[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 74 (Friday, April 16, 2004)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 20556-20557]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-8716]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

49 CFR Part 579

[Docket No. NHTSA 2001-8677; Notice 9]
RIN 2127-AJ38


Reporting of Information and Documents About Potential Defects

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), DOT.

ACTION: Final rule; response to petition for reconsideration.

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SUMMARY: This document grants a petition requesting a clarification of 
the definition of ``field report'' under regulations that implement the 
early warning reporting provisions of the Transportation Recall 
Enhancement, Accountability, and Documentation (TREAD) Act.

DATES: Effective Date: The effective date of the amendments made by 
this final rule is May 17, 2004. Petitions for Reconsideration: 
Petitions for reconsideration of any amendments made by this final rule 
must be received not later than June 1, 2004.

ADDRESSES: Petitions for reconsideration of the amendments made by this 
final rule must refer to the docket or Regulatory Identification Number 
(RIN) for this rulemaking, and be addressed to the Administrator, 
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). You may submit 
a petition by any of the following methods:
     Web site: http://dms.dot.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments on the DOT electronic docket site.
     Fax: 1-202-493-2251.
     Mail: Docket Management Facility; U.S. 
Department of Transportation, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Nassif Building, 
Room PL-401, Washington, DC 20590-001.
     Hand Delivery: Room PL-401 on the plaza level of 
the Nassif Building, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC, between 9 
a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal Holidays.
     Federal rulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting 
petitions.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For non-legal issues, contact Jonathan 
White, Office of Defects Investigation, NHTSA (phone: 202-366-5226). 
For legal issues, contact Andrew DiMarsico, Office of Chief Counsel, 
NHTSA (phone: 202-366-5263).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background

    On July 10, 2002, the National Highway Traffic Safety 
Administration (NHTSA) published a final rule implementing the early 
warning reporting (EWR) provisions of the Transportation Recall 
Enhancement Accountability, and Documentation (TREAD) Act, 49 U.S.C. 
30166(m) (67 FR 45822).
    We received a number of petitions for reconsideration of the final 
rule, and have responded to most of them in separate rulemaking 
notices. In response to one of those notices (Notice 4, 68 FR 18136, 
April 15, 2003), we received one additional petition for 
reconsideration of the definition of ``field report'' which was revised 
by Notice 4.

II. Petition for Reconsideration of the Definition of ``Field Report''

    In Notice 4, we redefined ``field report'' as follows:


[[Page 20557]]


Field report means a communication in writing, including 
communications in electronic form, from an employee or 
representative of a manufacturer of motor vehicles or motor vehicle 
equipment, with respect to a vehicle or equipment that has been 
transported beyond the direct control of the manufacturer, a dealer, 
an authorized service facility of such manufacturer, or an entity 
known to the manufacturer as owning or operating a fleet, to a 
manufacturer, regarding the failure, malfunction, lack of 
durability, or other performance problem of a motor vehicle or motor 
vehicle equipment, or any part thereof, produced for sale by that 
manufacturer, regardless of whether verified or assessed to be 
lacking in merit, but does not include a document covered by the 
attorney-client privilege or the work product exclusion.

    Stephen E. Selander of Southfield, Michigan, filed a petition for 
reconsideration of the definition of ``field report,'' with the comment 
that ``a technical amendment is desirable to clarify the definition.'' 
Mr. Selander would redefine ``field report'' as:

a communication in writing, including communications in electronic 
form, from an employee or representative of a manufacturer of motor 
vehicles or motor vehicle equipment, a dealer or authorized service 
facility of such manufacturer, or an entity that owns or operates a 
fleet, to the manufacturer regarding the failure, malfunction, lack 
of durability, or other performance problem of a motor vehicle or 
motor vehicle equipment, or any part thereof, produced for sale by 
that manufacturer and transported beyond the direct control of the 
manufacturer, regardless of whether verified or assessed to be 
lacking in merit, but does not include documents covered by the 
attorney-client privilege or the work product exclusion.

