[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 176 (Tuesday, September 12, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47422-47423]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-22605]



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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
[Docket No. 95-53; Notice 2]


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

    Cantab Motors, Ltd., of Round Hill, Va., 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 for three years 
from Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 214 Side Impact 
Protection. The basis of the application was that compliance will cause 
substantial economic hardship to a manufacturer that has tried to 
comply with the standard in good faith.
    Notice of receipt of the application was published on July 14, 
1995, and an opportunity afforded for comment (60 FR 36328).
    The make and type of passenger car for which exemption was 
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 original 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 

[[Page 47423]]
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, and the applicant 
has asked for an exemption of three years. 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 
argued that an exemption would be in the public interest and consistent 
with safety. It brought 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.''
    No comments were received on the application.
    In adding only engine and fuel system components to incomplete 
vehicles, the applicant is not a manufacturer of motor vehicles in the 
conventional sense. It does not produce the front end structural 
components, instrument panel, or steering wheel, areas of the motor 
vehicle whose design is critical for compliance with the airbag 
requirements of Standard No. 208. These are manufactured by Morgan, and 
the applicant is necessarily dependent upon Morgan to devise designs 
that will enable conformance with Standard No. 208. The applicant has 
been monitoring Morgan's progress, and that company is engaging in 
testing and design activities necessary for eventual conformance. The 
fact that the applicant is requesting only a two-year exemption, rather 
than three, indicates its belief that complying operator and passenger 
airbags will at last be fitted to its cars by the end of this period.
    Similarly, the applicant is dependent upon the structural design of 
its vehicle for compliance with Standard No. 214. As with Standard No. 
208, Morgan and the applicant are working towards conformance, though 
apparently it will not be achieved within two years. In both instances, 
however, the applicant is conscious of the need to conform and has been 
taking steps to accomplish it. Although the company's total expenditure 
of $38,244 in the last five years to meet emission and safety 
requirements is low, the small number of cars produced for sale in the 
United States in the last year, nine, would not make available 
substantial funds to the company, and its cumulative net losses of 
$92,594 indicate an operation whose financial existence is precarious.
    Applicant's cars are equipped with manual three-point restraint 
systems and comply with previous side impact intrusion requirements. 
Because applicant produces only one line of vehicles, it cannot take 
advantage of the phase-in requirement. Given the existing level of 
safety of the vehicles and the comparatively small exposure of the 
small number of them that would be produced under an exemption, there 
would appear to be an insignificant risk to traffic safety by providing 
an exemption. The public interest is served by maintaining the 
existence of small businesses and by creating awareness of alternative 
power sources.
    In consideration of the foregoing, it is hereby found that to 
require immediate compliance with Standards Nos. 208 and 214 would 
cause substantial economic hardship to a manufacturer that has in good 
faith attempted to meet the standards, and that an exemption would be 
in the public interest and consistent with the objectives of traffic 
safety.
    Accordingly, the applicant is hereby granted NHTSA Exemption No. 
95-2, from paragraph S4.1.4 of 49 CFR 571.208 Motor Vehicle Safety 
Standard No. 208 Occupant Crash Protection, expiring September 1, 1997, 
and from 49 CFR 571.214 Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 214 Side 
Impact Protection, expiring September 1, 1998.


(49 U.S.C. 30113; delegation of authority at 49 CFR 1.50)

    Issued on September 7, 1995.
Ricardo Martinez,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 95-22605 Filed 9-11-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 49l0-59-P