General Motors, LLC, Receipt of Petition for Decision of Inconsequential Noncompliance |
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Topics: Cadillac Escalade, Cadillac SRX, Chevrolet Silverado, Chevrolet Suburban, Chevrolet Tahoe, GMC Sierra, GMC Yukon
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Jeffrey M. Giuseppe
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
11 May 2017
[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 90 (Thursday, May 11, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22058-22059]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-09497]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
[Docket No. NHTSA-2016-0140; Notice 1]
General Motors, LLC, Receipt of Petition for Decision of
Inconsequential Noncompliance
AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),
Department of Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Receipt of petition.
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SUMMARY: General Motors, LLC (GM), has determined that certain model
year (MY) 2014-2016 GM motor vehicles do not fully comply with Federal
Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 110, Tire Selection and Rims
and Motor Home/Recreation Vehicle Trailer Load Carrying Capacity
Information for Motor Vehicles with a GVWR of 4,536 kilograms (10,000
pounds) or Less. GM filed a noncompliance report dated December 6,
2016, and revised it on April 6, 2017. GM also petitioned NHTSA on
January 5, 2017, and submitted a revised petition on April 7, 2017, for
a decision that the subject noncompliance is inconsequential as it
relates to motor vehicle safety.
DATES: The closing date for comments on the petition is June 12, 2017.
ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit written data,
views, and arguments on this petition. Comments must refer to the
docket and notice number cited in the title of this notice and
submitted by any of the following methods:
Mail: Send comments by mail addressed to U.S. Department
of Transportation, Docket Operations, M-30, West Building Ground Floor,
Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590.
Hand Delivery: Deliver comments by hand to U.S. Department
of Transportation, Docket Operations, M-30, West Building Ground Floor,
Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590. The
Docket Section is open on weekdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. except
Federal Holidays.
Electronically: Submit comments electronically by logging
onto the Federal Docket Management System (FDMS) Web site at https://www.regulations.gov/. Follow the online instructions for submitting
comments.
Comments may also be faxed to (202) 493-2251.
Comments must be written in the English language, and be no greater
than 15 pages in length, although there is no limit to the length of
necessary attachments to the comments. If comments are submitted in
hard copy form, please ensure that two copies are provided. If you wish
to receive confirmation that comments you have submitted by mail were
received, please enclose a stamped, self-addressed postcard with the
comments. Note that all comments received will be posted without change
to https://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information
provided.
All comments and supporting materials received before the close of
business on the closing date indicated above will be filed in the
docket and will be considered. All comments and supporting materials
received after the closing date will also be filed and will be
considered to the fullest extent possible.
When the petition is granted or denied, notice of the decision will
also be published in the Federal Register pursuant to the authority
indicated at the end of this notice.
All comments, background documentation, and supporting materials
submitted to the docket may be viewed by anyone at the address and
times given above. The documents may also be viewed on the Internet at
https://www.regulations.gov by following the online instructions for
accessing the dockets. The docket ID number for this petition is shown
in the heading of this notice.
DOT's complete Privacy Act Statement is available for review in a
Federal Register notice published on April 11, 2000, (65 FR 19477-78).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Overview: General Motors, LLC (GM), has determined that certain
model year (MY) 2014-2016 GM motor vehicles do not fully comply with
paragraph S4.4.2(e) of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS)
No. 110, Tire Selection and Rims and Motor Home/Recreation Vehicle
Trailer Load Carrying Capacity Information for Motor Vehicles with a
GVWR of 4,536 kilograms (10,000 pounds) or Less. GM filed a
noncompliance report dated December 6, 2016, and revised it on April 6,
2017, pursuant to 49 CFR part
[[Page 22059]]
573, Defect and Noncompliance Responsibility and Reports. GM also
petitioned NHTSA on January 5, 2017, and submitted a revised petition
on April 7, 2017, pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 30118(d) and 30120(h) and 49
CFR part 556, 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.
This notice of receipt of GM's petition is published under 49
U.S.C. 30118 and 30120 and does not represent any agency decision or
other exercise of judgment concerning the merits of the petition.
II. Vehicles Involved: Approximately 130,088 of the following MY
2014-2016 GM motor vehicles manufactured between August 7, 2014, and
June 15, 2015, are potentially involved:
2015-2016 Cadillac Escalade
2015-2016 Cadillac Escalade ESV
2015-2015 Cadillac SRX
2015-2016 Chevrolet Tahoe
2015-2016 GMC Yukon
2015-2016 GMC Yukon XL
2014-2015 GMC Sierra
2014-2015 Chevrolet Silverado
2015-2016 Chevrolet Suburban
III. Noncompliance: GM explains that the noncompliance is that the
subject vehicles are equipped with wheels supplied by Citic Dicastal
Co. LTD (Dicastal) that are marked with unregistered date of
manufacture marks that were not previously disclosed to NHTSA and
therefore, do not comply with paragraph S4.4.2(e) of FMVSS No. 110.
