[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 130 (Monday, July 8, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45179-45180]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-17010]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[Docket No. NHTSA-2002-12366 Notice 1]


General Motors Corporation; Receipt of Application for 
Determination of Inconsequential Noncompliance

    General Motors Corporation (GM) of Warren, Michigan has applied to 
be exempted from the notification and remedy requirements of the 49 
U.S.C. Chapter 301 ``Motor Vehicle Safety'' for noncompliance with 
Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 209 ``Seat Belt 
Assemblies,'' on the basis that the noncompliance is inconsequential to 
motor vehicle safety. GM has filed a report of noncompliance pursuant 
to 49 CFR part 573, ``Defect and Noncompliance Reports.''
    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.
    Pursuant to the requirements of 49 CFR part 556, GM requests 
exemption from the notification and remedy requirements of 49 U.S.C. 
sections 30118(d) and 30120(h). This exemption is requested for 
noncompliance with certain provisions of FMVSS No. 209. Based on its 
review of an analysis provided by TK Holdings, Inc. (TKH), the seat 
belt supplier, both GM and TKH believe that due to redundant emergency 
locking features of the subject safety belts, combined with the very 
low number of potentially noncomplying belts, the noncompliance in 
question is inconsequential to motor vehicle safety.

Summary of the Petition

    According to GM, certain 2001 and 2002 vehicles that it produced 
between July 1, 2000 and April 29, 2002 may not meet the requirements 
of S4.3(j)(1) of FMVSS No. 209. Specifically, it is possible that 
approximately 90 seat belt assemblies per million (0.009%) produced by 
TKH between July 1, 2000 and January 14, 2002 for the front outboard 
seats, might not lock before the webbing extends 25 mm (1 inch) when 
the retractor assembly is subjected to an acceleration of 7 m/s\2\ (0.7 
g). For vehicles produced from January 15, 2002 through April 29, 2002, 
the frequency of the noncompliance declines to approximately 32 
assemblies per million (0.003%). The noncompliance occurs because the 
vehicle-sensitive emergency locking system in a small number of seat 
belt assemblies can be disabled by atypical handling during transit 
from TKH to the seat suppliers or during installation in the vehicle 
seats. The specific noncompliance is discussed in more detail in the 
April 9, 2002 Part 573 report submitted to NHTSA.
    The noncompliance initially was discovered by TKH when seat belt 
assemblies shipped to Europe for ECE Type Approval were returned 
because of the noncomplying condition. During inspections of completed 
seating units at some of the seat assembly plants, a small number of 
seat belt assemblies were discovered in which the vehicle-sensitive 
emergency locking system was not functioning. Upon analysis of these 
parts, TKH determined that there was a possibility that atypical 
handling during transit could disable this vehicle-sensitive emergency 
locking function in approximately 58 out of every 1 million retractors. 
TKH also determined that subsequent handling of the seat belt 
assemblies at the seat-manufacturing facilities could produce 
additional incidents on the order of 32 per million retractors, for a 
total of 90 retractor assemblies per million.
    On January 15, 2002, TKH initiated a 100% inspection of the seat 
belt assemblies upon their arrival at the seat-manufacturing 
facilities, and some inspections of the seat belts after installation 
in seats was started on January 30, 2002. During March and April of 
2002, upon learning that handling of the seat belt assemblies at the 
seat-manufacturing facilities also could disable the vehicle-sensitive 
emergency locking function, TKH progressively initiated (or 
reinitiated) a 100% inspection of the seat belts in assembled seats. GM 
claims that, for seating units produced prior to January 15, 2002, 
there is a potential noncompliance of 90 belts per million produced, 
and for seating units produced from January 15, 2002 through April 29, 
2002, there is a potential noncompliance of 32 belts per million 
produced.
    Since April 30, 2002, when all seat belts and all seating units 
have been subjected to a 100% inspection, GM is confident that all 
vehicles produced include belts assemblies that comply with the 
emergency locking requirements of FMVSS 209. Further, beginning in 
April 2002, a design change was made to this emergency locking system 
to improve the robustness of the mechanism to make sure that it cannot 
be disabled by handling during shipping or during installation in the 
seats. TKH intends to end the 100% inspection of seating units and seat 
belt assemblies after a high level of confidence is established by 
inspecting the improved assemblies.
    Based on the TKH analysis to date, GM estimates that in the 
approximately 1,870,000 vehicles produced between May 2000 (the 
earliest vehicle production start date among the affected vehicles) and 
April 29, 2002, there are approximately 271 noncomplying seat belt 
assemblies. This represents a combined rate of approximately 0.007%.

Availability of the Petition and Other Documents

    The petition and other relevant information are available for 
public inspection in NHTSA Docket No. NHTSA-2002-12366. You may call 
the Docket at (202) 366-9324 or you may visit the Docket Management in 
Room PL-401, 400 Seventh Street SW, Washington, DC 20590 (10:00 a.m. to 
5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday). You may also view the petition and 
other relevant information on the internet. To do this, do the 
following:
    (1) Go to the Docket Management System (DMS) Web page of the 
Department of Transportation (http://dms.dot.gov/).
    (2) On that page, click on ``simple search.''
    (3) On the next page (http://dms.dot.gov/searchform.simple.cfm/), 
type in the docket number ``12366.'' After typing the docket number, 
click on ``search.''

[[Page 45180]]

    (4) On the next page, which contains docket summary information for 
the docket you selected, click on the desired comments. You may 
download the comments and other materials.

Comments

    Interested persons are invited to submit written data, views and 
arguments on the petition of GM, described above. Comments should refer 
to the Docket Number and be submitted to: 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 practicable. 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: August 7, 2002.

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

    Issued on: July 2, 2002.
Stephen R. Kratzke,
Associate Administrator for Safety Performance Standards.
[FR Doc. 02-17010 Filed 7-5-02; 8:45 am]
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