    The definition suggested by Mr. Selander simply rearranges the 
elements of the existing definition in a manner that, in our opinion, 
does clarify its meaning. However, the definition contains one 
substantive change that we do not accept. With respect to fleets, we 
note that he would replace the existing phrase ``an entity known to the 
manufacturer as owning or operating a fleet'' with ``an entity that 
owns or operates a fleet.'' In Notice 4, we redefined the definition of 
``field report'' adopted on July 10, 2002, to include the phrase 
``known to the manufacturer'' in recognition of the assertion by the 
Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers (the Alliance) that ``it is 
usually not obvious on the face of a written complaint from a customer 
or other person making the complaint whether that customer owns ten or 
more vehicles of the same make, model, and model year'' (68 FR at 
18138). While we are amenable to rearranging the elements of the 
definition in the manner suggested by Mr. Selander, we are retaining 
the phrase ``known to the manufacturer'' in the clause relating to 
fleets. Finally, in the phrase that ends the definition, relating to 
the attorney-client privilege and work product exclusions, Mr. Selander 
uses the plural ``documents'' where the existing definition uses the 
singular, ``a document.'' Upon reflection, we think ``any'' document 
preferable. Accordingly, we are granting the petition for 
reconsideration and amending the definition of ``field report'' to read 
as follows:

Field report means a communication in writing, including 
communications in electronic form, from an employee or 
representative of a manufacturer of motor vehicles or motor vehicle 
equipment, a dealer or authorized service facility of such 
manufacturer, or an entity known to the manufacturer as owning or 
operating a fleet, to the manufacturer regarding the failure, 
malfunction, lack of durability, or other performance problem of a 
motor vehicle or motor vehicle equipment, or any part thereof, 
produced for sale by that manufacturer and transported beyond the 
direct control of the manufacturer, regardless of whether verified 
or assessed to be lacking in merit, but does not include any 
document covered by the attorney-client privilege or the work 
product exclusion.

III. Privacy Act Statement

    Anyone is able to search the electronic form of all comments 
received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual 
submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf 
of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review DOT's 
complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register published on 
April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477) or you may visit http://dms.dot.gov.

IV. Rulemaking Analyses

    This notice makes technical changes to the definition of ``field 
report'' adopted in Notice 4. The changes made to the early warning 
reporting regulation by this notice do not alter the burdens and 
impacts discussed in the Regulatory Analyses in Notice 4. To the extent 
that the Regulatory Analyses may be relevant to this minor change, the 
Analyses in Notice 4 (68 FR 18140-18142) are hereby incorporated by 
reference.

List of Subjects

49 CFR Part 579

    Imports, Motor vehicle safety, Motor vehicles, Reporting and 
recordkeeping requirements.


0
For the reasons set out in the preamble, 49 CFR part 579 is amended as 
follows:

PART 579--REPORTING OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS ABOUT 
POTENTIAL DEFECTS

0
1. The authority citation for part 579 continues to read as follows:

    Sec. 3, Pub. L. 106-414, 114 Stat. 1800 (49 U.S.C. 30102-103, 
30112, 30117-121, 30166-167); delegation of authority at 49 CFR 
1.50.

Subpart A--General

0
2. Section 579.4(c) is amended by revising the definition of ``Field 
report,'' to read as follows:


Sec.  579.4  Terminology.

* * * * *
    (c) Other terms. * * *
* * * * *
    Field report means a communication in writing, including 
communications in electronic form, from an employee or representative 
of a manufacturer of motor vehicles or motor vehicle equipment, a 
dealer or authorized service facility of such manufacturer, or an 
entity known to the manufacturer as owning or operating a fleet, to the 
manufacturer regarding the failure, malfunction, lack of durability, or 
other performance problem of a motor vehicle or motor vehicle 
equipment, or any part thereof, produced for sale by that manufacturer 
and transported beyond the direct control of the manufacturer, 
regardless of whether verified or assessed to be lacking in merit, but 
does not include any document covered by the attorney-client privilege 
or the work product exclusion.
* * * * *

    Issued on: April 13, 2004.
Jeffrey W. Runge,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 04-8716 Filed 4-15-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P