[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 114 (Tuesday, June 14, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34803-34805]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-14745]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[U.S. DOT Docket Number NHTSA-2011-0039]


Reports, Forms, and Recordkeeping Requirements

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

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 
U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this notice announces that the Information 
Collection Request (ICR) abstracted below has been forwarded to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and comment. The ICR 
describes the nature of the information collections and their expected 
burden. The Federal Register Notice with a 60-day comment period was 
published on March 28, 2011 (76 FR 17186).

DATES: Comments must be submitted to OMB on or before July 14, 2011.

ADDRESSES: Send comments to the Office of Information and Regulatory 
Affairs, OMB, 725 17th Street, NW., Washington, DC 20503, Attention: 
Desk Officer.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Alex Ansley, Recall Management 
Division (NVS-215), Room W46-412, NHTSA, 1200 New Jersey Ave., 
Washington, DC 20590. Telephone: (202) 493-0481.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 
before an agency submits a proposed collection of information to OMB 
for approval, it must first publish a document in the Federal Register 
providing a 60-day comment period and otherwise consult with members of 
the public and affected agencies concerning each proposed collection of 
information. The OMB has promulgated regulations describing what must 
be included in such a document. Under OMB's regulation, see 5 CFR 
1320.8(d), an agency must ask for public comment on the following:
    (i) Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for 
the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including 
whether the information will have practical utility;
    (ii) The accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed collection of information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used;
    (iii) How to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and
    (iv) How to minimize the burden of the collection of information on 
those who are to respond, including the use of appropriate automated, 
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology, e.g. permitting electronic 
submission of responses.
    In compliance with these requirements, NHTSA asks for public 
comments on the following collection of information:
    Title: Defect and Noncompliance Reporting and Notification.
    Type of Request: Extension of a currently approved information 
collection.
    OMB Control Number: 2127-0004.
    Affected Public: Businesses or individuals.
    Abstract: This notice requests comment on NHTSA's proposed 
extension to approved collection of information OMB No. 2127-0004. This 
collection covers the information collection requirements found within 
various statutory sections in the Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 
(Act), 49 U.S.C. 30101, et seq., that address and require manufacturer 
notifications to NHTSA of safety-related defects and failures to comply 
with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) in motor vehicles 
and motor vehicle equipment, as well as the provision of particular 
information related to the ensuing owner and dealers notifications and 
free remedy campaigns that follow those notifications. The sections of 
the Act imposing these requirements include 49 U.S.C. 30118, 30119, 
30120, and 30166. Many of these requirements are implemented through, 
and addressed with more specificity in, 49 CFR Part 573, Defect and 
Noncompliance Responsibility and Reports (Part 573) and 49 CFR 577, 
Defect and Noncompliance Notification.
    Pursuant to the Act, motor vehicle and motor vehicle equipment 
manufacturers are obligated to notify, and then provide various 
information and documents, to NHTSA in the event a safety defect or 
noncompliance with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) is 
identified in products they

[[Page 34804]]

