[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 49 (Wednesday, March 13, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16042-16043]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-05780]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[Docket No. NHTSA-2013-0029]


Beall Corporation; Receipt of Petition for Renewal of Temporary 
Exemption From FMVSS No. 224

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

ACTION: Notice of receipt of a petition for renewal of a temporary 
exemption from Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 224, Rear 
Impact Protection.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the procedures in 49 CFR Part 555, Beall 
Corporation, d/b/a Pioneer Truckweld has petitioned the agency for 
renewal of a temporary exemption from certain requirements of Federal 
Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 224, Rear Impact Protection. 
This notice of receipt of an application for renewal of a temporary 
exemption is published in accordance with statutory and administrative 
provisions. NHTSA has made no judgment on the merits of the 
application.

DATES: You should submit your comments not later than April 12, 2013.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William H. Shakely, Office of the 
Chief Counsel, NCC-112, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 
1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., West Building 4th Floor, Room W41-318, 
Washington, DC 20590. Telephone: (202) 366-2992; Fax: (202) 366-3820.

ADDRESSES: We invite you to submit comments on the application 
described above. You may submit comments identified by docket number at 
the heading of this notice by any of the following methods:
     Web Site: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments on the electronic docket site by 
clicking on ``Help and Information'' or ``Help/Info.''
     Fax: 1-202-493-2251.
     Mail: U.S. Department of Transportation, Docket 
Operations, M-30, Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, 
DC 20590.
     Hand Delivery: 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., West Building 
Ground Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., 
Monday through Friday, except Federal Holidays.
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting 
comments.
    Instructions: All submissions must include the agency name and 
docket number. Note that all comments received will be posted without 
change to http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal 
information provided. Please see the Privacy Act discussion below. We 
will consider all comments received before the close of business on the 
comment closing date indicated above. To the extent possible, we will 
also consider comments filed after the closing date.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received, go to http://www.regulations.gov at any time or to 
1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 
Washington, DC 20590, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, 
except Federal Holidays. Telephone: (202) 366-9826.
    Privacy Act: Anyone is able to search the electronic form of all 
comments received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual 
submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf 
of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review DOT's 
complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register published on 
April 11, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 70; Pages 19477-78) or you may visit 
http://www.dot.gov/privacy.html.
    Confidential Business Information: If you wish to submit any 
information under a claim of confidentiality, you should submit three 
copies of your complete submission, including the information you claim 
to be confidential business information, to the Chief Counsel, NHTSA, 
at the address given under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. In 
addition, you should submit a copy, from which you have deleted the 
claimed confidential business information, to Docket Management at the 
address given above. When you send a comment containing information 
claimed to be confidential business information, you should include a 
cover letter setting forth the information specified in our 
confidential business information regulation (49 CFR Part 512).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Statutory Basis for Temporary Exemptions

    The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act (Safety Act), 
codified at 49 U.S.C. Chapter 301, authorizes the Secretary of 
Transportation to exempt, on a temporary basis and under specified 
circumstances, motor vehicles from a motor vehicle safety standard or 
bumper standard. This authority is set forth at 49 U.S.C. 30113. The 
Secretary has delegated the authority in this section to NHTSA.
    NHTSA established 49 CFR Part 555, Temporary Exemption from Motor 
Vehicle Safety and Bumper Standards, to implement the statutory 
provisions concerning temporary exemptions. A vehicle manufacturer 
wishing to obtain an exemption from a standard must demonstrate in its 
application (A) that an exemption would be in the public interest and 
consistent with the Safety Act and (B) that the manufacturer satisfies 
one of the following four bases for an exemption: (i) Compliance with 
the standard would cause substantial economic hardship to a 
manufacturer that has tried to comply with the standard in good faith; 
(ii) the exemption would make easier the development or field 
evaluation of a new motor vehicle safety feature providing a safety 
level at least equal to the safety level of the standard; (iii) the 
exemption would make the development or field evaluation of a low-
emission motor vehicle easier and would not unreasonably lower the 
safety level of that vehicle; or (iv) compliance with the standard 
would prevent the manufacturer from selling a motor vehicle with an 
overall safety level at least equal to the overall safety level of 
nonexempt vehicles.
    A manufacturer is eligible to apply for a hardship exemption if its 
total motor vehicle production in its most recent year of production 
did not exceed 10,000 vehicles, as determined by the NHTSA 
Administrator (49 U.S.C. 30113).
    While 49 U.S.C. 30113(b) states that exemptions from a Safety Act 
standard are to be granted on a ``temporary basis,'' \1\ the statute 
also expressly provides for renewal of an exemption on reapplication. 
Exempted manufacturers seeking renewal must bear in mind that the 
agency is directed to consider financial hardship as but one factor, 
along with the manufacturer's ongoing good faith efforts to comply with 
the regulation, the public interest, consistency with the Safety Act, 
generally, as well as other such matters

[[Page 16043]]

provided in the statute. Manufacturers are nevertheless cautioned that 
the agency's decision to grant an initial petition in no way 
predetermines that the agency will repeatedly grant renewal petitions, 
thereby imparting semi-permanent status to an exemption from a safety 
standard.
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    \1\ 49 U.S.C. 30113(b)(1).
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    Finally, we note that under 49 CFR 555.8(e), ``If an application 
for renewal of a temporary exemption that meets the requirements of 
Sec.  555.5 has been filed not later than 60 days before the 
termination date of an exemption, the exemption does not terminate 
until the Administrator grants or denies the application for renewal.'' 
The subject petition for renewal has been submitted by the deadline 
stated in 49 CFR 555.8(e).

