[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 138 (Tuesday, July 22, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34578-34580]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-13737]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
[Docket No. NHTSA-2025-0127]
Agency Information Collection Activities; Notice and Request for
Comment; 49 CFR Part 595, Subpart B, Retrofit Air Bag Switches
AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),
Department of Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Notice and request for comments on a request for reinstatement
with modification of a previously approved information collection.
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SUMMARY: NHTSA invites public comments about our intention to request
approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for
reinstatement with modification of a previously approved information
collection. 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 associated
with the process of obtaining authorization for the installation of
retrofit air bag switches.
DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before September 22, 2025.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by the Docket No. NHTSA-
2025-0127 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.
[[Page 34579]]
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 Ms. Carla Rush (email:
[email protected]). For legal issues, you may contact Mr. Eli Wachtel
(email: [email protected]). You can reach these officials by phone at
202-366-1810. Please identify the relevant collection of information by
referring to its OMB Control Number.
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.
Title: 49 CFR part 595, subpart B, Retrofit Air Bag Switches.
OMB Control Number: 2127-0588.
Form Number(s): HS Forms 603 and 2035.
Type of Request: Reinstatement with modification of a previously
approved information collection.
Type of Review Requested: Regular.
Requested Expiration Date of Approval: 3 years from date of
approval.
Summary of the Collection of Information: This information
collection is associated with the process of obtaining authorization
for the installation of retrofit air bag switches. The modifications to
the previously approved information collection include accounting for
the installation return form that the air bags switch installers must
return to NHTSA, updating the estimated number of requests per year,
accounting for printing costs, and allowing electronic submission of
the request form.
Description of the Need for the Information and Proposed Use of the
Information: The completed retrofit air bag switch request form serves
a variety of purposes. First, it seeks to ensure that the vehicle owner
has read the agency's air bag information brochure. Second, the request
form includes a list of the eligibility criteria for a retrofit on-off
switch with a check box next to each justification, and the applicant
must select which justification they are requesting an air bag switch
under as part of completing the request form. Third, by requiring that
the vehicle owner initial a statement about the safety consequences of
turning off an air bag, the form seeks to ensure that the authorization
is made with full knowledge of those consequences. Fourth, by requiring
the owners to certify the accuracy of the information provided on the
form and to acknowledge the applicability of 18 U.S.C. 1001, the form
will increase the likelihood of accurate certifications.
The submission of the completed air bag switch installation forms
by the dealers and repair businesses to NHTSA, as required by the
regulation, will serve several agency purposes. They will aid the
agency in monitoring the number of air bag switch installations
performed. The completed installation forms will enable NHTSA to
determine whether the dealers and repair businesses are complying with
the terms of the exemption, which include a requirement that the
dealers and repair businesses only perform approved retrofit air bag
switch installations. Finally, submission of the completed installation
forms to NHTSA will provide a record of what vehicles have an installed
retrofit air bag switch.
Affected Public: Private individuals, motor vehicle dealers, and
repair businesses.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 300.
Frequency: Once.
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: NHTSA estimates that the time
to complete the air bag switch request form is 0.5 hour and the time to
complete the switch installation return form is 0.1 hour. Based on the
previously approved information collection, on average we receive 150
air bag switch request forms annually.\1\ We are assuming that everyone
who submits a switch request form would be approved and would have a
switch installed. This means that we would expect 150 installation
return forms to be filled out. Therefore, the total estimated burden
hours for this collection of information is 90 hours (See Table 1).
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\1\ There has been a recent decline in air bag switch requests;
however, that can be attributed to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-
19) and the expiration date of the previously approved information
collection, listed on the form is February 2020.
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To calculate the labor cost associated with filling out the forms
associated with this information collection NHTSA used the median wage
estimate for all occupations for the respondents that would be filling
out the forms. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) estimates that this
median hourly wage is $23.80 in 2024 dollars.\2\ We did not attribute a
labor cost for the burden associated with filling out the installation
return forms because the form is completed during the air bag switch
installation. Therefore, NHTSA estimates the total labor cost
associated with the 90 burden hours to be $1,785 annually. Table 1
provides a summary of the burden estimates and the estimated burden
hours and labor costs associated with each individual form.
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\2\ Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2024 National Occupational
Employment and Wage Estimates, median wage for all occupations,
available at https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm#00-0000.
[[Page 34580]]
Table 1--Estimated Annual Burden Hours and Labor Cost
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Total annual Total annual
Information collection Number of burden hours Hourly labor labor cost per Total annual Total annual
respondents per respondent cost respondent burden hours labor cost
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Appendix B--Switch Request Form......................... 150 0.5 $23.80 $11.90 75 $1,785.00
Appendix C--Switch Return Form.......................... 150 0.1 .............. 0.00 15 $0.00
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Total............................................... 300 .............. .............. .............. 90 1,785.00
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Estimated Total Annual Burden Cost: In order to provide the agency
with the information requested the respondents must mail, fax, or email
the forms. In the previously approved information collection email
submission was not an option and there were respondents that used fax
to avoid mail delays. We believe that with this information collection
respondents will largely opt to use the email submission option. NHTSA
estimates there will be no additional costs to respondents that choose
to submit the forms electronically. Therefore, assuming all the
respondents will mail the forms to NHTSA will be a conservative cost
burden estimate (overestimate). Using the above estimates of the number
of forms submitted (300 annually), the estimated cost of printing and
mailing the forms first-class by individuals ($1.53 per form), yields a
cost burden to the respondents of $459.00 annually.
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.
David Hines,
Acting Associate Administrator for Rulemaking.
[FR Doc. 2025-13737 Filed 7-21-25; 8:45 am]
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