[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 135 (Friday, July 14, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 36328-36329]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-17297]



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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
[Docket No. 95-53; Notice 1]


Cantab Motors, Ltd.; Receipt of Application for Temporary 
Exemption From Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards No. 208 and 214

    Cantab Motors, Ltd., of Round Hill, VA, has applied for a temporary 
exemption of two years from paragraph S4.1.4 of Federal Motor Vehicle 
Safety Standard No. 208 Occupant Crash Protection, and from Federal 
Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 214 Side Impact Protection. The basis 
of the application is that compliance will cause substantial economic 
hardship to a manufacturer that has tried to comply with the standard 
in good faith. 

[[Page 36329]]

    This notice of receipt of an application is published in accordance 
with the requirements of 49 U.S.C. 30113(b)(2) and does not represent 
any judgment of the agency on the merits of the application.
    The make and type of passenger car for which exemption is requested 
is the Morgan open car or convertible. Morgan Motor Company 
(``Morgan''), the British manufacturer of the Morgan, has not offered 
its vehicle for sale in the United States since the early days of the 
Federal motor vehicle safety standards. In the nine years it has been 
in business, the applicant has bought 35 incomplete Morgan cars from 
the British manufacturer, and imported them as motor vehicle equipment, 
completing manufacture by the addition of engine and fuel system 
components. They differ from their British counterparts, not only in 
equipment items and modifications necessary for compliance with the 
Federal motor vehicle safety standards, but also in their fuel system 
components and engines, which are propane fueled. As the party 
completing manufacture of the vehicle, Cantab certifies its conformance 
to all applicable Federal safety and bumper standards. The vehicle 
completed by Cantab in the U.S. is deemed sufficiently different from 
the one produced in Britain that NHTSA considers Cantab the 
manufacturer, not a converter, even though the brand names are the 
same.
    Morgan itself produced 478 cars in 1994, while in the year 
preceding the filing of its petition in June 1995, the applicant 
produced 9 cars for sale in the United States. Since the granting of 
its exemption in 1990, Cantab has invested $38,244 in research and 
development related to compliance with Federal safety and emissions 
standards. The applicant has experienced a net loss in each of its last 
three fiscal (calendar) years, with a cumulative net loss for this 
period of $92,594.

Application for Exemption From Standard No. 208

    Cantab received NHTSA Exemption No. 90-3 from S4.1.2.1 and S4.1.2.2 
of Standard No. 208, which expired May 1, 1993 (55 FR 21141). When this 
exemption was granted in 1990, the applicant had concluded that the 
most feasible way for it to conform to the automatic restraint 
requirements of Standard No. 208 was by means of an automatically 
deploying belt. In the period following the granting of the exemption, 
Morgan and the applicant created a mock-up of the Morgan passenger 
compartment with seat belt hardware and motor drive assemblies. In 
time, it was determined that the belt track was likely to deform, 
making it inoperable. The program was abandoned, and Morgan and Cantab 
embarked upon research leading to a dual airbag system.
    According to the applicant, Morgan tried without success to obtain 
a suitable airbag system from Mazda, Jaguar, Rolls-Royce and Lotus. As 
a result, Morgan is now developing its own system for its cars, and 
``[a]s many as twelve different sensors, of both the impact and 
deceleration (sic) type, have been tested and the system currently 
utilizes a steering wheel from a Jaguar and the Land Rover Discovery 
steering column.'' Redesign of the passenger compartment is underway, 
involving knee bolstering, a supplementary seat belt system, anti-
submarining devices, and the seats themselves. Morgan informed the 
applicant on May 2, 1995, that it had thus far completed 10 tests on 
the mechanical components involved ``and are now carrying out a 
detailed assessment of air bag operating systems and columns before we 
will be in a position to undertake the full set of appropriate tests to 
approve the installation in our vehicles.''
Application for Exemption from Standard No. 214

    Concurrently, Morgan and the applicant have been working towards 
meeting the dynamic test and performance requirements for side impact 
protection, for which Standard No. 214 has established a phase-in 
schedule. Although Morgan fits its car with a dual roll bar system 
specified by Cantab, and Cantab installs door bars and strengthens the 
door latch receptacle and striker plate, the system does not yet 
conform to the new requirements of Standard No. 214. It does, however, 
meet the previous side door strength requirements of the standard. Were 
the phase-in requirement of S8 applied to it, calculated on the basis 
of its limited production, only very few cars would be required to meet 
the standard.

Safety and Public Interest Arguments

    Because of the small number of vehicles that the applicant produces 
and its belief that they are used for pleasure rather than daily for 
business commuting or on long trips, and because of the three-point 
restraints and side impact protection currently offered, the applicant 
argues that an exemption would be in the public interest and consistent 
with safety. It brings to the agency's attention two recent oblique 
front impact accidents at estimated speeds of 30 mph and 65 mph 
respectively in which the restrained occupants ``emerged unscathed.''
    Further, the availability ``of this unique vehicle * * * will help 
maintain the existing diversity of motor vehicles available to the U.S. 
consumer.'' Finally, ``the distribution of [this] propane-fueled 
vehicle has contributed to the national interest by promoting the 
development of motor systems by using alternate fuels.''
    Interested persons are invited to submit comments on the 
application described above. Comments should refer to the docket number 
and the notice number, and be submitted to: Docket Section, National 
Highway Traffic Safety Administration, room 5109, 400 Seventh Street, 
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 application will be published in the 
Federal Register pursuant to the authority indicated below.
    Comment closing date: August 14, 1995.

(49 U.S.C. 30113; delegations of authority at 49 CFR 1.50. and 
501.8)

    Issued on July 10, 1995.
Barry Felrice,
Associate Administrator for Safety Performance Standards.
[FR Doc. 95-17297 Filed 7-13-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P