II. Rear Impact Protection Requirements

    FMVSS No. 224, Rear Impact Protection requires most trailers and 
semitrailers weighing 10,000 pounds or more to be fitted at the rear 
with a rear impact (underride) guard meeting the requirements of FMVSS 
No. 223, Rear Impact Guards. The rear impact guard is attached to the 
rear of the trailer (within 12 inches (305 mm) of the rear extremity of 
the trailer or semitrailer) and acts to prevent a light vehicle from 
sliding under the trailer chassis in a crash.

III. Overview of Petition

    In accordance with 49 U.S.C. 30113 and the procedures in 49 CFR 
Part 555, Beall Corporation, d/b/a Pioneer Truckweld (Beall) has 
submitted a petition requesting renewal of its temporary exemption from 
the rear impact protection requirements of FMVSS No. 224. A copy of the 
petition has been placed in the docket for this notice.\2\ The basis 
for the petition is that compliance would cause the petitioner 
substantial economic hardship and that the petitioner has tried in good 
faith to comply with the standard. Beall has requested a renewal of its 
exemption for a period of three years.
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    \2\ To view the petition, go to http://www.regulations.gov and 
enter the docket number set forth in the heading of this document.
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    Beall is an Oregon corporation that manufactures trailers. The 
Pioneer Truckweld operation manufactures dump body trailers. In a 
Federal Register document dated August 20, 2009, Beall was granted a 
temporary exemption from the rear impact protection requirements of 
FMVSS No. 224 for dump body trailers.\3\ The exemption was granted for 
a period from the date of publication until August 20, 2012. The 
petition for renewal states that the Pioneer Truckweld operation 
manufactured five trailers in the 12-month period prior to filing the 
petition, all of which were affected by the exemption.
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    \3\ 74 FR 42142 (Aug. 20, 2009).
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    Beall states that the denial of the requested exemption will result 
in substantial economic hardship. According to the statements of the 
petitioner, the denial of the exemption could cost the company 40 
percent of its projected sales during the period covered by the 
exemption. Additionally, Beall asserts that if the exemption is denied, 
it would lose the entire $800,000 goodwill investment associated with 
the 2001 purchase of Pioneer Truckweld. Beall states that these effects 
could lead to the closure of the Pioneer Truckweld operation and the 
laying off of its 17 employees.
    Beall also provides specific financial information for the years 
2009 through 2011, along with projections with and without an 
exemption. This information has been placed in the docket for this 
notice.\4\
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    \4\ Although the petition indicates that Beall requested 
confidential treatment of this information, Beall subsequently 
informed the agency by email that it would not be requesting such 
treatment. This email has been placed in the docket.
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    In explaining why it has not been currently able to meet the rear 
impact protection requirements, Beall points to a number a technical 
challenges associated with designing a compliant rear impact protection 
system. Namely, it states that a device designed to satisfy FMVSS No. 
224 for dump body applications must also be capable of moving clear, so 
that the hopper of the paving machines can pass through the space 
initially occupied by the rear impact protection device. It argues that 
if the paving machine cannot position itself underneath the dump body, 
the asphalt will spill out as the dump body raises and unloads the 
asphalt. The petitioner states that it has been pursuing the design of 
acceptable systems in a joint project with the Mechanical Engineering 
Department at Montana State University, using techniques such as finite 
element analysis and physical testing. In addition, it claims to have 
designed acceptable guards for a number of non-asphalt paving 
applications.
    Beall states it has considered several alternative means of 
compliance. These include plastically deforming devices and hinged and 
retractable devices. However, the petitioner believes that there are a 
number of problems with regard to these solutions. First, due to 
clearance issues, space for retractable devices is not readily 
available, and redesign of the vehicle to accommodate such devices 
could result in decreased stability. Second, the petitioner states that 
the asphalt paving surface has the effect of rendering these sorts of 
devices unusable over time. Finally, Beall notes that trailers could be 
operated with these devices in the retracted position, resulting in no 
safety benefits. Beall indicates that it has been unable to find a 
third-party manufacturer that has designed a device that would perform 
in a paving application.
    Beall states that under a temporary exemption, it would continue to 
pursue a compliant rear impact protection device that would meet the 
current standards, including attachment and methods of maintenance to 
ensure proper function while in service. The petitioner states that it 
will continue to work with other resources available to the paving 
industry to develop an acceptable solution.
    Beall believes that it would be in the public's interest to allow 
the Pioneer Truckweld operation to manufacture the equipment required 
to improve and expand the road building effort in the western United 
States while an intense effort is maintained by Pioneer Truckweld to 
design an acceptable underride device that will perform well in a 
paving operation.

IV. Completeness and Comment Period

    Upon receiving a petition, NHTSA conducts an initial review of the 
petition with respect to whether the petition is complete. The agency 
has tentatively concluded that the petition from Beall is complete. The 
agency has not made any judgment on the merits of the petition, and is 
placing a copy of the petition and supporting information in the 
docket.
    The agency seeks comment from the public on the merits of Beall's 
petition for renewal of a temporary exemption from FMVSS No. 224. We 
are providing a 30-day comment period. After considering public 
comments and other available information, we will publish a notice of 
final action on the petition in the Federal Register.

(Authority: 49 U.S.C. 30113; delegations of authority at 49 CFR 1.95 
and 501.8)

    Issued on: March 4, 2013.
Christopher J. Bonanti,
Associate Administrator for Rulemaking.
[FR Doc. 2013-05780 Filed 3-12-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P