[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 101 (Wednesday, May 28, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22571-22574]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-09510]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
[Docket No. NHTSA-2024-0017]
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the
Office of Management and Budget for Review and Approval; Request for
Comment; Vehicle Information for the General Public
AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),
Department of Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Notice and request for comments on a reinstatement with change
of a previously approved collection of information.
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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA),
this notice announces that the Information Collection Request (ICR)
summarized below will be submitted to the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) for review and approval. The ICR describes the nature of
the information collection and its expected burden. The National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) seeks public comment
about our intention to request the Office of Management and Budget's
(OMB) approval on the reinstatement with change of a previously
approved information collection. A Federal Register Notice with a 60-
day comment period soliciting comments on the following information
collection was published on December 31, 2024. Two comments were
received.
DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before June 27, 2025.
ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed
information collection, including suggestions for reducing burden,
should be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget at
www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. To find this particular information
collection, select ``Currently under Review--Open for Public Comment''
or use the search function.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For additional information or access
to background documents, contact Jennifer Lee, U.S. Department of
Transportation, NHTSA, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590.
Ms. Lee's telephone number is (202) 366-7695. Please identify the
relevant collection of information by referring to its OMB Control
Number (OMB Control number: 2127-0629).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the PRA (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), a
Federal agency must receive approval from the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) before it collects certain information from the public and
a person is not required to respond to a collection of information by a
Federal agency unless the collection displays a valid OMB control
number. In compliance with these requirements, this notice announces
that the following information collection request will be submitted
OMB.
Title: Vehicle Information for the General Public.
OMB Control Number: 2127-0629.
Form Number: 1102.
Type of Request: Reinstatement with change of a previously approved
collection.
Type of Review Requested: Regular.
Length of Approval Requested: Three years from date of approval.
Summary of the Collection of Information: NHTSA's mission is to
save lives, prevent injury, and reduce motor vehicle crashes. Consumer
information programs are an important tool for improving vehicle safety
through market forces. Pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 32302, the Secretary of
Transportation (NHTSA by delegation) is directed to provide to the
public the following information about passenger motor vehicles: Damage
susceptibility; crashworthiness, crash avoidance, and any other areas
the Secretary determines will improve safety of passenger motor
vehicles; and the degree of difficulty of diagnosis and repair of
damage to, or failure of, mechanical and electrical systems. NHTSA
established the New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) in 1978 in response
to Title II of the Motor Vehicle Information and Cost Savings Act of
1972. For more than 40 years, under NCAP, NHTSA has been providing
consumers with vehicle safety information such as frontal and side
crash test results, advanced crash avoidance technology system
performance test results, rollover propensity, and the availability of
a wide array of safety features provided on new model year vehicles.
Section 24213(b) of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act includes
requirements to add to NCAP information about advanced crash avoidance
technologies and vulnerable road user safety. The information
collection includes new model year vehicle information such as vehicle
make, model, body style, certification style, projected sales volume,
crashworthiness features, advanced crash avoidance technologies,
vehicle setup information, and side air bag information. This
reinstatement with change of a previously approved
[[Page 22572]]
information collection request includes the statutory addition of these
information and the corresponding increase associated with the total
annual burden hours.
Description of the Need for the Information and Proposed Use of the
Information: The consumer information collected will be used to
disseminate vehicle safety information via the Agency's website at
www.nhtsa.gov, on the Monroney labels, in other consumer publications,
as well as for internal agency analyses and responses to consumer
inquiries. The Agency uses this safety feature information when
responding to consumer inquiries, conducting research and data analysis
as well as analyzing rulemaking petitions and the regulatory impacts of
Congressional Acts that require the Agency to issue or consider issuing
new rules that would mandate certain vehicle safety features. Last but
certainly not least, the Agency uses this information to help with the
selection of certain new model year vehicle models to be tested under
NCAP to (1) provide safety ratings on how well the vehicles protect
vehicle occupants during the crash and (2) assess advanced driver
assistance systems for performance verification.
60-Day Notice: A Federal Register notice with a 60-day comment
period soliciting public comments on the following information
collection was published on December 31, 2024 (89 FR 107192). In total,
there were two comments. One comment was from a group of four
individual households and the other comment was from the Alliance for
Automative Innovation (Auto Innovators) in response to the notice. In
response to the Auto Innovators' comments, NHTSA also met informally
with vehicle manufacturers on March 18, 2025, to gather feedback on the
NCAP information collection. Below are summaries of comments and the
Agency's response to the comments.
The group of four individual households submitted and signed one
comment letter which stated that NCAP does not provide consumers with
information on the effectiveness of crash protection and crash
avoidance technologies in crashes involving commercial motor vehicles
(CMVs), particularly underride crashes. The group suggested that NHTSA
amend the collection to include data on crash avoidance effectiveness
in CMV-related crashes.
