[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 44 (Wednesday, March 7, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10294-10295]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-3927]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[Docket No. NHTSA 2006-26423; 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 2001 through 2006 do not comply with S5.5(h) 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 15, 
2006, in the Federal Register (71 FR 75610). NHTSA received no 
comments.
    Affected are a total of approximately 99,620 passenger car 
temporary spare tires produced between January 2001 through 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 before June 26, 2003, or 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(g) of FMVSS No. 109 and S5.5(h) of FMVSS No. 139 
require that the tires have a sidewall marking ``radial'' if the tire 
is a radial ply tire. These tires lack the word ``radial'' in the 
sidewall marking. Hankook has corrected the problem that caused these 
errors so that

[[Page 10295]]

they will not be repeated in future productions.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    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. In this case, the absence of the word 
``radial'' on the sidewall does not affect the safety of the tire or 
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. E7-3927 Filed 3-6-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P