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Michelin North America, LLC, Grant of Petition for Decision of Inconsequential Noncompliance Publication: Federal Register Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Byline: Otto G. Matheke III Date: 4 October 2024 Subject: American Government  , Safety, Tires
Topic: Michelin |
[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 193 (Friday, October 4, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 80987-80988]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-23016]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
[Docket No. NHTSA-2021-0077; Notice 2]
Michelin North America, LLC, 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: Michelin North America, LLC (MNA), has determined that certain
Michelin Pilot Sport All Season 4 replacement passenger car tires do
not fully comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No.
139, New Pneumatic Radial Tires for Light Vehicles. MNA filed a
noncompliance report dated September 14, 2021. MNA subsequently
petitioned NHTSA on September 30, 2021, and later supplemented the
petition on September 30, 2022, for a decision that the subject
noncompliance is inconsequential as it relates to motor vehicle safety.
This document announces the grant of MNA's petition.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jayton Lindley, General Engineer,
NHTSA, Office of Vehicle Safety Compliance, (325) 655-0547.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Overview
MNA has determined that certain Michelin Pilot Sport All Season 4
replacement passenger car tires do not fully comply with the
requirements of paragraph S5.5.4(b) of FMVSS No. 139, New Pneumatic
Radial Tires for Light Vehicles (49 CFR 571.139). MNA filed a
noncompliance report dated September 14, 2021, pursuant to 49 CFR part
573, Defect and Noncompliance Responsibility and Reports. MNA
subsequently petitioned NHTSA on September 30, 2021, and later
supplemented the petition on September 30, 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 49 U.S.C. 30118(d) and 30120(h) and
49 CFR part 556, Exemption for Inconsequential Defect or Noncompliance.
Notice of receipt of MNA's petition was published with a 30-day
public comment period, on June 23, 2022, in the Federal Register (87 FR
37553). 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-2021-0077.''
II. Tires Involved
According to MNA approximately 3,589 Michelin Pilot Sport All
Season 4, size 295/40ZR21 111Y XL, replacement passenger car tires,
manufactured between October 7, 2020, and August 20, 2021, and sold in
the United States and Canada were affected by the subject
noncompliance. MNA says that of the 3,589 tires, 1,729 tires entered
the U.S. market, 110 entered the Canadian market, and the remaining
1,750 were blocked in MNA's inventory control system to be repaired or
scrapped. For the 110 tires that entered the Canadian market, the
Agency cannot exempt MNA 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 for
those tires. Therefore, the Agency's decision will only apply to the
1,729 tires that entered the U.S. market.
III. Noncompliance
MNA explains that the noncompliance was due to a mold error in
which one sidewall, the serial sidewall, of the subject tires
incorrectly states the maximum load range as required by paragraph
S5.5.4(b) of FMVSS No. 139. Specifically, the subject tires were marked
with a maximum load of 1,090 kg (1,433 lbs.) when the conversion of
kilograms to pounds should have resulted in a maximum load of 1,090 kg
(2,403 lbs.).
IV. Rule Requirements
Paragraph S5.5.4(b) of FMVSS No. 139 includes the requirements
relevant to this petition. For passenger car tires, if the maximum
inflation pressure of a tire is 240, 280, 300, 340, or 350 kPa, then
each marking of the tire's maximum load rating in kilograms must be
followed in parenthesis by the equivalent load rating in pounds,
rounded to the nearest whole number.
V. Summary of MNA's Petition
The following views and arguments presented in this section, ``V.
Summary of MNA's Petition,'' are the views and arguments provided by
MNA and do not reflect the views of the Agency. MNA describes the
subject noncompliance and contends that the noncompliance is
inconsequential as it relates to motor vehicle safety for the following
reasons:
MNA asserts that although erroneously marked, the subject tires
[[Page 80988]]
were ``designed as a load index 111 tire, with a maximum load rating of
1090 kilograms, or 2,403 pounds.'' MNA says that the subject tires
``fully comply with Michelin performance requirements'' and with all
applicable FMVSSs. According to MNA, other than the tire maximum load
rating in pounds, the tires are correctly marked and ``provide both
dealers and consumers with the necessary information to enable proper
selection and application of the tires.'' MNA says that if a consumer
were to go by the erroneous maximum load, in pounds, based on the
markings on the tire, the tire would be put ``into service respecting a
maximum load of 1,433 lbs., which is less than the actual designed
maximum load of 2,403 lbs.''
MNA cites the following past inconsequentiality petitions NHTSA has
granted that MNA claims are similar to the subject petition:
Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations, LLC, Grant of
Petition for Decision of Inconsequential Noncompliance. See 78 FR
35357, June 12, 2013;
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, Grant of Petition for
Decision of Inconsequential Noncompliance. See 70 FR 41254, July 18,
2005;
Continental Tire North America Inc., Grant of Application
for Decision of Inconsequential Noncompliance. See 70 FR 14748, March
23, 2005;
Michelin North America, Inc., Grant of Petition for
Decision of Inconsequential Noncompliance. See 69 FR 62511, October 26,
2004; and
Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc., Grant of Application for
Decision That Noncompliance Is Inconsequential to Motor Vehicle Safety.
See 66 FR 57772, November 16, 2001.
MNA states that they have ``captured and retained'' a total of
1,750 tires with the intent to either repair or scrap them. MNA also
states that they have corrected the tire specification drawing and
updated the mold to reflect the correct maximum load in pounds.
MNA 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.
On August 1, 2022, NHTSA requested that MNA provide documentation
that the subject tires comply with the performance requirements and all
other labeling requirements of FMVSS No. 139. MNA's response was
received on September 30, 2022. MNA stated that the subject tires
comply with the applicable performance requirements and provided
documentation under request for confidential treatment in support.
Additionally, MNA provided photographs to show that the subject tires
comply with all of the necessary labeling requirements, with the
exception of the load range marking.
VI. NHTSA's Analysis
NHTSA has evaluated the merits of the petition submitted by MNA and
is granting MNA's request for relief from notification and remedy based
on the following:
1. NHTSA has no basis to believe that the subject tires do not meet
the performance and labeling requirements of FMVSS No. 139, with the
exception of the load markings.
2. NHTSA agrees that if consumers were to follow the incorrect
maximum loading value in pounds on the outboard sidewall of the tire,
the tire would not be in overloaded condition. Additionally, the tires
are marked with the correct load index, and the correct maximum loading
values in kilograms on the outboard sidewall. Additionally, the inboard
sidewall also contains the correct maximum loading values in both
kilograms and pounds.
3. NHTSA believes that the incorrect maximum load values do not
affect the ability of the manufacturer or consumer to identify the
affected tires in the event of a recall.
The agency notes that the petitioner has provided citations to
prior inconsequentiality determinations in support of the present
request. The agency notes that inconsequentiality determinations are
highly fact specific and as such should not be regarded as binding
precedent.
VII. NHTSA's Decision
In consideration of the foregoing, NHTSA finds that MNA has met its
burden of persuasion that the subject FMVSS No. 139 noncompliance in
the affected tires is inconsequential to motor vehicle safety.
Accordingly, MNA's petition is hereby granted and MNA is consequently
exempted from the obligation of providing notification of, and a free
remedy for, that noncompliance 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 tires that MNA no longer controlled at the
time it determined that the noncompliance existed. However, the
granting of this petition does not relieve tire 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 MNA 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. 2024-23016 Filed 10-3-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P