[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 44 (Friday, March 7, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11579-11581]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-03726]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
[Docket No. NHTSA-2024-0041]
Agency Information Collection Activities; Notice and Request for
Comment; 5-Star Safety Ratings Label Quantitative Concept Testing
AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),
Department of Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Notice and request for comments on approval of a new collection
of information.
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SUMMARY: NHTSA invites public comments about our intention to request
approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for a new
collection of information. Before a Federal agency can collect certain
information from the public, it must receive approval from OMB. Under
procedures established by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, before
seeking OMB approval, Federal agencies must solicit public comment on
proposed collections of information, including extensions and
reinstatement of previously approved collections. This document
describes a collection of information for which NHTSA intends to seek
OMB approval on consumer market research regarding the 5-Star Safety
Ratings section of the Monroney label.
DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before May 6, 2025.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by the Docket No. NHTSA-
2024-0041 through any of the following methods:
Electronic submissions: Go to the Federal eRulemaking
Portal at http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions
for submitting comments.
Fax: (202) 493-2251.
Mail or Hand Delivery: Docket Management, U.S. Department
of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, Room W12-
140, Washington, DC 20590, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through
Friday, except on Federal holidays. To be sure someone is there to help
you, please call (202) 366-9322 before coming.
Instructions: All submissions must include the agency name and
docket number for this notice. 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 heading
below.
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 (65 FR 19477-78) or you may visit https://www.transportation.gov/privacy.
Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or
comments received, go to http://www.regulations.gov or the street
address listed above. Follow the online instructions for accessing the
dockets via internet.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For additional information or access
to background documents, contact Mike Joyce, Marketing Specialist,
Office of Communications and Consumer Information (NCO-0200), National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE, W52-
238, Washington, DC 20590. Mike Joyce's phone number is 202-366-5600
and his email address is [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
(44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), 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 (at 5 CFR 1320.8(d)), an agency must
ask for public comment on the following: (a) 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; (b) 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; (c) how to enhance
the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected;
and (d) 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 proposed collection of
information for which the agency is seeking approval from OMB.
[[Page 11580]]
Title: 5-Star Safety Ratings Label Quantitative Concept Testing.
OMB Control Number: New.
Form Number(s): 2026, 2027, 2028.
Type of Request: Request for approval of a new information
collection.
Type of Review Requested: Regular.
Requested Expiration Date of Approval: 3 years from date of
approval.
Summary of the Collection of Information: The National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) seeks to obtain critical
information that will allow NHTSA and the New Car Assessment Program
(NCAP) to fulfill a congressional mandate to improve highway traffic
safety. NCAP is responsible for providing consumers with important
safety information that will assist them in their vehicle purchase
decisions. The proposed research is intended to gather necessary data
to guide the redesign of the Government 5-Star Safety Ratings section
of the Monroney label and enhance the usefulness of that safety rating
information.
The research study will include two components, both being one-time
collections. The first component will involve a series of online webcam
interviews that will collect qualitative feedback that will be used to
improve the content included in the second component, a quantitative
survey. The quantitative survey will be administered online and by
phone (and potentially supplemented by mail if needed). Participants in
the quantitative survey will be asked to evaluate design concepts that
contain new information and improvements to the Government 5-Star
Safety Ratings section of the Monroney label. The intent is to identify
the clearest, most communicative and helpful way to display information
related to vehicle safety. NHTSA will use the findings from this
research to support planned changes to the label requirements and to
inform future consumer communications on vehicle safety ratings and
safety technology systems performance assessments to assist the public
when making vehicle purchasing decisions.
The qualitative portion of the research will consist of a cognitive
test--nine (9) 60-minute webcam interviews among participants who will
take a draft version of the quantitative survey while narrating their
experience aloud. Feedback will be used to refine question-wording and
response options in the survey instrument, ensuring that each question
is clear, consistently understood and offers an appropriate range of
responses that can be selected.
The quantitative survey will interview 1,000 consumer participants.
This research aims to test label redesign concepts that have been
informed by feedback received in a previous qualitative research study
and will validate and prioritize other insights around consumer
consideration of safety information in the purchasing process. The
survey will achieve the following objectives:
(1) Evaluate the relative weight consumers give to different kinds
of safety information in evaluating the overall safety of a vehicle;
(2) Evaluate the relative weight consumers give to different kinds
of safety information in the purchasing decision;
(3) Assess the best words or phrases to use on the label when
communicating about crash protection, safety technology, and vulnerable
road users safety; and,
(4) Assess current familiarity and use of the safety label in
making vehicle safety purchasing decisions.
