[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 238 (Tuesday, December 12, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Page 63758]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-30251]



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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration


Denial of Motor Vehicle Defect Petition From Robert G. Gingher

    This notice sets forth the reasons for the denial of a petition 
submitted to the NHTSA under 49 U.S.C. 30162(a)(2).
    In August 1995, Mr. Robert G. Gingher petitioned the National 
Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to issue an order 
concerning the notification and remedy of a defect in certain 1987 
through 1993 Taurus, Sable, and Continental model vehicles, produced by 
the Ford Motor Company, because of an alleged defect in the design of 
the steering system tie rods. Specifically, Mr. Gingher alleges that 
the tie rods can break, causing loss of control of the vehicle, and 
that accidents have occurred because of this failure. The petitioner 
proposes that these vehicles be recalled and that their tie rods be 
replaced by a more recently designed tie rod.
    This matter was the subject of an investigation by NHTSA (EA94-008) 
which was closed on February 27, 1995. The results of that 
investigation did not indicate that a safety-related defect trend 
existed. As a result, that investigation was closed.
    Mr. Gingher bases his petition on several allegations. First, he 
infers that the replacement parts sales indicate a high rate of 
occurrence of the alleged safety defect. This is not necessarily 
correct because of the existence of more than one failure mode for the 
part. The investigation showed that fracture of the tie rod was the 
only failure mode that had any potential safety consequence, that 
fracture was a rare occurrence in service, and that the tie rods were 
far more likely to have been replaced because of wear, which had no 
identified safety consequence. Accordingly, replacement parts sales do 
not accurately reflect the number of occurrences of this alleged 
defect.
    Second, Mr. Gingher states that ``the VRTC did not evaluate 
steering degradation.'' The Vehicle Research and Test Center did, in 
fact, evaluate steering performance degradation in several driving 
maneuvers, including straight ahead stopping, various right and left 
hand constant radius turns, low speed steering maneuvers, and several 
collision avoidance maneuvers. In only one condition, the double lane 
change maneuver, was the steering performance of the vehicle degraded 
with a separated tie rod.
    Mr. Gingher has not presented any new information which was not 
already considered by the agency during its previous investigation. 
Accordingly, there is no reason to reopen the investigation. Thus, 
after considering all of the issues raised by this petition, 
recognizing the need to allocate and prioritize NHTSA's limited 
resources to best accomplish the agency's safety mission, the agency 
has decided to deny the petition.

    Issued on: December 7, 1995.
Michael B. Brownlee,
Associate Administrator for Safety Assurance.
[FR Doc. 95-30251 Filed 12-11-95; 8:45 am]
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