[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 74 (Wednesday, April 17, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22943-22944]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-08956]


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

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[Docket No. NHTSA-2010-0177; Notice 2]


OSRAM SYLVANIA Products, Inc.; Grant of Petition for Decision of 
Inconsequential Noncompliance

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, DOT.

ACTION: Grant of Petition.

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

SUMMARY: OSRAM SYLVANIA Products, Inc., (OSRAM SYLVANIA), has 
determined that certain Type ``H11 C'' light sources that it 
manufactured fail to meet the requirements of paragraph S7.7 of Federal 
Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 108, Lamps, Reflective 
Devices, and Associated Equipment. OSRAM SYLVANIA has filed an 
appropriate report pursuant to 49 CFR Part 573, Defect and 
Noncompliance Responsibility and Reports, dated August 24, 2010.
    Pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 30118(d) and 30120(h) (see implementing rule 
at 49 CFR part 556), OSRAM SYLVANIA has petitioned for an exemption 
from the

[[Page 22944]]

notification and remedy requirements of 49 U.S.C. Chapter 301 on the 
basis that this noncompliance is inconsequential to motor vehicle 
safety. Notice of receipt of the petition was published, with a 30-day 
public comment period, on January 25, 2011 in the Federal Register (76 
FR 4420). No comments were received. To view the petition, and all 
supporting documents log onto the Federal Docket Management System 
(FDMS) Web site at: http://www.regulations.gov/. Then follow the online 
search instructions to locate docket number ``NHTSA-2010-0177.''
    For further information on this decision contact Mr. Michael Cole, 
Office of Vehicle Safety Compliance, the National Highway Traffic 
Safety Administration (NHTSA), telephone (202) 366-2334, facsimile 
(202) 366-7002.
    Lamps Involved: OSRAM SYLVANIA estimates that approximately 28,412 
``H11 C'' light sources (bulbs) that it manufactured on June 23 and 24, 
2010 are affected. All of the affected light sources were manufactured 
by OSRAM GmbH, Industriestrasse, Herbrechtingen, Germany.
    Summary of Osram Sylvania's Analysis and Arguments: OSRAM SYLVANIA 
described the noncompliance as the mismarking of type ``H11 C'' 
lighting sources as type ``H11.''
    In its petition OSRAM SYLVANIA argues that the noncompliance is 
inconsequential to motor vehicle safety for the following reasons:
    (1) The noncompliance in this case pertains solely to the failure 
of the subject light sources to meet the applicable marking 
requirements.
    (2) ``H11 C'' light sources are designed to be completely 
interchangeable with the original ``H11'' light sources. When Philips 
Lighting B.V., submitted its modification to the ``H11'' light source 
specification that became the ``H11 C'' specification it certified that 
use of the ``H11 C'' light source will not create a noncompliance with 
any requirement of FMVSS No. 108 when used to replace an ``H11'' light 
source in a headlamp certified by its manufacturer as conforming to all 
applicable Federal motor vehicle safety standards. Subject ``H11 C'' 
light sources are designed to conform to Part 564 Docket NHTSA 98-3397-
81 including the additional requirements under paragraph IX. In other 
words, inadvertent installation of a subject ``H11 C'' light source in 
place of an ``H11'' light source--or vice versa--will not create a 
noncompliance with any of the performance or interchangeability 
requirements of FMVSS No. 108 (including beam pattern photometrics) or 
otherwise present an increased risk to motor vehicle safety.
    (3) ``H11 C'' light sources have the same filament position, 
dimension and tolerances, capsule and capsule support dimensions, bulb 
base interchangeability dimensions, seal specifications, and electrical 
specifications as the ``H11.'' The only difference between the ``H11'' 
light source and the ``H11 C'' light source is that the ``H11 C'' 
provides for the light transmitting portion of the glass wall to 
incorporate a color controlling optical filter in order to improve 
visibility.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ Petition for ``H11 C'' Replaceable Light Sources Listing, 
Docket NHTSA 98-3397-81, November 1, 2007.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (4) The agency has concluded in previous similar petitions that a 
noncompliance is inconsequential when mismarked light sources are 
otherwise fully compliant with the performance requirements of the 
standard.
    Supported by the above stated reasons, OSRAM SYLVANIA believes that 
the described FMVSS No. 108 noncompliance is inconsequential to motor 
vehicle safety, and that its petition, to exempt it from providing 
recall notification of noncompliance as required by 49 U.S.C. 30118 and 
remedying the recall noncompliance as required by 49 U.S.C. 30120, 
should be granted.
    Discussion: NHTSA has reviewed and accepts OSRAM SYLVANIA's 
analyses that this noncompliance is inconsequential to motor vehicle 
safety. The ``H11 C'' light source is a design that is completely 
interchangeable with the original ``H11'' light source. The ``H11 C'' 
light sources have the same filament position, dimension and 
tolerances, capsule and capsule support dimensions, bulb base 
interchangeability dimensions, seal specifications, and electrical 
specifications as the ``H11.'' As such, NHTSA agrees that inadvertent 
installation of a mismarked ``H11 C'' light source in place of an 
``H11'' light source--or vice versa--would not create a noncompliance 
with any of the headlamp performance requirements of FMVSS 108 or 
otherwise present an increased risk to motor vehicle safety.
    NHTSA Decision: In consideration of the foregoing, NHTSA has 
decided that OSRAM SYLVANIA has met its burden of persuasion that the 
FMVSS No. 108 noncompliance in the lamps identified in OSRAM SYLVANIA's 
Noncompliance Information Report and is inconsequential to motor 
vehicle safety. Accordingly, OSRAM SYLVANIA's petition is granted and 
the petitioner is exempted from the obligation of providing 
notification of, and a remedy for, that noncompliance under 49 U.S.C. 
30118 and 30120.
    NHTSA notes that the statutory provisions (49 U.S.C. 30118(d) and 
30120(h)) that permit manufacturers to file petitions for a 
determination of inconsequentiality allow NHTSA to exempt manufacturers 
only from the duties found in sections 30118 and 30120, respectively, 
to notify owners, purchasers, and dealers of a defect or noncompliance 
and to remedy the defect or noncompliance. Therefore, this decision 
only applies to the lamps that OSRAM SYLVANIA no longer controlled at 
the time that it determined that a noncompliance existed in the subject 
vehicles.

    Authority:  (49 U.S.C. 30118, 30120: delegations of authority at 
49 CFR 1.95 and 501.8)

    Issued On: April 11, 2013.
Claude H. Harris,
Director, Office of Vehicle Safety Compliance.
[FR Doc. 2013-08956 Filed 4-16-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P