Description of the Need for the Information and Proposed Use of the
Information: This collection of information will allow NHTSA to obtain
critical information to assist the agency in fulfilling the 2015 Fixing
America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act's requirement that NHTSA
issue a rule to ensure the crash avoidance information is provided next
to the crashworthiness information on vehicle window stickers.\1\
Specifically, the data from this collection will be used to not only
enhance the consumer understanding of NHTSA's vehicle safety ratings
and advanced driver assistance systems performance assessments, but
also guide the development of communications that will help consumers
as they consider this information in their vehicle purchase decisions.
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\1\ Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act, Sec. 24322.
https://www.congress.gov/114/statute/STATUTE-129/STATUTE-129-Pg1312.pdf.
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This research is necessary because NHTSA currently does not have
consumer feedback on the concept designs for the potential updates to
the Monroney label. Although qualitative feedback has been gathered on
previous concept iterations, a quantitative survey will allow NHTSA to
gain feedback on the current concept designs and to obtain feedback
from a broader range of consumers than would be possible using
qualitative methodologies alone.
There is a growing interest in vulnerable road users and the past
research only explored consumer reaction to vulnerable road users at a
high level. There is a need to conduct this additional research to
better understand how consumers think about vulnerable road users and
identify effective ways to communicate about the importance of
vulnerable road users in understanding the safety of a vehicle.
Additionally, the new concept designs include a vulnerable road users
safety rating which was not included in previous research.
Key additional insights we anticipate from this study also cannot
be gleaned from previous research. This is due to several factors:
first, previous research has not quantitatively assessed the relative
weight consumers give to different kinds of safety information, either
in evaluating the overall safety of the vehicle or in the purchasing
decision; second, the level and prevalence of driver assistance
technology have increased, meaning that previous assessments of
consumer prioritization of vehicle safety technology need to be
reassessed.
Affected Public: Members of the public 18 years of age or older
with a driver's license, who are a decision-maker for vehicle purchases
in their household, have either purchased a vehicle in the past six
months or plan to do so within the next 12 months.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 10,000.
Frequency: One time.
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 708.
Nine respondents are expected to participate in the qualitative
phase (cognitive test of the survey instrument described in the Summary
of the Collection of Information section) of research. The recruiter
will need to screen 180 participants to obtain the desired target of 18
participants who qualify to participate in the cognitive test. Based on
past experience, of those who qualify, half or more will be available
and interested in participating. Nine respondents who are available and
agree to participate will complete the 60-minute cognitive test.
For the quantitative phase, respondents will complete a 14-minute
online survey (an estimated 3 minutes of the survey will be screening
questions). Approximately 10,000 respondents will be screened to
identify 1,000 who will qualify to answer the full online survey.
Therefore, the total annual estimated burden imposed by this collection
is approximately 708 hours.
[[Page 11581]]
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Estimated Total burden
Research phase Respondents burden per hours
response (min) (rounded)
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Qual Screener Responses......................................... 180 N/A N/A
Not qualified................................................... 162 5 14
Qualified, not available or interested.......................... 9 5 1
Qualified and scheduled......................................... 9 5 1
Qualitative Cognitive Testing................................... 9 60 9
Quantitative Screening.......................................... 10,000 3 500
Quantitative Fielding........................................... 1,000 11 183
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Total Burden................................................ .............. .............. 708
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Estimated Total Annual Burden Cost: $32,702.2 3
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\2\ This burden estimate uses a fully loaded hourly labor cost
of $46.29--a base rate of $35.61 with an additional 30% added to
account for benefits. These numbers are obtained from Bureau of
Labor Statistics (accessed January 2024): https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t19.htm.
\3\ Recommendation to include costs of benefits in burden hours
calculations is from: Bureau of Labor and Statistics' Economic News
Release--Employer Costs for Employee Compensation Summary (December
2023). https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm.
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Public Comments Invited: You are asked to comment on any aspects of
this information collection, including (a) 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; (b) the accuracy of the Department's estimate
of the burden of the proposed information collection; (c) ways to
enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the information to be
collected; and (d) 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.
Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. chapter
35, as amended; 49 CFR 1.49; and DOT Order 1351.29A.
Issued on March 4, 2025.
Juliette Marie Vallese,
Associate Administrator, Office of Communications and Consumer
Information.
[FR Doc. 2025-03726 Filed 3-6-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P