[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 247 (Tuesday, December 27, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 79438-79440]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-28062]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[Docket No. NHTSA-2022-0059; Notice 1]


Daimler Trucks North America, LLC, Receipt of Petition for 
Decision of Inconsequential Noncompliance

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

ACTION: Receipt of petition.

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SUMMARY: Daimler Trucks North America, LLC, (DTNA) has determined that 
certain model year (MY) 2022-2023 Freightliner (FCCC) EconicSD do not 
fully comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 
106, Brake Hoses. DTNA filed a noncompliance report dated May 12, 2022. 
DTNA subsequently petitioned NHTSA on June 8, 2022, for a decision that 
the subject noncompliance is inconsequential as it relates to motor 
vehicle safety. This document announces receipt of DTNA's petition.

DATES: Send comments on or before January 26, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit written data, 
views, and arguments on this petition. Comments must refer to the 
docket and notice number cited in the title of this notice and be 
submitted by any of the following methods:
     Mail: Send comments by mail addressed to the U.S. 
Department of Transportation, Docket Operations, M-30, West Building 
Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 
20590.
     Hand Delivery: Deliver comments by hand to the U.S. 
Department of Transportation, Docket Operations, M-30, West Building 
Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE, Washington, DC 
20590. The Docket Section is open on weekdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 
except for Federal Holidays.
     Electronically: Submit comments electronically by logging 
onto the Federal Docket Management System (FDMS) website at https://www.regulations.gov/. Follow the online instructions for submitting 
comments.
     Comments may also be faxed to (202) 493-2251.
    Comments must be written in the English language and be no greater 
than 15 pages in length, although there is no limit to the length of 
necessary attachments to the comments. If comments are submitted in 
hard copy form, please ensure that two copies are provided. If you wish 
to receive confirmation that comments you have submitted by mail were 
received, please enclose a stamped, self-addressed postcard with the 
comments. Note that all comments received will be posted without change 
to https://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information 
provided.
    All comments and supporting materials received before the close of 
business on the closing date indicated above will be filed in the 
docket and will be considered. All comments and supporting materials 
received after the closing date will also be filed and will be 
considered to the fullest extent possible.
    When the petition is granted or denied, notice of the decision will 
also be published in the Federal Register pursuant to the authority 
indicated at the end of this notice.
    All comments, background documentation, and supporting materials 
submitted to the docket may be viewed by anyone at the address and 
times given above. The documents may also be viewed on the internet at 
https://www.regulations.gov by following the online instructions for 
accessing the docket. The docket ID number for this petition is shown 
in the heading of this notice.
    DOT's complete Privacy Act Statement is available for review in a 
Federal Register notice published on April 11, 2000, (65 FR 19477-78).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Manuel Maldonado, Safety Compliance 
Engineer, NHTSA, Office of Vehicle Safety Compliance, (202) 366-8731.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

[[Page 79439]]

I. Overview

    DTNA has determined that certain MY 2022-2023 Freightliner (FCCC) 
EconicSD do not fully comply with paragraphs S11.3.18 and S11.3.19 of 
FMVSS No. 106, Brake Hoses (49 CFR 571.106). DTNA filed a noncompliance 
report dated May 12, 2022, pursuant to 49 CFR 573, Defect and 
Noncompliance Responsibility and Reports. DTNA subsequently petitioned 
NHTSA on June 8, 2022, for an exemption from the notification and 
remedy requirements of 49 U.S.C. Chapter 301 on the basis that this 
noncompliance is inconsequential as it relates to motor vehicle safety, 
pursuant to 40 U.S.C. 30118 and 49 U.S.C. 30120, Exemption for 
Inconsequential Defect or Noncompliance.
    This notice of receipt of DTNA's petition is published under 49 
U.S.C. 30118 and 30120 and does not represent any Agency decision or 
other exercise of judgment concerning the merits of the petition.

II. Vehicles and Equipment Involved

    Approximately 149 MY 2022-2023 Freightliner (FCCC) EconicSD, 
manufactured between June 24, 2019, and March 9, 2022, are potentially 
involved. The part numbers of the fittings involved are A 000 990 40 78 
and A 000 990 43 78.

III. Noncompliance

    DTNA explains that the noncompliance is that certain fittings used 
in the subject vehicle's air brake system failed to pass the tensile 
strength test under boiling conditions and tensile strength test under 
thermal conditioning, and therefore, do not comply with paragraphs 
S11.3.18 and S11.3.19 and Table VIII of FMVSS No. 106. The subject 
vehicles are equipped with an air brake system containing tubing that 
has a nominal outside diameter (OD) of 8 mm and do not meet the 
conditioned tensile load 75 lbf as required by Table VIII of FMVSS No. 
106.

IV. Rule Requirements

    Paragraphs S11.3.18 and S11.3.19 of FMVSS No. 106 include the 
requirements relevant to this petition. S11.3.18 requires that a 
plastic air brake tubing assembly, when subjected to a tensile pull 
test, must either elongate 50 percent or withstand the conditioned 
tensile load in Table VIII of FMVSS No. 106 without separation from its 
end fittings, with one end of the assembly conditioned in boiling water 
for 5 minutes. S11.3.19 requires that a plastic air brake tubing 
assembly, when subjected to a tensile pull test, must either elongate 
50 percent or withstand the conditioned tensile load in Table VIII 
without separation from its end fittings after the assembly has been 
subjected to four cycles of conditioning in air at minus 40 degrees 
Fahrenheit (minus 40 degrees Celsius) for thirty minutes, normalizing 
at room temperature, conditioning in boiling water for 15 minutes, and 
normalizing at room temperature.