IV. Rule Text: Paragraph S4.4.2(e) of FMVSS No. 110 states:
S4.4.2 Rim markings for vehicles other than passenger cars. Each
rim or, at the option of the manufacturer in the case of a single-
piece wheel, each wheel disc shall be marked with the information
listed in S4.4.2 (a) through (e), in lettering not less than 3
millimeters in height, impressed to a depth or, at the option of the
manufacturer, embossed to a height of not less than 0.125
millimeters . . .
(e) The month, day and year or the month and year of
manufacture, expressed either numerically or by use of a symbol, at
the option of the manufacturer. For example: ``September 4, 2001''
may be expressed numerically as: ``90401'', ``904, 01'' or ``01,
904''; ``September 2001'' may be expressed as: ``901'', ``9, 01'' or
``01, 9''.
i. Any manufacturer that elects to express the date of
manufacture by means of a symbol shall notify NHTSA in writing of
the full names and addresses of all manufacturers and brand name
owners utilizing that symbol and the name and address of the
trademark owner of that symbol, if any. The notification shall
describe in narrative form and in detail how the month, day, and
year or the month and year are depicted by the symbol. Such
description shall include an actual size graphic depiction of the
symbol, showing and/or explaining the interrelationship of the
component parts of the symbol as they will appear on the rim or
single piece of wheel disc, including dimensional specifications,
and where the symbol will be located on the rim or single piece
wheel disc. The notification shall be received by NHTSA not less
than 60 calendar days before the first use of the symbol . . .
V. Summary of GM's Petition: GM described the subject noncompliance
and stated its belief that the noncompliance is inconsequential as it
relates to motor vehicle safety.
In support of its petition, GM submitted the following reasons:
(a) This is not a safety issue: Neither the marking method nor the
timely disclosure of it to NHTSA have any effect on the operation,
performance, or safety of the affected vehicles. For example, the
required date marks do not serve any safety purpose and do not provide
any safety benefit. The purpose of the date mark is traceability in the
event a future wheel defect is discovered. For example, if it were
discovered that Dicastal wheels manufactured in January 2015 had a
defect (e.g., high porosity in the casting) a dealer could use the date
marking to determine if a given wheel was in the suspect population.
Importantly, here, all the affected wheels on GM's vehicles have
accurate date markings and can be traced in the event of a defect.
Except for a small percentage of affected wheels, the markings have all
been disclosed to NHTSA. Disclosed or not, however, GM and its dealers
can still trace the wheels because the unregistered date marks contain
sufficient information to clearly identify the month and year of
manufacture. Therefore, the issue here is more of a procedural one, and
the fact that these date marks were not registered with NHTSA in a
timely manner presents no substantive safety issue and is
inconsequential to motor vehicle safety.
(b) NHTSA has granted similar requests: Granting this petition
would be consistent with NHTSA's past decisions involving wheel
markings required by FMVSS No. 110. For example, NHTSA recently granted
a petition for inconsequential treatment related to a noncompliance
with FMVSS No. 110's requirement that the source of the published
nominal dimensions be marked on the rims. In that case, NHTSA agreed
that the incorrect rim marking had no effect on the performance and
safety of the tire/rim combination. Here, the connection to safety is
even more attenuated because the markings on the wheels are correct,
they were just not disclosed to NHTSA in a timely manner. For at least
the same reasons NHTSA found incorrect rim markings inconsequential to
vehicle safety, GM requests that NHTSA come to the same conclusion
regarding the correct, but unregistered, markings in this case as being
inconsequential to motor vehicle safety.
(c) The issue has been corrected: Dicastal corrected the issue in
production on April 25, 2015, when it stopped using unregistered date
marks. Since then, the manufacture date marks on GM's Dicastal wheels
have been properly disclosed to NHTSA and comply with FMVSS No. 110.
GM concluded by expressing the belief that the subject
noncompliance is inconsequential as it relates to motor vehicle safety,
and that 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.
To view GM's petition, pictures and analyses in its entirety you
can visit https://www.regulations.gov by following the online
instructions for accessing the dockets and by using the docket ID
number for this petition shown in the heading of this notice.
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, any decision on
this petition only applies to the subject vehicles that GM no longer
controlled at the time it determined that the noncompliance existed.
However, any decision on this petition does not relieve vehicle
distributors and dealers of the prohibitions on the sale, offer for
sale, or introduction or delivery for introduction into interstate
commerce of the noncompliant vehicles under their control after GM
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)
Jeffrey M. Giuseppe,
Director, Office of Vehicle Safety Compliance.
[FR Doc. 2017-09497 Filed 5-10-17; 8:45 am]
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