[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 44 (Wednesday, March 7, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10293-10294]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-3925]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[Docket No. NHTSA 2006-26421; Notice 2]


Hankook Tire Co., Ltd.; Grant of Petition for Decision of 
Inconsequential Noncompliance

    Hankook Tire Co., Ltd. (Hankook) has determined that certain tires 
that it produced in 2005 and 2006 do not comply with S5.5.5 of 49 CFR 
571.139, Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 139, ``New 
pneumatic radial tires for light vehicles.'' Pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 
30118(d) and 30120(h), Hankook 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 December 13, 2006, in the Federal 
Register (71 FR 74995). NHTSA received no comments.
    Affected are a total of approximately 283,815 passenger car 
temporary spare tires produced between January 2005 and September 2006. 
Although Hankook asserted that they had certified the subject tires to 
the requirements of FMVSS No. 139, only tires manufactured between June 
26, 2003 and January 6, 2006 were permitted, at the manufacturer's 
option, to be certified to the requirements of FMVSS No. 139.\1\ See 
``Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Tires,'' 68 FR 38116 (June 
26, 2003) and 71 FR 877 (January 6, 2006). For tires manufactured after 
January 6, 2006, FMVSS No. 109, ``New Pneumatic Tires'' is the only 
safety standard to which temporary spares could be certified. 
Therefore, Hankook's petition is being processed as applying to FMVSS 
No. 109 in addition to FMVSS No. 139. In either standard, the 
noncompliance issue is the same; however, different paragraphs are 
referenced for the two standards. S4.3.5 of FMVSS No. 109 and S5.5.5 of 
FMVSS No. 139 require that the tires have a sidewall marking ``inflate 
to 420 kPa (60 psi)'' of no less than 12.7 mm high. In the marking on 
the noncompliant tires, the letters ``a'' and ``s'' are 12.3 mm and 
11.9 mm high respectively. Hankook has corrected the problems that 
caused these errors so that they will not be repeated in future 
productions.
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    \1\ All temporary spares were required to be certified to FMVSS 
No. 109 until June 26, 2003 when FMVSS No. 139 took effect. However, 
the agency moved temporary spares back to FMVSS No. 109 after 
January 6, 2006 by granting a petition for reconsideration.
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    Hankook believes that the noncompliance is inconsequential to motor 
vehicle safety and that no corrective action is warranted. Hankook 
states that the noncompliance ``affects consumer information only and 
does not affect safety of the tires.'' Hankook further states that the 
tires comply with all other FMVSS requirements.
    NHTSA agrees with Hankook that the noncompliance is inconsequential 
to motor vehicle safety. As Hankook states, even with the reduced size 
of the ``a'' and ``s'' on the sidewall marking the user or purchaser of 
the tire can still

[[Page 10294]]

read the letters. Therefore, the noncompliance does not affect the 
safety of the tire or its use.
    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, 
Hankook'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: February 28, 2007.
Daniel C. Smith,
Associate Administrator for Enforcement.
 [FR Doc. E7-3925 Filed 3-6-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P