[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 187 (Friday, September 26, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Page 55740]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-24428]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[Docket No. NHTSA-2002-13989; Notice 2]


Rejection of Petition for Determination of Inconsequential 
Noncompliance

    On September 12, 2002, Glaval Bus Inc. (Glaval) notified the 
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that it had 
determined that a total of 900 ``Glaval Model Universal, Primetime, & 
Titan buses'' manufactured between January 1999 and August 16, 2002, 
did not meet the labeling requirements mandated by Federal Motor 
Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 208, ``Occupant Crash Protection,'' 
and filed an appropriate report pursuant to 49 CFR part 573, ``Defect 
and Noncompliance Reports.'' Glaval also applied to be exempted from 
the notification and remedy requirements of 49 U.S.C. 30118(d) and 
30120(h), 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 December 18, 2002, in the Federal Register (67 FR 
77558). NHTSA received no comments on this application during the 30-
day comment period.
    Since the publication of the notice of receipt of application, 
NHTSA has learned that all of the buses that are the subject of the 
September 12, 2002 petition have a gross vehicle weight rating of more 
than 10,000 pounds. In a March 23, 1999 letter to Mr. Lawrence F. 
Henneberger of Arent, Fox, Kintner, Plotkin and Kahn, NHTSA interpreted 
the labeling requirements of FMVSS No. 208 ``as applying only to 
passenger cars and to trucks, buses and multipurpose passenger vehicles 
with a GVWR of 8,500 pounds or less and an unloaded vehicle weight of 
5,500 pounds or less.'' Therefore, the labels installed in the Glaval 
buses are voluntary and do not have to comply with the prohibition in 
S4.5.1(b)(5) (previously S4.5.1(b)(3)) against any other information 
from being on the same side of the sun visor as the air bag warning 
label, except an air bag maintenance label or a utility vehicle 
rollover warning label. Since there is no noncompliance, the petition 
for a determination that the noncompliance is inconsequential is moot 
and is therefore rejected. Accordingly, Glaval is not required to 
notify owners and recall its buses.

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

    Issued on: September 16, 2003.
Stephen R. Kratzke,
Associate Administrator for Rulemaking.
[FR Doc. 03-24428 Filed 9-25-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P