In response, NCAP does not provide the type of information that the
comment suggested above. Specifically, NCAP provides consumers with
vehicle safety information based on crash tests and ADAS performance
evaluations. The main focus of the program is on high frequency crashes
occurring on U.S. roadways. For example, in 2022, large trucks
accounted for 5.5 percent of the vehicles involved in property damage
crashes, 3.9 percent involved in injury crashes, and 9.6 percent
involved in fatal crashes. Additionally, light vehicle crashes with
large trucks involving underride are rare events. Thus, NCAP does not
provide vehicle safety information related to passenger vehicle-to-
commercial motor vehicle crashes at this time.
The Auto Innovators provided detailed comments expressing concerns
with the burden of submitting extensive new vehicle information to
NHTSA each year. More specifically, while the Auto Innovators support
NCAP's mission and its operations, they are concerned about the
expanded scope of NHTSA's NCAP information collection request, citing
issues with the utility of the information collected, the excessive
burden of the information collection on manufacturers, accuracy of
NHTSA's estimated burden, and ways the Agency can enhance the quality,
utility, and clarity of the information collection. In particular, they
urged NHTSA to provide more details and justification on the specific
data elements being added and how the data will be communicated to
consumers on NHTSA's website. In addition, they commented on the burden
created from the extensive information request letter and the Microsoft
Excel submission template. Furthermore, they raised concern about the
formatting changes to the template without vehicle manufacturer input,
which they believe may further impact the reporting burden.
In response to the Auto Innovators' comment regarding the utility
of the information collected, NHTSA reiterates the information provided
in the December 2024 60-day notice. Specifically, data elements
collected will be used to (1) communicate vehicle safety information to
consumers via the Agency's website (www.nhtsa.gov) and at the point of
sale, (2) address consumer inquiries, and (3) conduct analyses for
research and rulemaking actions.
To address the Auto Innovators' concerns regarding reducing the
burden, NHTSA will no longer require vehicle manufacturers to enter
individual test data for Side Air Bag Out-of-Position (SAB OOP) and
Crash Avoidance tests. Similarly, for the new Crashworthiness
Pedestrian Protection testing program, NHTSA will not seek individual
test data to be entered in the Excel spreadsheet. In addition, NHTSA
plans to remove other data elements such as data collected on total
battery capacity, adjustable upper shoulder belt anchorages, Event Data
Recorder systems, and distraction lockout systems.
Regarding the Auto Innovators' comment on the length of the annual
new vehicle information request letter, the main reasons for providing
detailed instructions and examples for each question in the request
letter are not only to clarify the requirements, but also to minimize
errors and burden for vehicle manufacturers by reducing the amount of
follow-up communications with multiple rounds of revisions.
Finally, regarding the Auto Innovators' comment that NHTSA has
significantly underestimated the reporting burden associated with this
information collection, the Agency notes that the 450 percent increase
in burden hours estimated by the Agency for the current information
collection is consistent with previous information collection
estimation and consistent with the labor information available.
Nevertheless, in response to the Auto Innovators' comment, NHTSA has
significantly reduced the amount of information collected without
reducing the estimated burden hours to account for a more accurate
estimation of the information collection burden. Given the planned
reduction in the data elements collected, NHTSA believes that the
estimated burden hours are appropriate and responsive to the Auto
Innovators' comments.
NHTSA is also working on modernizing its new vehicle information
collection process by developing a database to store vehicle
information collected through the annual collection process. This
system (when launched) would eventually streamline the data collection
process and further reduce the reporting burden on vehicle
manufacturers while continually ensuring the agency continues to have
necessary NCAP information for the consumers.
Affected Public: Manufacturers that sell passenger cars and light
truck vehicles (including sport utility vehicles, pickup trucks, and
vans) that have a GVWR of 10,000 pounds or less in the United States.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 21.
Frequency: Annually.
Estimated Number of Responses: 600.
The 21 vehicle manufacturers produce an aggregate of approximately
600 vehicle models including trim lines each year.
[[Page 22573]]
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 9,000 hours.
NHTSA estimates that these 21 vehicle manufacturers produce an
aggregate of approximately 600 vehicle models each year. NHTSA
estimates the burden associated with this collection based on an
expected 15 hours to prepare a response for each vehicle model.\1\
Therefore, NHTSA estimates that the total burden to be 9,000 hours.
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\1\ NHTSA believes that the hours estimated is appropriate
because the Agency has already taken steps to significantly reduce
the number of questions and the total amount of data needed in the
worksheet for each manufacturer's submission.
