[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 88 (Monday, May 9, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24464-24465]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-9169]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[Docket No. NHTSA 2005-20545; Notice 2]


IC Corporation, Grant of Petition for Decision of Inconsequential 
Noncompliance

    IC Corporation (IC) has determined that certain school buses that 
it manufactured in 2001 through 2004 do not comply with S5.2.3.2(a)(4) 
of 49 CFR 571.217, Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 
217, ``Bus emergency exits and window retention and release.'' Pursuant 
to 49 U.S.C. 30118(d) and 30120(h), IC has petitioned for a 
determination that this noncompliance is inconsequential to motor 
vehicle safety and has filed an appropriate report pursuant to 49 CFR 
Part 573, ``Defect and Noncompliance Reports.'' Notice of receipt of a 
petition was published, with a 30-day comment period, on March 23, 
2005, in the Federal Register (70 FR 14748). NHTSA received no 
comments.
    Affected are a total of approximately 40 school buses manufactured 
from August 15, 2001 to September 29, 2004. S5.2.3.2(a)(4) of FMVSS No. 
217 states ``No two side emergency exit doors shall be located, in 
whole or in part, within the same post and roof bow panel space.'' The 
noncompliant vehicles have two side emergency exit doors located 
opposite each other within the same post and roof bow panel space.
    IC believes that the noncompliance is inconsequential to motor 
vehicle safety and that no corrective action is warranted. IC states 
that NHTSA's main purpose in updating FMVSS No. 217 was,

to ensure that emergency exit capability would be proportional to 
the maximum occupant capacity; to improve access to side emergency 
doors; to improve visibility of exits; and to facilitate the exiting 
of occupants from a bus after an accident * * *. None of these 
primary objectives were compromised on the 40 units covered by this 
petition.

IC states that it reviewed comments in response to the NPRM to update 
FMVSS No. 217 and determined that they

* * * were related to the fatigue strength of a bus body of this 
configuration. IC Corporation was unable to find comments relating 
to the safe exit of occupants in the event of an accident as a 
result of this door arrangement. Based on this background, IC 
Corporation presents arguments for consideration regarding both the 
structural and safety aspects of the rule. Finally, we present bus 
customer feedback based on interviews conducted with some of the bus 
customers affected by this non-compliance.

    IC further states that it is ``not aware of any research that 
indicates that emergency exits should not be located across from each 
other for safety of egress reasons alone.'' IC say it believes the 
requirement for two exit doors located across from each other in the 
same post and roof bow appears ``to all be related to the issue of the 
structural integrity of a bus body of this configuration.''
    IC indicates that it ``has no reports of any failures of panels or 
the structure in the area of the left or right emergency doors'' of the 
noncompliant vehicles. Nor has IC received failure reports of panels or 
the structure for two other types of buses it manufactures. It 
describes these two other types of buses. One is ``commercial buses 
with a passenger door centered on the right side of the bus and large 
double bow windows on the left side within the same post and roof bow 
panel space.'' Another is buses with ``the combination of a left side 
emergency door on the left side and a wheelchair door on the right side 
within the same post and roof bow panel space.'' IC further asserts 
that ``NHTSA does not restrict other combinations of doors and windows 
within the same roof bow space.''
    IC states that it will extend to the owners of the noncompliant 
vehicles a 15-year warranty for any structural or panel failures 
related to the location of the doors, so that ``corrections could be 
made long before any possible fatigue problems * * * progress into 
major structural issues.''
    The Agency agrees with IC that in this case the noncompliance does 
not compromise safety in terms of emergency exit capability in 
proportion to maximum occupant capacity, access to side emergency 
doors, visibility of the exits, or the ability of bus occupants to exit 
after an accident. IC has corrected the problem.
    In consideration of the foregoing, NHTSA has decided that the 
petitioner has met its burden of persuasion that the noncompliance 
described is inconsequential to motor vehicle safety. Accordingly, IC's 
petition is granted and the petitioner is exempted from the obligation 
of providing notification of, and a remedy for, the noncompliance.


[[Page 24465]]


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

    Issued on: April 29, 2005.
Stephen R. Kratzke,
Associate Administrator for Rulemaking.
[FR Doc. 05-9169 Filed 5-6-05; 8:45 am]
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