[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