[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 47 (Friday, March 10, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12422-12423]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-3412]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[Docket No. NHTSA 2005-23554; Notice 2]


Kawasaki Motors Corp., U.S.A., Grant of Petition for Decision of 
Inconsequential Noncompliance

    Kawasaki Motors Corp., U.S.A. (Kawasaki) has determined that the 
tires on certain motorcycles that it imported do not comply with 
S6.5(d) of 49 CFR 571.119, Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 
(FMVSS) No. 119, ``New pneumatic tires for vehicles other than 
passenger cars.'' Pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 30118(d) and 30120(h), Kawasaki 
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 January 19, 2006, in the Federal Register (71 FR 
3152). NHTSA received no comments.
    Affected are the tires on a total of approximately 2655 motorcycles 
which were manufactured between June 14, 2003 and October 27, 2005. 
S6.5(d) of FMVSS No. 119 requires that the maximum load rating and 
corresponding inflation pressure of the tires be marked on the tire in 
both English and metric units. The noncompliant tires do not have the 
metric markings. Kawasaki has corrected the problem that caused these 
errors so that they will not be repeated in future production.
    Kawasaki believes that the noncompliance is inconsequential to

[[Page 12423]]

motor vehicle safety and that no corrective action is warranted. 
Kawasaki states that there is little or no reason to expect an owner of 
these vehicles to have difficulty inflating the tires properly or 
understanding the loading information ``since the motorcycle owner is 
provided with the appropriate information in English units, which are 
far more prevalent in use in the United States.'' Further, Kawasaki 
states that the motorcycles are small and most often used for short 
distance commuting, and therefore ``not likely to be ridden outside of 
the United States to jurisdictions where tire inflation equipment would 
be less likely to be calibrated in English units.''
    NHTSA agrees that the noncompliance is inconsequential to safety. 
The correct English unit information required by FMVSS No. 119 is 
provided and therefore is likely to achieve the safety purpose of the 
requirement. NHTSA granted a petition for a similar noncompliance by 
Bridgestone/Firestone North American Tire, LLC in 2004 (69 FR 75106, 
December 15, 2004).
    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, 
Kawasaki's petition is granted and the petitioner is exempted from the 
obligation of providing notification of, and a remedy for, the 
noncompliance.

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

    Issued on: March 6, 2006.
Daniel C. Smith,
Associate Administrator for Enforcement.
[FR Doc. E6-3412 Filed 3-9-06; 8:45 am]
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