[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 94 (Friday, May 16, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 21118-21119]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-08808]
[[Page 21118]]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
[Docket No. NHTSA-2024-2020; Notice 2]
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, Grant of Petition for Decision of
Inconsequential Noncompliance
AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),
Department of Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Grant of petition.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (Goodyear) has determined that
certain Goodyear 265/70R17 116T XL Wrangler Duratrac RT passenger tires
do not fully comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS)
No. 139, New Pneumatic Radial Tires for Light Vehicles. Goodyear filed
a noncompliance report dated April 2, 2024, and subsequently petitioned
NHTSA (the ``Agency'') on April 2, 2024, for a decision that the
subject noncompliance is inconsequential as it relates to motor vehicle
safety. This document announces the grant of Goodyear's petition.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jayton Lindley, General Engineer,
NHTSA, Office of Vehicle Safety Compliance, (325) 655-0546.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Overview: Goodyear determined that certain Goodyear Wrangler
Duratrac RT tires do not fully comply with paragraph S5.5 of FMVSS No.
139, New Pneumatic Radial Tires for Light Vehicles (49 CFR 571.139).
Goodyear filed a noncompliance report dated April 2, 2024, pursuant
to 49 CFR part 573, Defect and Noncompliance Responsibility and
Reports. Goodyear petitioned NHTSA on April 2, 2024, 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 49 U.S.C. 30118(d) and 30120(h)
and 49 CFR part 556, Exemption for Inconsequential Defect or
Noncompliance.
Notice of receipt of Goodyear's petition was published with a 30-
day public comment period, on August 26, 2024, in the Federal Register
(89 FR 68494). No comments were received. To view the petition and all
supporting documents log onto the Federal Docket Management System
(FDMS) website at https://www.regulations.gov/. Then follow the online
search instructions to locate docket number ``NHTSA-2024-0020.''
II. Tires Involved: Approximately 3,758 Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac
RT passenger tires, manufactured between July 16, 2023, and September
23, 2023, were reported by the manufacturer.
III. Rule Requirements: Paragraph S5.5(f) of FMVSS No. 139 includes
the requirements relevant to this petition. Each tire must have one
sidewall marked with the generic name of each cord material used in the
plies (both sidewall and tread area) and indicate the actual number of
plies in the sidewall, as well as the actual number of plies in the
tread area.
IV. Noncompliance: Goodyear explains that the noncompliance is due
to a mold error and that as a result, the number of tread plies
indicated on the sidewall of the subject tires does not match the
actual number of plies in the tire construction as required by
paragraph S5.5(f) of FMVSS No. 139. Specifically, the subject tires
were manufactured with 2-plies polyamide cords in the tread area but
were incorrectly marked to indicate a 1-ply polyamide cord in the tread
area.
V. Summary of Goodyear's Petition: The following views and
arguments presented in this section, ``V. Summary of Goodyear's
Petition,'' are the views and arguments provided by Goodyear; they do
not reflect the views of the Agency. Goodyear describes the subject
noncompliance and contends that the noncompliance is inconsequential as
it relates to motor vehicle safety.
Goodyear contends that the subject noncompliance is inconsequential
to motor vehicle safety because the tires were manufactured according
to design and meet or exceed all applicable FMVSS performance
standards. The sidewall markings for tire service, including load
capacity and inflation pressure are accurate. Goodyear maintains that
the labeling error does not impact safety, tire usage, or the repair
and recycling industries. Further, Goodyear states that the affected
tire mold has been corrected in production and future tires will
correctly indicate the number of plies shown on the sidewalls.
Goodyear argues that NHTSA has previously granted petitions for
similar noncompliances concerning tire construction information, based
on surveys indicating that most consumers do not use tire construction
information from the sidewall when purchasing tires.
Goodyear concludes by stating its belief that the subject
noncompliance is inconsequential as it relates to motor vehicle safety
and 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, should be granted.
