obtained knowledge of a potential defect or
had determined in good faith that the noncompliance did or did not
exist. Without access to manufacturers' records, NHTSA's examinations
of potential defects and non-compliances would be seriously
handicapped. NHTSA could conduct surveys of vehicle owners or use other
means to learn of problems with vehicles and equipment, but any of
these other methods would require significantly more information
collections by the agency and necessitate a larger staff of the
agency's Office of Defect Investigations.
60-Day Notice: A Federal Register Notice with a 60-day comment
period soliciting comments on the following information collection was
published on July 20, 2022. No comments were received.
Affected Public: Manufacturers of motor vehicles and motor vehicle
equipment.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 1,030.
NHTSA estimates that approximately 1,030 manufacturers of vehicles
and equipment (including tires, child restraint systems and trailers)
are required to maintain records under Part 576.
Frequency: As needed.
Number of Responses: 1,030.
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 40,225.
NHTSA estimates the total annual burden for each vehicle, tire, and
child restraint manufacturer to be 40 hours for a subtotal of 40,200
hours (1,005 respondents x 40 hours). In addition, there are
approximately 23,660 equipment manufacturers (excluding tires, child
seat restraint systems and trailer manufacturers) whose record
retention requirements under part 576 are limited to the documents
underlying their part 579 reporting requirements. Their part 579
requirements include only the reporting of incidents involving deaths.
Therefore, based on the number of death reports submitted to date by
these equipment manufacturers, we estimate that an additional 25
equipment manufacturers have record retention requirements imposed by
part 576. We estimate that it will take one hour each to maintain the
necessary records each year for a subtotal burden of 25 hours (25
respondents x one hour). Accordingly, NHTSA estimates that the total
annual burden hours is 40,225 hours ((1,005 respondents x 40 hours) +
(25 respondents x 1 hour)).
To calculate the labor cost associated with maintaining, NHTSA
looked at wage estimates for the type of personnel involved with
compiling and submitting the documents. NHTSA estimates the total labor
costs associated with these burden hours by looking at the average wage
for clerical workers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) estimates
that the average hourly wage for office clerks (BLS Occupation code 43-
9061) in the Motor Vehicle Manufacturing Industry is $20.98.\1\ The
Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that private industry workers'
wages represent 70.2% of total labor compensation costs.\2\ Therefore,
NHTSA estimates the hourly labor costs to be $29.89 and NHTSA estimates
the total labor cost associated with the 40,225 burden hours to be
$1,202,325.25. Table 1 provides a summary of the estimated burden hours
and labor costs associated with those submissions.
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\1\ May 2020 National Industry-Specific Occupational Employment
and Wage Estimates, NAICS 336100--Motor Vehicle Manufacturing,
available at https://www.bls.gov/oes/2020/may/naics4_336100.htm#43-0000 (accessed March 25, 2022).
\2\ See Table 1. Employer Costs for Employee Compensation by
ownership (Mar. 2020), available at https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/ecec_06182020.pdf (accessed March 25, 2022).
[[Page 66773]]
Table 1--Burden Estimates
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Estimated burden per Average hourly Labor cost per Total burden
Annual responses response (hours) labor cost response hours Total labor costs
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1,030 39.05 $29.89 $1,167.31 40,225 $1,202,325.25
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Estimated Total Annual Burden Cost: $0.
NHTSA estimates that there are no costs resulting from this
collection of information other than labor costs associated with the
burden hours.
Public Comments Invited: You are asked to comment on any aspect of
this information collection, including (a) whether the proposed
collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of
the functions of the Department, including whether the information will
have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the Department's estimate
of the burden of the proposed information collection; (c) ways to
enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the information to be
collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of
information on respondents, including the use of automated collection
techniques or other forms of information technology.
A comment to OMB is most effective if OMB receives it within 30
days of publication.
Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. chapter
35, as amended; 49 CFR 1.49; and DOT Order 1351.29A.
Stephen A. Ridella,
Director, Office of Defects Investigation.
[FR Doc. 2022-24032 Filed 11-3-22; 8:45 am]
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