V. Summary of DTNA's Petition

    The following views and arguments presented in this section, ``V. 
Summary of DTNA's Petition,'' are the views and arguments provided by 
DTNA. They have not been evaluated by the Agency and do not reflect the 
views of the Agency.
    DTNA describes the subject noncompliance and states that the 
noncompliance is inconsequential as it relates to motor vehicle safety. 
DTNA explains that the subject noncompliance occurred because DTNA 
carried over a European Econic vehicle fitting into the U.S. market 
that had been believed to be compliant to FMVSS No. 106. DTNA later 
discovered it was not certified to paragraphs S11.3.18 and S11.3.19 of 
FMVSS No. 106. DTNA says that the noncompliant fittings ``are used only 
in locations protected from stresses and thermal/boiling conditions.'' 
Therefore, DTNA believes that the subject noncompliance should be 
deemed inconsequential to motor vehicle safety because the noncompliant 
fittings are protected from the stresses that are tested by paragraphs 
S11.3.18 and S11.3.19 of FMVSS No. 106.
    DTNA states that the noncompliant fittings have been used for 9 
years in the European market and 3 years in the U.S. and Canadian 
markets, and ``there has been no evidence of airline separations.'' 
DTNA investigated claims related to tensile loads on the noncompliant 
fittings that were used in the subject vehicles across all of the 
vehicles with the same fitting that were sold in Europe, the United 
States, and Canada, and found no evidence of problems.
    DTNA describes the location of the noncompliant fitting in the 
subject vehicle and provides photos to show that the noncompliant 
fittings ``are mounted with protections and stress relief, such that 
there are none of the tensile loads against which the FMVSS [No.] 106 
provision was intended to protect.'' Due to the location of the 
fittings, DTNA contends that they ``would not be subjected to any 
loads'' and the area ``is expected to be free from debris, boiling 
water, abnormally high temperatures, and so forth, such that the 
integrity of the fittings would not be affected.'' Further, DTNA states 
the noncompliant fittings have never failed and DTNA is not aware of 
``any scenarios which would cause the air fittings to separate from the 
connection points.''
    DTNA says that it tested a sample of the tubing configuration used 
in the subject vehicles and found that the tubing failed during all 
four pull strength tests at an average of 37.5 lbf for tensile load 
strength, which is 50 percent less than what is required by S12.19 of 
FMVSS No. 106. However, DTNA stated its belief that the tubing would 
not be subjected to tensile forces as high as the 75 pounds required by 
FMVSS No. 106 due to the location of the air brake system used in the 
subject vehicles, as described above.
    DTNA claims that NHTSA precedent supports granting DTNA's petition 
for the subject noncompliance. DTNA refers to the granting of a 
petition submitted by Coupled Products, Inc.\1\, in which brake hose 
assemblies it produced did not comply with the tensile strength 
requirement provided in S5.3.4 of FMVSS No. 106 (a hydraulic brake hose 
assembly is required to withstand a pull of 325 pounds without 
separations of the hose from its end fittings during a slow pull test, 
and a pull of 370 pounds during a fast pull test) and the water 
absorption and tensile strength requirement provided in S5.3.6 (a 
hydraulic brake hose assembly, after immersion in water for 70 hours, 
is required to withstand a pull of 325 pounds without separation of the 
hose from its end fittings during a slow pull test, and a pull of 370 
pounds during a fast pull test). DTNA believes that, like the 
noncompliance that Coupled Products, Inc., described, the noncompliant 
fittings used in the subject vehicles are also ``restrained within 
assemblies under the cab body and protected under the dash,'' 
therefore, DTNA contends that there are no forces acting upon the 
noncompliant fittings.
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    \1\ Coupled Products, Inc., Grant of Petition for Decision of 
Inconsequential Noncompliance; 70 FR 35774 (June 21, 2005).
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    DTNA concludes by again contending that the subject noncompliance 
is inconsequential as it relates to motor vehicle safety, and that its 
petition to be exempted from providing notification of the 
noncompliance, as required by 49 U.S.C. 30118, and a remedy for the 
noncompliance, as required by 49 U.S.C. 30120, be granted.
    DTNA's complete petition and supporting documents are available by 
logging onto the Federal Docket

[[Page 79440]]

Management System (FDMS) website at: https://www.regulations.gov and by 
following the online search instructions to locate the docket number as 
listed in the title of this notice.

VI. Additional Information

    On July 6, 2022, NHTSA contacted DTNA for clarification on certain 
parts of its petition. DTNA provided the name of the fabricating 
manufacturer for the hose assemblies, Arco, and provided the intended 
OD of the hose assemblies, 8 mm. DTNA also clarified the statements 
describing the testing of the sample tubing configuration. DTNA 
provided the test results and found that the average tensile load at 
which the noncompliant component failed was 37.5 lbf.
    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, any decision on 
this petition only applies to the subject vehicles and equipment that 
DTNA no longer controlled at the time it determined that the 
noncompliance existed. However, any decision on this petition does not 
relieve equipment distributors and dealers of the prohibitions on the 
sale, offer for sale, or introduction or delivery for introduction into 
interstate commerce of the noncompliant brake hoses and equipment under 
their control after DTNA notified them that the subject noncompliance 
existed.

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

Otto G. Matheke III,
Director, Office of Vehicle Safety Compliance.
[FR Doc. 2022-28062 Filed 12-23-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P