Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Lamps, Reflective Devices, and Associated Equipment |
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Topics: NHTSA, Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards
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Christopher J. Bonanti (Federal Register)
April 26, 2011
[Federal Register: April 26, 2011 (Volume 76, Number 80)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 23255-23256]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr26ap11-24]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
49 CFR Part 571
[Docket No. NHTSA-2007-28322]
Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Lamps, Reflective
Devices, and Associated Equipment
AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),
Department of Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Denying, in part, petitions for reconsideration.
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SUMMARY: This document denies, in part, the petitions for
reconsideration of the December 4, 2007, final rule reorganizing
Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 108 (49 CFR 571.108).
The petitions are denied only as they relate to subpart S6.6.3 (License
Plate Holder) of the final rule.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For technical issues: Markus Price,
Office of Crash Avoidance Standards (NVS-121), NHTSA, 1200 New Jersey
Avenue, SE., West Building, Washington, DC 20590 (Telephone: (202) 366-
0098) (Fax: (202) 366-7002).
For legal issues: Jesse Chang, Office of the Chief Counsel (NCC-
112), NHTSA, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., West Building, Washington, DC
20590 (Telephone: (202) 366-2992) (Fax: (202) 366-3820).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On December 30, 2005, the agency published in the Federal Register
a notice of proposed rulemaking concerning 49 CFR 571.108 (Federal
Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 108).\1\ The agency stated that the
goal of the proposal was to ``amend the standard by reorganizing the
regulatory text so that it provides a more straight-forward and logical
presentation of the applicable regulatory requirements.'' After the
publication of a final rule on December 4, 2007,\2\ adopting the
proposal with revisions, the agency received petitions for
reconsideration from Harley-Davidson Motor Company (January 18, 2008)
and Ford Motor Company (January 18, 2008) asking the agency to
reconsider the license plate holder requirements in subpart S6.6.3. A
submission by the Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC) on March 19, 2009
also requested a similar change to S6.6.3. However, the MIC submission
was not timely for the purposes of reconsidering this final rule and
has been considered as a petition for rulemaking per 49 CFR 553.35.
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\1\ 70 FR 77454 (December 30, 2005).
\2\ 72 FR 68234 (December 4, 2007).
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In subpart S6.6.3 of the December 4, 2007 final rule, the agency
included provisions expressly requiring that manufacturers of motor
vehicles design license plate holders so that the plane surface of a
license plate in the holder would be within 15[deg] of
perpendicular to the plane surface on which the vehicle stands.
Paragraph S5.1.1 of the pre-reorganized version of FMVSS No. 108
required that passenger vehicles and motorcycles be equipped with the
``lamps, reflective devices, and associated equipment'' listed in Table
III of Standard 108. Table III listed lamps such turn signal lamps,
reflectors such as reflex reflectors, and associated equipment such as
turn signal operating units. Further, S5.1.1 required that the
equipment listed in Table III conform to the corresponding SAE
Standards listed in that table. One of the listed items of equipment
was ``license plate lamps.'' Table III required ``license plate lamps''
to be designed to conform to SAE Standard J587 (October 1981). Among
other requirements, SAE Standard J587 states in paragraph 6.1 that
``the angle between the plane of the license plate and the plane on
which the vehicle stands will be 90 15 deg.''
Petitioners request that the agency reconsider subpart S6.6.3 on a
number of grounds. First, petitioners contend that license plate
holders are not lamps, reflective devices, or associated equipment
listed in Table III and thus were never regulated under S5.1.1 of the
pre-reorganized version of FMVSS No. 108. Therefore, petitioners
believe that as a result of including S6.6.3 in the reorganization of
FMVSS No. 108, the agency was imposing a new requirement and
contravening its statement in the December 4, 2007 final rule that the
``final rule does not impose any new substantive requirements on
manufacturers.'' In addition, petitioners assert that the license plate
mounting provisions of SAE Standard J587 are intended to serve the
purpose of ensuring an objective means of measuring photometric
performance, but not intended to be a requirement. Finally, petitioners
request that should the agency consider license plate holders to be
regulated, the agency
[[Page 23256]]
should harmonize the license plate holder requirements with the most
recent revision of SAE Standard J587 and the requirements in European
Union.\3\
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\3\ The 1997 revision of SAE Standard J587 permits license
plates mounted at less than 1.2 meters above the ground to be angled
upwards at 30 degrees and maintained the requirement for plates to
be angled downward at no more than 15 degrees.
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In 1995, the agency stated that FMVSS No. 108 ``incorporated SAE
J587 in its entirety, and there is no exclusion of paragraph 6.1.'' The
agency made this statement in an interpretation letter addressed to
Volkswagen of America, Inc.\4\
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\4\ Available at http://isearch.nhtsa.gov/files/0788.html.
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Notwithstanding that interpretation, NHTSA takes note that there
has been significant confusion among the relevant stakeholders as to
whether or not the mounting provisions of SAE Standard J587 were
incorporated into FMVSS No. 108 via Table III as referenced through
S5.1.1. On the one hand, the Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC)
petitioned this agency for rulemaking in March of 2005 (before the
December 30, 2005 NPRM in this rulemaking) requesting that the agency
update the incorporated SAE Standard J587 to allow for a 30 degree
upward angle mounting position for license plates. The March 2005
petition seems to indicate that MIC believed that the license plate
mounting provisions of SAE Standard J587 were incorporated into FMVSS
No. 108 via S5.1.1 and Table III. On the other hand, the Alliance of
Automobile Manufacturers commented on March 30, 2006 to the 2005 NPRM
and disputed the view that those provisions were ever incorporated into
FMVSS No. 108.
Conclusion
Given the confusion over whether or not SAE Standard J587's
provisions on license plate holders were incorporated into the prior
version of FMVSS No. 108 and given the petition to initiate rulemaking
premised on their incorporation and requesting their relaxation, the
agency has decided to resolve this matter through rulemaking. Thus,
through this document, the agency denies the aforementioned petitions
for reconsideration as they relate to S6.6.3 (License Plate Holder) of
the December 4, 2007 final rule. However, the agency is granting the
petition from MIC requesting the agency to initiate rulemaking to
examine the issue of license plate holders and their mounting
requirements \5\ in a separate document published in today's Federal
Register. Further, due to the confusion and special circumstances
surrounding this rule, the agency announced in the aforementioned
document in today's Federal Register that it will not enforce the 15
degree license plate holder mounting requirement during the pendency of
rulemaking on the issue of that requirement.
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\5\ Motorcycle Industry Council Petition for Rulemaking, March
14, 2005 (Docket No. NHTSA-2005-20286-0009)
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The agency also notes that it is still considering the comments and
requests relating to other issues in the petitions for reconsideration
of the December 4, 2007 final rule and will respond to them in a
separate document.
Issued on: April 21, 2011.
Christopher J. Bonanti,
Associate Administrator for Rulemaking.
[FR Doc. 2011-10030 Filed 4-25-11; 8:45 am]
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