[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 133 (Wednesday, July 13, 2005)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 40280-40281]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-13760]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

49 CFR Part 571

[Docket No. NHTSA-2005-21244]
RIN 2127-AJ59


Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Occupant Crash Protection

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

ACTION: Extension of comment period.

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SUMMARY: NHTSA received a letter asking us to extend the comment period 
for the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to amend the Federal motor 
vehicle safety standard (FMVSS) for occupant crash protection. The 
agency has proposed to amend FMVSS No. 208, Occupant crash protection, 
by establishing a test procedure applicable to vehicles equipped with a 
child restraint anchorage system, commonly referred to as a ``LATCH'' 
system, in a front passenger seating position and that comply with 
advanced air bag requirements through the use of a suppression system. 
The proposed procedures specify a repeatable, reproducible, and 
realistic method of attaching child restraints to the LATCH system for 
the suppression test.
    To provide interested persons additional time to prepare comments, 
we are extending the end of the comment period from July 18, 2005, to 
August 17, 2005. This 30-day extension will allow vehicle manufacturers 
the appropriate opportunity to review a technical report cited in the 
NPRM in support of the agency's proposal, and provide more meaningful 
comments.

DATES: You should submit comments early enough to ensure that Docket 
Management receives them not later than August 17, 2005.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 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 eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting 
comments.
    Instructions: All submissions must include the agency name and 
docket number or Regulatory Identification Number (RIN) for this 
rulemaking. Note that all comments received will be posted without 
change to http://dms.dot.gov, including any personal information 
provided. Please see discussion of the Privacy Act below.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received, go to http://dms.dot.gov at any time or to 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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For non-legal issues, you may contact 
Lou Molino, Office of Crashworthiness Standards, Light Duty Vehicle 
Division by phone at (202) 366-1740, and by fax at (202) 493-2739.
    For legal issues, you may contact Christopher Calamita of the NHTSA 
Office of Chief Counsel by phone at

[[Page 40281]]

(202) 366-2992 and by fax at (202) 366-3820.
    You may send mail to both of these officials at the National 
Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 400 Seventh St., SW., 
Washington, DC 20590.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On May 19, 2005, the agency published in the 
Federal Register a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to amend 
Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 208, Occupant crash 
protection (70 FR 28878). We proposed test procedures applicable to 
vehicles that have a child restraint anchorage system, commonly 
referred to as a ``LATCH'' system, in a front passenger seating 
position and that comply with advanced air bag requirements through the 
use of a suppression system. Beginning September 1, 2006, these 
vehicles must suppress the air bag in the presence of a child restraint 
system that is attached to the vehicle's LATCH system. The procedures 
proposed in the NPRM specify a repeatable, reproducible, and realistic 
method of attaching child restraints to the LATCH system for the 
suppression test.
    The proposed procedure was developed by NHTSA to replicate real-
world CRS installations in vehicles by experienced installers, 
particularly with respect to the appropriate load vector to be applied 
and the amount of load relief when LATCH belts are manually tightened. 
The procedure was developed using four installers working with three 
vehicles and four CRSs. The agency prepared a technical report 
detailing this development. The NPRM was published May 19, 2005, and 
open for a 60-day comment period. However, public availability of the 
technical report was delayed until after the comment period had 
started.
    On June 20, 2005, we received a letter from the Alliance of 
Automobile Manufacturers (Alliance) \1\ requesting an extension of the 
comment period. The Alliance stated that because of the delay it is not 
able to adequately review the technical report and prepare comments by 
the close of comment period. Further, the Alliance stated that some of 
the illustrations in the technical report were not legible. The 
Alliance therefore requested a short extension of the comment period.
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    \1\ The Alliance is a trade association of nine automobile 
manufacturers, including BMW Group, DaimlerChrysler, Ford Motor 
Company, General Motors, Mazda, Mitsubishi Motors, Porsche, Toyota, 
and Volkswagen.
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    As stated in the NPRM, the proposed procedure is for child 
restraint systems to which vehicles must certify under the suppression 
requirements, beginning September 1, 2006. Consequently, we believe the 
30-day extension of the comment period will not adversely affect 
safety. Further, we believe that providing additional time for review 
of the technical report will result in more helpful comments. We note 
that the technical report has been resubmitted to the docket with 
legible illustrations.
    Privacy Act: Anyone is able to search the electronic form of all 
submissions received into any of our dockets by the name of the 
individual submitting the comment or petition (or signing the comment 
or petition, 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 (volume 65, number 70; 
pages 19477-78), or you may visit http://dms.dot.gov.

    Authority: 49 U.S.C. 322, 30111, 30115, 30117, and 30166; 
delegation of authority at 49 CFR 1.50.

    Issued on July 8, 2005.
Stephen R. Kratzke,
Associate Administrator for Rulemaking.
[FR Doc. 05-13760 Filed 7-12-05; 8:45 am]
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