[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 8 (Wednesday, January 13, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2272-2273]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-766]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
[Docket No. NHTSA-98-4453; Notice 2]


Dorsey Trailers, Inc., Grant 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.
    Notice of receipt of the application was published, with a 30-day 
comment period, on October 2, 1998, in the Federal Register (63 FR 
53123). NHTSA received two comments on this application during the 30-
day comment period. Both commenters recommended that NHTSA grant the 
application.
    Paragraph S5.3 of FMVSS No. 120 states that each vehicle shall show 
the information specified on the tire information label in both English 
and metric units. The standard also shows an example of the prescribed 
format.
    After the requirement 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, 60 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 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

[[Page 2273]]

any reports of accidents which were related to the omission to the 
metric data.
    The purpose of labeling requirements in S5.3, Label information, of 
FMVSS No. 120 is to provide safe operation of vehicles by ensuring that 
those vehicles are equipped with tires of appropriate size and load 
rating; and rims of appropriate size and type designation. Section 5164 
of the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act (Pub. L. 100-418) makes it 
the United States policy that the metric system of measurement is the 
preferred system of weights and measures for U.S. trade and commerce. 
On March 14, 1995, NHTSA published in the Federal Register (60 FR 
13693) the final rule that metric measurements be used in S5.3 of FMVSS 
No. 120. The effective date for this final rule was March 14, 1996.
    Paragraph S5.3 states that each vehicle shall show the appropriate 
tire information (such as: recommended cold inflation pressure) and rim 
information (such as: size and type designations) in metric and English 
units. This information must appear either on the certification label 
or a tire information label, lettered in block capitals and numerals 
not less than 2.4 millimeters high, and in the prescribed format.
    The agency agrees with Dorsey that the label on these trailers is 
likely to achieve the safety purpose of the required label. The vehicle 
user will have the correct safety information sans the metric 
conversion in the prescribed location. First, all the correct English 
unit information required by FMVSS No. 120 is provided on the 
certification label. Second, the information contained on the label is 
of the correct size. Third, the information contained on the label is 
in the prescribed format.
    In consideration of the foregoing, NHTSA has decided that the 
applicant has met its burden of persuasion that the noncompliance it 
describes is inconsequential to safety. Accordingly, its application is 
granted, and the applicant is exempted from providing the notification 
of the noncompliance that is required by 49 U.S.C. 30118, and from 
remedying the noncompliance, as required by 49 U.S.C. 30120.

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

    Issued on: January 8, 1999.
L. Robert Shelton,
Associate Administrator for Safety Performance Standards.
[FR Doc. 99-766 Filed 1-12-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P