[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 61 (Tuesday, April 1, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14409-14410]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-05561]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
[Docket No. NHTSA-2025-0022]
Denial of Motor Vehicle Defect Petition, DP24-004
AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),
Department of Transportation.
ACTION: Denial of petition for a defect investigation.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: This notice sets forth the reasons for the denial of a
petition submitted to NHTSA on July 3, 2024, by Eric Hein, Director of
the Institute for Safer Trucking (petitioner), requesting that the
agency commence an investigation of all van-type (also known as box)
semi-trailers due to collisions with passenger vehicles and vulnerable
road users (pedestrians, bicyclists, or motorcyclists) resulting in
significant injuries or death due to a lack of effective side underride
guards (SUGs). On August 26, 2024, NHTSA opened Defect Petition DP24-
004 to evaluate the petitioner's request. After consideration of the
petition, NHTSA believes that the issues raised here are best addressed
through its recent rulemaking and the ongoing actions under the
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). Accordingly, the agency
has denied the petition.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Nate Seymour, Medium and Heavy
Duty Vehicle Division, Office of Defects
[[Page 14410]]
Investigation (ODI), NHTSA, 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE, Washington, DC
20590. Email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI)
received a petition from Eric Hein, Director of the Institute for Safer
Trucking dated July 3, 2024, requesting an investigation of all van-
type (also known as box) semi-trailers due to collisions with passenger
vehicles and other vulnerable road users (pedestrians, bicyclists, or
motorcyclists) resulting in significant injuries or death due to the
lack of side underride guards (SUGs). No trailer manufacturer or
equipment supplier was identified as the specific subject of the
petition. The petition itself can be reviewed at NHTSA.gov under ODI
Number 11599188.
Currently, a Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS)
requiring side underride guards on semi-trailers does not exist. The
petitioner contends that a failure to include side underride guards
equates to a safety defect in the semi-trailer's design, construction
and performance. ODI was petitioned in 2021 for this same issue and,
after evaluation, denied the request (DP21-004). The petitioner here
states that evidence of SUG effectiveness to prevent fatalities and
mitigate serious injuries ``has continued to accumulate'' since the
denial of DP21-004. The petitioner also alleges that ``[d]espite a high
severity of risk resulting in frequent severe or fatal injuries from
side underride crashes, NHTSA has taken no action to investigate
recalling semi-trailers without SUGs.''
Pursuant to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA),
NHTSA published an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that
summarized and requested comment on a 2022 NHTSA report with an
analysis of potential effects of a requirement for side underride
guards on new trailers and semitrailers. 88 FR 24536 (Apr. 21, 2023).
NHTSA's Office of Rulemaking is currently reviewing over 2,000 comments
received. Also pursuant to the IIJA, on June 18, 2024, the NHTSA-
facilitated Advisory Committee on Underride Protection (ACUP) issued
its biennial report to Congress and the Secretary of Transportation.
This biennial report consists of a majority report and a minority
report summarizing its work to provide advice and recommendations to
the Secretary on safety regulations related to underride crashes that
have caused severe injury and death. Though the committee's charter was
extended through June 2025, the committee concluded its work following
the publication of the biennial report in June 2024.
In addition, NHTSA previously announced several actions related to
truck trailer underride safety, including improving data collection of
underride crashes by recommending inclusion of underride data in state
crash data systems and by providing educational materials to state and
local police departments on identifying and recording underride
crashes. ODI also actively participates in the Commercial Vehicle
Safety Alliance (CVSA) events where it has encouraged law enforcement
to report underride crashes, and proposed CVSA focus on underride
guards during the 2024 Operation Road Check, a nationwide 72-hour
safety blitz. NHTSA is, further, conducting research on rear impact
guard designs that better protect occupants of passenger vehicles in
even more rear underride crash scenarios. And NHTSA, with the Federal
Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), published a pamphlet in
August 2022--which was distributed to law enforcement through various
channels--that explains how to identify and record such crashes (this
pamphlet is available at https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.gov/les/2022-08/Underride-Crash-Pamphlet_071522_v6atag.pdf).
ODI searched its databases and found no injury or fatality trend
specific to any make, model, or model year trailer within Vehicle Owner
Questionnaire (VOQ) and Early Warning Reporting (EWR) data and found
only one EWR report of vulnerable road user injury or fatalities. ODI
also met, separately, with Utility Trailer Manufacturing Co. (UTM) and
Auto Haulers Association of America (AHAA) regarding UTM's SUG and to
better understand the operational environment of low clearance
vehicles, respectively. Based on the information available to the
agency, trailer manufacturers continue to pursue side underride guard
technology, and at least one manufacturer is currently offering an
optional guard.
The petitioner submitted two documents to ODI on September 11,
2024. The first was a letter from UTM to Marianne Karth (Petitioner of
DP21-004 & DP22-004) which recounted UTM's testing of SUGs. The second
document was an information sheet generated by the petitioner
contesting UTM's claims. The petitioner also submitted certain
documents to ODI on October 1, 2024, which the petitioner had
previously submitted separately as part of comments on a collection of
information pertaining to Reporting and Documents About Potential
Defects (Docket No. NHTSA-2024-0055). This included forth-five (45)
files regarding forty-nine (49) unique crashes. ODI reviewed that
information and found that of the forty-nine (49) crashes, twenty-nine
(29) potentially involved a subject vehicle. The majority of the forty-
five (45) files were from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System
(FARS), which is a NHTSA-maintained database of state crash data
comprised of certain, albeit often relatively limited information.
Notably, of the twenty-nine files (29), only two (2) included the make,
model, and model year of the subject vehicle.
After consideration of the petition, including the reports and
documents provided by the petitioner, NHTSA believes the issues raised
here are best addressed through its recent rulemaking and the ongoing
actions under IIJA. Accordingly, NHTSA has decided not to open a defect
investigation, and the petition is denied. The denial of this petition
does not foreclose the agency from taking further action if warranted
or making a future finding that a safety-related defect exists based
upon additional information the agency may receive.
Authority: 49 U.S.C. 30162(d) and 49 CFR part 552; delegation of
authority at CFR 1.95(a).\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ The authority to determine whether to approve or deny defect
petitions under 49 U.S.C. 30162(d) and 49 CFR part 552 has been
further delegated to the Associate Administrator for Enforcement.
Eileen Sullivan,
Associate Administrator, Enforcement.
[FR Doc. 2025-05561 Filed 3-31-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE P