AC Cars Ltd; Receipt of Petition for Temporary Exemption From Standard No. 208

Topics:  AC Ace

Barry Felrice
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Federal Register
February 2, 1994

[Federal Register: February 2, 1994]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
[Docket No. 94-10; Notice 1]

 
AC Cars Ltd; Receipt of Petition for Temporary Exemption From 
Standard No. 208

    AC Cars Ltd. of Weybridge, Surrey, England, has petitioned for a 
temporary exemption until November 1, 1996, for its Ace model, from the 
automatic protection requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety 
Standard No. 208, Occupant Crash Protection. The basis of the petition 
is that compliance would cause substantial economic hardship.
    Notice of receipt of the petition is published in accordance with 
agency regulations on the subject (49 CFR part 555) and does not 
represent any judgment of the agency on the merits of the petition.

Petitioner's Hardship Arguments

    Under 15 U.S.C. 1410(a)(1)(A), the Administrator may provide a 
temporary exemption upon a finding that ``compliance would cause 
substantial economic hardship and that the manufacturer has, in good 
faith, attempted to comply * * *.''
    The following is a summary of AC's petition. The company is 
privately owned and produced no motor vehicles during the 12 months 
preceding the filing of its petition. The first prototype of the Ace 
was shown in 1986. Since then, the company has spent much time 
redesigning it ``to meet the increasingly higher standards of emissions 
and safety * * * with the original intentions of achieving first sales 
into North America.'' To date, the petitioner has spent approximately 
5,000,000 Pounds Sterling on the project, 100,000 of which (and 1,250 
man hours) have been spent in the past two years in research and 
development relating to meeting the automatic restraint requirements of 
Standard No. 208. Because the Ace is a full convertible, the company 
found that it could not adopt an automatic seat belt system. Additional 
design changes, development and actual testing are necessary in order 
to install in the Ace an airbag system that meets Standard No. 208. 
Being a small manufacturer of motor vehicles, the petitioner has had to 
rely on the expertise of outside parties in the design and development 
of necessary components.
    AC has concluded that modifications of the following will be 
required to accommodate driver and passenger side airbag systems: 
Interior dash and cockpit components, seats, steering wheel and 
chassis. The estimted cost of these modifications is 750,000 Pounds 
Sterling, exclusive of testing costs. The company's balance sheet shows 
that its cumulative losses, which were approximately 1,500,000 Pounds 
Sterling as of December 31, 1989, has increased to approximately 
4,275,000 Pounds Sterling as of September 30, 1993.
    The company anticipates that it will be able to conform by November 
1, 1996. It projects total sales of 200 units in 1994 and 350 in 1995, 
half of which are proposed for North American sales.

Arguments Why an Exemption Would be in the Public Interest and 
Consistent With Traffic Safety Objectives

    In order to grant an exemption, the Administrator must also find 
that the exemption is in the public interest and consistent with the 
objectives of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act. In 
support of its petition, AC has informed NHTSA that the Ace will be 
equipped with a three-point restraint system that conforms to Standard 
No. 208, ``the mountings of which have been tested in accordance with 
and achieved FMV210 (sic) US standard approval.'' Further, except for 
the automatic restraint requirements, the Ace has been designed to meet 
all other Federal motor vehicle safety standards, and the bumper 
standard. It will be manufactured ``using the following US sourced 
components: Ford engine, transmission, exhaust, wiring and associated 
components.'' According to the petitioner, ``US parts sourcing and 
dealer network labor involvement is also in the best interest of the US 
economy.''
    Interested persons are invited to submit comments on the petition 
described above. Comments should refer to the Docket number and be 
submitted to: Docket Section, National Highway Traffic Safety 
Administration, room 5109, 400 Seventh St. SW., Washington, DC 20590. 
It is requested but not required that 10 copies be submitted.
    All comments received before the close of business on the comment 
closing date indicated below will be considered, and will be available 
for examination in the docket at the above address both before and 
after that date. To the extent possible, comments filed after the 
closing date will also be considered. Notice of final action on the 
petition will be published in the Federal Register pursuant to the 
authority indicated below.
    Comment closing date: March 4, 1994.

    Authority: 15 U.S.C. 1410; delegations of authority at 49 CFR 
1.50 and 501.8.

    Issued on: January 27, 1994.
Barry Felrice,
Associate Administrator for Rulemaking.
[FR Doc. 94-2351 Filed 2-1-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-M