manufactured. See 49 U.S.C. 30118(b) and 49 CFR 573.6 (requiring 
manufacturers to notify NHTSA, and provide certain information, when 
they learn of a safety defect or noncompliance). Manufacturers are 
further required to notify owners, purchasers, dealers and distributors 
about the safety defect or noncompliance. See 49 U.S.C. 30118(b), 
30120(a), and 49 CFR 577.7, 577.13. They are required to provide to 
NHTSA copies of communications pertaining to recall campaigns that they 
issue to owners, purchasers, dealers, and distributors. See 49 U.S.C. 
30166(f) and 49 CFR 573.6(c)(10).
    Manufacturers are also required to file with NHTSA a plan 
explaining how they intend to reimburse owners and purchasers who paid 
to have their products remedied before being notified of the safety 
defect or noncompliance, and explain that plan in the notifications 
they issue to owners and purchasers about the safety defect or 
noncompliance. See 49 U.S.C. 30120(d) and 49 CFR 573.13. They are 
further required to keep lists of the respective owners, purchasers, 
dealers, distributors, lessors, and lessees of the products determined 
to be defective or noncompliant and involved in a recall campaign, and 
are required to provide NHTSA with a minimum of six quarterly reports 
reporting on the progress of their recall campaigns. See 49 CFR 573.8 
and 573.7, respectively.
    The Act and Part 573 also contain numerous information collection 
requirements specific to tire recall and remedy campaigns. These 
requirements relate to the proper disposal of recalled tires, including 
a requirement that the manufacturer conducting the tire recall submit a 
plan and provide specific instructions to certain persons (such as 
dealers and distributors) addressing that disposal, and a requirement 
that those persons report back to the manufacturer certain deviations 
from the plan. See 49 U.S.C. 30120(d) and 49 CFR 573.6(c)(9). They also 
require the reporting to NHTSA of intentional and knowing sales or 
leases of defective or noncompliant tires.
    49 U.S.C. 30166(n), and its implementing regulation found at 49 CFR 
573.10, mandates that anyone who knowingly and willfully sells or 
leases for use on a motor vehicle a defective tire or a tire that is 
not compliant with FMVSS, and with actual knowledge that the tire 
manufacturer has notified its dealers of the defect or noncompliance as 
required under the Act, is required to report that sale or lease to 
NHTSA no more than five working days after the person to whom the tire 
was sold or leased takes possession of it.
    Estimated Burden: This collection has an approved burden of 21,370 
hours per year.\1\ Our review of recall information since we last 
requested approval of this collection does not demonstrate that this 
figure requires adjustment. A summary explanation of how this total 
annual figure was calculated follows.
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    \1\ See Federal Register notices of March 28, 2008 (73 FR 16740) 
and June 5, 2008 (73 FR 32073) for the analysis and discussion 
associated with this burden hour estimate.
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    There continue to be an average of 650 noncompliance or safety 
defect notifications to NHTSA filed each year by approximately 175 
distinct manufacturers, with an estimated 750 quarterly reports filed 
per quarter (or 3,000 reports per year). Although the average number of 
recalls filed per year and the average number of manufacturers filing 
fluctuates each year, we have not seen, nor expect to see, consistent 
dramatic changes in these averages.
    We continue to estimate that it takes a manufacturer an average of 
4 hours to complete each notification report to NHTSA, that it takes 
another 4 hours to complete each quarterly report, and that maintenance 
of the required owner, purchaser, dealer and distributors lists 
requires 8 hours. Accordingly, the subtotal estimate of annual burden 
hours related to the reporting to NHTSA of a safety defect or 
noncompliance, completion of quarterly reports on the progress of 
recall campaigns, and maintenance of owner and purchaser lists is 
16,000 hours annually ((650 notices x 4 hours/report) + (3,000 
quarterly reports x 4 hours/report) + (175 manufacturers x 8 hours)).
    In addition, we continue to estimate an additional 2 hours will be 
needed to add to a manufacturer's information report details relating 
to the manufacturer's intended schedule for notifying its dealers and 
distributors, and tailoring its notifications to dealers and 
distributors in accordance with the requirements of 49 CFR 577.13. This 
would total to an estimated 1,300 hours annually (650 notices x 2 
hours/report).
    In the event a manufacturer supplied the defect or noncompliant 
product to independent dealers through independent distributors, that 
manufacturer is required to include in its notifications to those 
distributors an instruction that the distributors are to then provide 
copies of the manufacturer's notification of the defect or 
noncompliance to all known distributors or retail outlets further down 
the distribution chain within five working days. See 49 CFR 
577.8(c)(2)(iv). As a practical matter, this requirement would only 
apply to equipment manufacturers since vehicle manufacturers generally 
sell and lease vehicles through a dealer network, and not through 
independent distributors. We continue to believe previous estimates of 
roughly 90 equipment recalls per year are sound. Although the 
distributors are not technically under any regulatory requirement to 
follow that instruction, we expect that they will, and have estimated 
the burden associated with these notifications (identifying retail 
outlets, making copies of the manufacturer's notice, and mailing) to be 
5 hours per recall campaign. Assuming an average of 3 distributors per 
equipment item, (which is a liberal estimate given that many equipment 
manufacturers do not use independent distributors) the total number of 
burden hours associated with this third party notification burden is 
approximately 1,350 hours per year (90 recalls x 3 distributors x 5 
hours).
    As for the burden linked with a manufacturer's preparation of and 
notification concerning its reimbursement for pre-notification 
remedies, consistent with previous estimates (see 69 FR 11477 (March 
10, 2004)), we continue to estimate that preparing a plan for 
reimbursement takes approximately 8 hours annually, and that an 
additional 2 hours per year is spent tailoring the plan to particular 
defect and noncompliance notifications to NHTSA and adding tailored 
language about the plan to a particular safety recall's owner 
notification letters. In sum, these required activities add an 
additional 2,700 annual burden hours ((175 manufacturers x 8 hours) + 
(650 recalls x 2 hours)).
    In summary, the total burden associated with the defect and 
noncompliant information collection and reporting requirements we 
continue to estimate at 21,350 hours per year.
    As explained earlier, the Act and Part 573 also contain numerous 
information collection requirements specific to tire recall and remedy 
campaigns, as well as a statutory and regulatory reporting requirement 
that anyone that knowingly and intentionally sells or leases a 
defective or noncompliant tire notify NHTSA of that activity.
    Manufacturers are required to include specific information relative 
to tire disposal in the notifications they provide NHTSA concerning 
identification of a safety defect or noncompliance with FMVSS in their 
tires, as well as in the notifications which they issue to their 
dealers or other tire outlets participating in the

