[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 151 (Friday, August 6, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Page 43010]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-20351]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
[Docket No. NHTSA-98-4603; Notice 2]


Ford Motor Company; Grant of Application for Decision of 
Inconsequential Noncompliance

    This notice grants the application by Ford Motor Company, of 
Dearborn, Michigan, to be exempted from the notification and remedy 
requirements of 49 U.S.C. 30118(d), and 30120(h) for a labeling 
noncompliance with 49 CFR 571.208, Federal Motor Vehicle Safety 
Standard (FMVSS) No. 208, ``Occupant Crash Protection.'' The basis of 
the application is that the noncompliance is inconsequential to motor 
vehicle safety.
    Notice of receipt of the application was published on January 26, 
1999, and an opportunity afforded for comment (64 FR 3997).
    Paragraph S4.5.1 (b)(3) of FMVSS 208 specifies ``Except for the 
information on an air bag maintenance label placed on the sun visor 
pursuant to S4.5.1(a) of this standard, no other information shall 
appear on the same side of the sun visor to which the sun visor warning 
label is affixed.''
    The noncompliance was created when Ford implemented a sun visor 
label running change on February 13, 1998, on 4x4 models of the Ford F-
Series, Ford Expeditions, and Lincoln Navigators, and on 4x2 Navigators 
equipped with moonroofs. The sun visors are supplied to Ford by Lear 
Corporation, 21557 Telegraph Road, Southfield, Michigan. Prior to the 
change, the air bag alert label specified in FMVSS 208 S4.5.1(c), along 
with the utility vehicle label required by 49 CFR 575.105(c)(1) on 4x4 
models and the garage door opener transmitter label on the moonroof 
equipped Navigator 4x4 and 4x2 models, were all affixed to the driver 
sun visor on the side visible with the visor in the stowed position. 
The air bag warning label on these vehicles (required by S4.5.1 (b)(2)) 
was affixed to the opposite side of the visor. The label running change 
eliminated the air bag alert, and the air bag warning label was 
relocated in its place on the side of the visor visible when stowed. 
However, the utility vehicle label already located on that side of the 
visor on the 4x4 models, and the garage door transmitter label located 
on the side directly below the transmitter controls on the moonroof-
equipped Navigator visors, were not relocated away from the air bag 
warning label. This created a noncompliance which was not corrected 
until May 21, 1998.
    Ford supported its application for inconsequential noncompliance 
with the following reasons:
    The transmitter label on the Navigator vehicles (a stick-on label 
which directs the customer to the Owner Guide for instructions on the 
operation of the transmitter controls on the visor) is not intended to 
be permanent, but is designed as a temporary label with the expectation 
that it will be removed early in the life of the vehicle. Because its 
early removal is intended, Ford believes the stick-on label will be 
removed by the customer, or by the dealer after review with the 
customer during delivery of the vehicle. Ford suggests there is no need 
for a field action to remove the label.
    In summary, Ford believes that the presence of the utility vehicle 
label or the garage door opener transmitter located two inches or more 
from the air bag warning label, does not constitute ``information 
overload,'' nor does it present any risk to motor vehicle safety. Ford 
requests that the agency find this noncompliance to be inconsequential 
to motor vehicle safety, and accordingly that Ford be exempted from the 
notice and remedy requirements of the stature.
    No comments were received on the application.
    The agency published a final rule, (64 FR 11724) modifying the 
rollover warning currently required for certain utility vehicles (49 
CFR Section 575.105) to require a more noticeable, understandable 
warning label and modifying the sun visor air bag warning label 
requirement, S4.5.1(b)(3) of FMVSS 208, to permit the utility vehicle 
label to be placed on the same side of the sun visor. The agency stated 
at 11730:

    In response to comments and in light of the results of its 
literature review, the agency is allowing the utility vehicle label 
to be placed on either (1) the driver's side sun visor (ether side) 
or (2) the driver's side window. The agency believes that this will 
allow manufacturers two alternatives if it is not possible to place 
both the air bag label and the utility vehicle label on the same 
side of the sun visor. Allowing manufacturers to put the utility 
vehicle label on either side of the sun visor, they could choose to 
put the air bag label on the front, increasing its prominence, if it 
is not possible to put both labels on the front. Based on its 
research, allowing both labels on the sun visor should not result in 
information overload because: (1) There are only 2 hazards being 
warned about; (2) actions that would avoid both rollover and air bag 
hazards can be avoided from the driver's seating position; and (3) 
both hazards have the same degree of seriousness.

    Clearly, the action by Ford of placing both the air bag warning 
label and the rollover warning label on the same side of the sun visor 
is consistent with the agency's recent final rule, which requires that 
a rollover alert label, similar to the air bag alert label, be placed 
on the front of the sun visor if the utility vehicle label is put on 
the back of the sun visor.
    Accordingly, for the reasons expressed above by Ford and stated by 
the agency in the March 9, 1999 labeling final rule, which amended 
S4.5.1(b)(3)) FMVSS No. 208, the petitioner has met its burden of 
persuasion that the noncompliance herein described is inconsequential 
to motor vehicle safety, and the agency grants Ford's application for 
exemption from notification of the noncompliance as required by 49 
U.S.C. 30118 and from remedy as required by 49 U.S.C. 30120.

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

    Issued on: August 2, 1999.
L. Robert Shelton,
Associate Administrator for Safety Performance Standards.
[FR Doc. 99-20351 Filed 8-5-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P