[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 21 (Wednesday, February 1, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5408-5409]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-1373]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[Docket No. NHTSA-2005-22970; Notice 2]


Les Entreprises Michel Corbeil Inc., Denial of Petition for 
Decision of Inconsequential Noncompliance

    Les Entreprises Michel Corbeil Inc. (Corbeil) has determined that 
certain school buses that it produced in 2004 do not comply with S5.1 
of 49 CFR 571.221, Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 
221, ``School bus body joint strength.'' Pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 30118(d) 
and 30120(h), Corbeil 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 the petition was 
published, with a 30 day comment period, on November 23, 2005 in the 
Federal Register (70 FR 70914). NHTSA received no comments.
    Affected are a total of approximately 295 school buses produced 
between May 3, 2004 and June 4, 2004. S5.1 of FMVSS No. 221 requires 
that:

    * * * each body panel joint * * * when tested in accordance with 
the procedure of S6, shall hold the body panel to the member to 
which it is joined when subjected to a force of 60 percent of the 
tensile strength of the weakest joined body panel determined 
pursuant to S6.2.

    The longitudinal roof joint on some of the subject school buses 
fails when tested according to the requirements of S5.1.
    Corbeil believes that the noncompliance is inconsequential to motor 
vehicle safety and that no corrective action is warranted. Corbeil 
states that during the period of production of the subject school 
buses, ``the production used expired glue.'' Corbeil estimates that 61 
of the 295 buses could be affected, based on the number of expired glue 
cartridges that were used.
    Corbeil further states:

    * * * repairs could affect the structural integrity of these 
buses' roofs. If we proceed with repairs, we must remove the actual 
MS polymer strips on the roof to reach the joints. This operation 
requires us to preheat (300-600 [deg]F) the MS polymer strip (will 
soften the MS polymer) but at the same time will cause a significant 
urethane chemical modification and will affect the actual joint 
strength. The roof joint is composed of urethane glue and this glue 
will be affected if the temperature is higher than 194 [deg]F * * *. 
If our educated estimate is that only 61 buses on (sic) the 295 
buses involved in this recall are affected, however they cannot be 
individually identified. Also, during the test, the transverse joint 
succeeded at 116% of the requirement and the longitudinal joint 
failed only by 9% with 91% of the requirement. The objective of this 
recall is to increase the strength of the joint. We presently 
suspect that a retrofit could affect/damage the roof rather to (sic) 
reinforce the joint.

    Corbeil states that no accidents or injuries have occurred as a 
result of this noncompliance.
    NHTSA has reviewed the petition and has determined that the 
noncompliance is not inconsequential to motor vehicle safety.
    With respect to the margin of noncompliance, Corbeil argues that 
the failing school bus joint reached 91 percent of the load required by 
the standard. In the petitioner's opinion, not meeting the requirement 
by 9 percent of the required load is inconsequential to motor vehicle 
safety. The agency disagrees. A significant injury-producing 
characteristic of school bus crashes is exposure to sharp metal edges 
that occurs when body panels become separated from the structural 
components to which they have been fastened. In a crash, severe 
lacerations may result if the occupants of the bus are tossed against 
these edges. Moreover, if panel separation is extensive, the occupant 
may be ejected from the vehicle, significantly increasing the 
possibility of serious injury. This standard is intended to reduce the 
likelihood of this type of injury by requiring that body joints on 
school buses have a minimum tensile strength equal to 60 percent of the 
tensile strength of the weakest joined body panel. Therefore, NHTSA 
believes that failure to meet the performance requirements of the 
standard is directly consequential to the safety of our school 
children.
    With respect to the number of vehicles that are noncompliant, 
Corbeil states that it believes only 61 of the 295 school buses of the 
model tested by the agency are noncompliant. However, 49 U.S.C. 30112 
prohibits the manufacturing, selling and importing of any noncompliant 
vehicles. The FMVSSs are designed to afford equal protection to all who 
use these vehicles, and therefore the number of noncompliant vehicles 
is not relevant to the effect on safety.
    Corbeil also states that it suspects that its proposed remedy could 
compromise the integrity of the roof joints due to the heating required 
to remove the sealant. If Corbeil's proposed repair remedy would 
actually further weaken the school bus body joints, and therefore 
result in the vehicles still not meeting the requirements of FMVSS No. 
221, it would not be an acceptable remedy under the statute. 49 U.S.C. 
30120(a) requires that a manufacturer remedy a noncompliance by either 
repairing, replacing or repurchasing the noncompliant vehicle.
    However, we think that Corbeil's concerns about the one repair 
method it suggests are misplaced. The agency is aware of several cases 
where school bus manufacturers have brought similar noncompliant 
vehicles with inadequate body joint strength into compliance with FMVSS 
No. 221 by the addition of mechanical fasteners. In these cases, the 
additional fasteners brought the vehicles into compliance without 
reliance upon any other fastening method, such as adhesive. Corbeil is 
responsible for determining an appropriate remedy for the 
noncompliance. However, as discussed, other options may be available 
that remedy the noncompliance without compromising the integrity of the 
structure. In any event, Corbeil's proposed remedy is not relevant to 
determining whether or not the noncompliance is consequential to 
safety.
    In consideration of the foregoing, NHTSA has decided that the 
petitioner has not met its burden of persuasion

[[Page 5409]]

that the noncompliance described is inconsequential to motor vehicle 
safety. Accordingly, Corbeil's petition is hereby denied.

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

    Issued on: January 27, 2006.
Daniel C. Smith,
Associate Administrator for Enforcement.
[FR Doc. E6-1373 Filed 1-31-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P