VI. NHTSA's Analysis: In determining inconsequentiality of a
noncompliance, NHTSA focuses on the safety risk to individuals who
experience the type of event against which a recall would otherwise
protect.\1\ In general, NHTSA does not consider the absence of
complaints or injuries when determining if a noncompliance is
inconsequential to safety. The absence of complaints does not mean
vehicle occupants have not experienced a safety issue, nor does it mean
that there will not be safety issues in the future.\2\ Further, because
each inconsequential noncompliance petition must be evaluated on its
own facts and determinations are highly fact-dependent, NHTSA does not
consider prior determinations as binding precedent. Petitioners are
reminded that they have the burden of persuading NHTSA that the
noncompliance is inconsequential to safety.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ See Gen. Motors, LLC; Grant of Petition for Decision of
Inconsequential Noncompliance, 78 FR 35355 (June 12, 2013) (finding
noncompliance had no effect on occupant safety because it had no
effect on the proper operation of the occupant classification system
and the correct deployment of an air bag); Osram Sylvania Prods.
Inc.; Grant of Petition for Decision of Inconsequential
Noncompliance, 78 FR 46000 (July 30, 2013) (finding occupant using
noncompliant light source would not be exposed to significantly
greater risk than occupant using similar compliant light source).
\2\ See Morgan 3 Wheeler Limited; Denial of Petition for
Decision of Inconsequential Noncompliance, 81 FR 21663, 21666 (Apr.
12, 2016); see also United States v. Gen. Motors Corp., 565 F.2d
754, 759 (D.C. Cir. 1977) (finding defect poses an unreasonable risk
when it ``results in hazards as potentially dangerous as sudden
engine fire, and where there is no dispute that at least some such
hazards, in this case fires, can definitely be expected to occur in
the future'').
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
NHTSA has evaluated the merits of Goodyear's petition and is
granting the petitioner's request for an exemption from the
notification and remedy requirements of 49 U.S.C. 30118 and 30120. The
Agency considered the following prior to making this determination:
1. Operational Safety & Performance: NHTSA agrees that in this
case, the incorrect number of polyamide tread plies labeled on the tire
has no effect on the operational safety of vehicles when the affected
tires meet the other performance and labeling requirements of FMVSS No.
139. Further, the agency has no basis to believe that the tires do not
otherwise meet all of the performance and labeling requirements of
FMVSS No. 139, except for the mismarking of the number of tread plies.
[[Page 21119]]
2. Tire Identification and Traceability: The tires have the
required information per 49 CFR 574.5 to ensure that the tires may be
properly registered for the purposes of a safety recall. The TIN is
both legible and easily discernible.
3. Downstream Operations: The Agency must also consider other
interested parties besides the manufacturer and end-user. Downstream
entities involved in tire repair, retreading, and recycling operations
require certain information to determine if tires may be safely used in
their operations. The existence of steel in a tire's sidewall and tread
can be relevant to the way it should be repaired or retreaded. The use
of steel cord construction in the sidewall and tread is the primary
safety concern of these industries. While the subject tires contain
steel plies, the number and location of steel plies is correctly marked
on the subject tires, so the Agency does not believe the noncompliance
which only concerns mismarking of polyamide plies will have a
measurable effect on the safety of the tire retread, repair, and
recycling industries.
VII. NHTSA's Decision: In consideration of the foregoing, NHTSA
finds that Goodyear has met its burden of persuasion that the subject
FMVSS No. 139 noncompliance in the affected tires is inconsequential to
motor vehicle safety. Accordingly, Goodyear's petition is hereby
granted and Goodyear is consequently exempted from the obligation of
providing notification of, and a free 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 subject tires that Goodyear no longer controlled at
the time it determined that the noncompliance existed. However, the
granting of this petition does not relieve tire distributors and
dealers of the prohibitions on the sale, offer for sale, or
introduction or delivery for introduction into interstate commerce of
the noncompliant tires under their control after Goodyear 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. 2025-08808 Filed 5-15-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P