Number of vehicle models--600
Number of hours per vehicle model--15
Total annual burden hours--9,000 = (15 hours/model x 600 models)
Table 1--Burden Hour Estimates
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Estimated total
Vehicle models Estimated hours annual burden
per year per vehicle hours
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Preparation of Response...................................... 600 15 9,000
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NHTSA estimates that the fifteen hours for each vehicle model will
involve 6 hours of data entry (40% of the total), 7.5 hours for
technical information validation (50% of the total), and 1.5 hours for
technical content approval (10% of the total). Therefore, NHTSA
estimates that the total annual submission will require 3,600 data
entry hours, 4,500 technical information validation hours, and 900
technical content approval hours, for an annual total of 9,000 burden
hours.
A breakdown of the total annual burden hours (9,000) for this
collection of information by labor type is as follows:
Burden hours for data entry = 9,000 hours x 40 percent = 3,600 hours
Burden hours for technical information validation = 9,000 hours x 50
percent = 4,500 hours
Burden hours for technical content approval = 9,000 hours x 10 percent
= 900 hours
Table 2--Burden Hour by Labor Type Estimates
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Hours by labor type
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Percentage of Number of
total hours hours
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Data Entry.............................. 40 3,600
Technical Information Validation........ 50 4,500
Technical Content Approval.............. 10 900
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NHTSA estimates the total labor costs associated with the burden
hours by looking at estimates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
for the average hourly wages for Business Operations Specialists (BLS
Occupation code 13-1000), Mechanical Engineers (BLS Occupation code 17-
2141), and General and Operations Managers (BLS Occupation code 11-
1021) in the Motor Vehicle Manufacturing Industry. The labor cost (by
labor type) associated with this collection of information is derived
by (1) applying appropriate average hourly labor rate published by the
Bureau of Labor Statistics, (2) dividing by 0.705 \2\ to obtain the
total compensation rate for private industry workers, and (3)
multiplying by the estimated labor hours for each labor type.
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\2\ See Table 1. Employer Costs for Employee Compensation by
ownership (December 2024), available at https://www.bls.gov/bls/news-release/ecec.htm, last accessed March 19, 2025.
Cost associated with data entry = 3,600 hours x $47.59 \3\ per hour/
0.705 = $243,013
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\3\ ``Motor Vehicle Manufacturing--May 2023 OEWS Industry-
Specific Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates.'' April 3,
2024. Business Operations Specialists, Occupation Code 13-1000; Mean
Hourly Wage = $47.59. https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics4_336100.htm. Accessed March 11, 2025.
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Cost associated with technical information validation = 4,500 hours x
$54.82 \4\ per hour/0.705 = $349,915
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\4\ ``Motor Vehicle Manufacturing--May 2023 OEWS Industry-
Specific Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates.'' April 3,
2024. Mechanical Engineers, Occupation Code 17-2141; Mean Hourly
Wage = $54.82. https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics4_336100.htm.
Accessed March 11, 2025.
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Cost associated with technical content approval = 900 hours x $77.54
\5\ per hour/0.705 = $98,987
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\5\ ``Motor Vehicle Manufacturing--May 2023 OEWS Industry-
Specific Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates.'' April 3,
2024. General and Operations Managers, Occupation Code 11-1021; Mean
Hourly Wage = $77.54. https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics4_336100.htm. Accessed March 11, 2025.
The percent of total compensation for private industry workers has
been updated from 70.3 percent in the 60-day notice (89 FR 107192) to
70.5 percent in this 30-day notice to reflect the new compensation rate
from the BLS as of March 14, 2025.\6\ Thus, the difference in the
estimated annual labor cost from the previously reported estimated cost
in the 60-day notice is due to the change in the percent of total
compensation for private industry workers--as previously discussed and
shown in Table 3 below.
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\6\ See Table 1. Employer Costs for Employee Compensation by
ownership (December 2024), available at https://www.bls.gov/bls/news-release/ecec.htm, last a ccessed March 19, 2025.
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Total annual cost associated with this collection of information is
$691,915 ($243,013 + $349,915 + $98,987).
[[Page 22574]]
Table 3--Estimate Annual Labor Cost
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Percent of Total
Average wage total compensation Annual hours Annual labor
compensation rate cost
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Data Entry...................... $47.59 70.5 $67.60 3,600 $243,013
Technical Information Validation 54.82 70.5 77.87 4,500 349,915
Technical Content Approval...... 77.54 70.5 110.14 900 98,987
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Estimated Annual Labor Cost .............. .............. .............. .............. 691,915
for This Information
Collection.................
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Estimated Total Annual Burden Cost: There are no costs associated
with this collection other than the labor costs associated with the
burden hours.
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 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) 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 appropriate automated, electronic,
mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms
of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic submission of
responses.
Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. Chapter
35, as amended; 49 CFR 1.49; and DOT Order 1351.29A.
David M. Hines
Acting Associate Administrator for Rulemaking.
[FR Doc. 2025-09510 Filed 5-27-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P