[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 191 (Friday, October 2, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53123-53124]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-26435]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
[Docket No. NHTSA-98-4453]


Dorsey Trailers, Inc., Receipt of Application for Decision of 
Inconsequential Noncompliance

    Dorsey Trailers, Inc. (Dorsey), a manufacturer of trailers, is a 
corporation organized under the laws of the State of Delaware with 
headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia and manufacturing facilities in Elba, 
Alabama; Cartersville, Georgia; and Dillon, South Carolina. Dorsey has 
determined that its tire and rim label information, on some units, was 
not in full compliance with 49 CFR 571.120, Federal Motor Vehicle 
Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 120, ``Tire Selection and Rims for Vehicles 
Other Than Passenger Cars,'' and has filed an appropriate report 
pursuant to 49 CFR Part 573, ``Defect and Noncompliance Reports.'' 
Dorsey has also applied to be exempted from the notification and remedy 
requirements of 49 U.S.C. Chapter 301--``Motor Vehicle Safety'' on the 
basis that the noncompliance is inconsequential to motor vehicle 
safety.
    This notice of receipt of an application is published under 49 
U.S.C. 30118 and 30120 and does not represent any agency decision or 
other exercise of judgment concerning the merits of the application.
    Paragraph S5.3 of FMVSS No. 120 states that each vehicle shall show 
the information specified on the tire information level in both English 
and metric units. The standard also shows an example of the prescribed 
format.
    Since the law went into effect on March 14, 1996, Dorsey 
manufactured and/or distributed 18,816 trailers that do not meet the 
requirements stated in the standard. Of these 18,816 units, 16,788 were 
produced in Elba between March 14, 1996 and August 27, 1998; 1,713 
units were produced in Cartersville between March 14, 1996 and October 
31, 1997; and 315 were produced in Dillon between July 1, 1996 and 
December 9, 1997. The certification label affixed to Dorsey's trailers 
pursuant to Part 567 failed to comply with S5.3 of FMVSS No. 120 
because of the omission of metric measurements, and Dorsey did not 
separately provide the metric measurements on another label, an 
alternative allowed by FMVSS No. 120. The use of metric measurements is 
required by FMVSS No. 120, pursuant to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety 
Standards: Metric Conversion, 50 FR 13639, published on March 14, 1995, 
and effective on March 14, 1996.
    Dorsey supports its application for inconsequential noncompliance 
with the following statements:
    1. The certification label contains the correct English unit 
information and has headings for the required metric data with voids in 
the area of the required data;
    2. The omission of the metric data from Dorsey's 49 CFR 571.120 and 
49 CFR 567 certification label is highly unlikely to have any effect 
whatsoever on motor vehicle safety since the correct English units are 
included on the label and since the nonconforming vehicles will 
probably be out of service before the American general public ceases to 
be familiar with the English system of measurement;
    3. The metric requirements of 49 CFR 571.120 S5.3 were not mandated 
for safety reasons and, the second regulation governing certification 
label data, 49 CFR 567, has not yet been changed to require that metric 
data be shown and still states that GVWR and GAWR data be stated in 
pounds;
    4. Each Dorsey manufacturing facility has now begun to provide all 
the

[[Page 53124]]

required data on certification labels since appropriate people at each 
location have been made aware of the requirement; and
    5. Dorsey has not received any complaints from customers on the 
omission of the metric data from the certification labels and has not 
received any reports of accidents which were related to the omission of 
the metric data.
    Interested persons are invited to submit written data, views, and 
arguments on the application described above. Comments should refer to 
the docket number and be submitted to: U.S. Department of 
Transportation, Docket Management, Room PL-401, 400 Seventh Street, SW, 
Washington, DC 20590. It is requested that two copies be submitted.
    All comments received before the close of business on the closing 
date indicated below will be considered. The application and supporting 
materials, and all comments received after the closing date, will also 
be filed and will be considered to the extent possible. When the 
application is granted or denied, the notice will be published in the 
Federal Register pursuant to the authority indicated below.
    Comment closing date: November 2, 1998.

(49 U.S.C. 30118, 30120; delegations of authority at 49 CFR 1.50 and 
501.8)

    Issued on: September 28, 1998.
L. Robert Shelton,
Associate Administrator for Safety Performance Standards.
[FR Doc. 98-26435 Filed 10-1-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P