[[Page 34805]]

recall campaign. See 49 CFR 573.6(c)(9). We continue to estimate that 
there will be about 10 tire recall campaigns per year, and that 
inclusion of this additional information will require an additional two 
hours of effort beyond the subtotal above associated with non-tire 
recall campaigns. This additional effort consists of one hour for the 
NHTSA notification and one hour for the dealer notification for a total 
of 20 burden hours (10 tire recalls a year x 2 hours per recall).
    Manufacturer owned or controlled dealers are required to notify the 
manufacturer and provide certain information should they deviate from 
the manufacturer's disposal plan. Consistent with previous analysis, we 
continue to ascribe zero burden hours to this requirement since to date 
no such reports have been provided and our original expectation that 
dealers would comply with manufacturers' plans has proven true.
    Accordingly, we estimate 20 burden hours a year will be spent 
complying with the tire recall campaign requirements found in 49 CFR 
573.6(c)(9).
    And, as we have yet to receive a single report of a defective or 
noncompliant tire being intentionally sold or leased in the fourteen 
years since this rule was proposed, our previous estimate of zero 
burden hours remains unchanged with this notice.
    In summary, our previous estimate of 21,370 total burden hours 
associated with this approved information collection stands.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: NHTSA receives reports of defect 
or noncompliance from roughly 175 manufacturers per year. Again, this 
figure fluctuates from year to year, but we do not have a basis at this 
juncture to suspect this annual figure will change significantly. 
Accordingly, we estimate that there will continue to be approximately 
175 manufacturers per year filing defect or noncompliance reports and 
completing the other information collection responsibilities associated 
with those filings.
    We discussed above that we have yet to receive a single report 
filed pursuant to 49 CFR 573.10. This information collection 
requirement, to reiterate, requires anyone who sells or leases a 
defective or noncompliant tire, with knowledge of that tire's 
defectiveness or noncompliance, to report that sale or lease to NHTSA. 
Given the lack of filing history over many years, we estimate that 
there will continue to be zero reports filed and therefore zero 
respondents as to this requirement.
    In summary, we estimate that there will be a total of 175 
respondents per year associated with OMB No. 2127-0004.
    Comments are invited on: whether the proposed collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
the Department, including whether the information will have practical 
utility; the accuracy of the Department's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed information collection; ways to enhance the quality, utility 
and clarity of the information to be collected; and ways to minimize 
the burden of the collection of information on respondents, including 
the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of 
information technology.
    A comment to OMB is most effective if OMB receives it within 30 
days of publication.

    Issued on: June 2, 2011.
Frank Borris,
Director, Office of Defects Investigation.
[FR Doc. 2011-14745 Filed 6-13-11; 8:45 am]
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