Defect and Noncompliance Reports; Record Retention; Defect and Noncompliance Notification; Notice of Public Meeting; Request for Comments

SUMMARY: This document announces a public meeting at which NHTSA will

seek information from the public in connection with several specified

issues raised by petitions for reconsideration of a final rule amending

49 CFR Part 573, ``Defect and Noncompliance Reports,'' Part 576,

``Record Retention,'' and Part 577, ``Defect and Noncompliance

Notification.'' 60 FR 17254 (April 5, 1995). This document also invites

written comments on those issues.

DATES: The meeting will be held on July 24, 1995, at 10:00 a.m. Those

wishing to make oral presentations should contact Jonathan White, at

the address or telephone number listed below, no later than July 14,

1995. Written comments must be submitted to the agency no later than

July 31, 1995.

ADDRESSES: The public meeting will be held at the Ramada Inn (near the

Detroit Metro Airport), 8270 Wickham Road, Romulus, MI 48174. Written

comments may be submitted at the public meeting or mailed to the Docket

Section, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Room 5109, 400

7th Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590. Please refer to the docket and

notice number set out above when submitting written comments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jonathan D. White, Office of Defects

Investigation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 400

Seventh Street, SW, Room 5319, Washington, DC 20590; (202) 366-5227.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On April 5, 1995 (60 FR 17254), NHTSA

published a final rule that amended several provisions of its defect/

noncompliance investigation, defect/noncompliance notification, and

recordkeeping regulations. 49 CFR Parts 552, 554, 573, 576, and 577.

Petitions for reconsideration of certain of those amendments were filed

by the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers, Inc.

(AIAM), Chrysler Corporation (Chrysler), Ford Motor Company (Ford),

General Motors Corporation (GM), and PACCAR, Inc. (PACCAR).

The reconsideration petitions addressed the following seven

provisions adopted or modified by the April 5 final rule: Section

573.5(c)(8), submission of proposed schedule for recall to NHTSA;

section 577.5, notification to lessors/lessees of defect and

noncompliance determinations; section 573.7(d) and (e), retention of

lists of leased vehicles affected by safety recalls; section 576.5,

record retention period; section 573.5(c)(10), submission of draft

owner notification letters to NHTSA; section 577.5, marking of owner

notification envelopes; and section 577.10, follow-up owner

notification.

NHTSA has decided that it would be appropriate to obtain additional

information on the first four issues noted above. Therefore, by this

notice, the agency is announcing that it will conduct a public meeting

to obtain such information. In addition, NHTSA is also soliciting

written comments on these four issues. The agency will address the

other three matters raised by the petitions for reconsideration;

however, they will not be discussed at the meeting.

1. Section 573.5(c)(8), Submission of recall schedule. Section

573.5(c) sets forth the information that a manufacturer must include in

the report it submits to NHTSA after a determination by the

manufacturer or NHTSA that a defect or noncompliance exists in motor

vehicles or items of replacement equipment. The April 5 final rule

added a provision to section 573.5(c)(8) to require manufacturers to

include in their ``program for remedying the defect or noncompliance''

a schedule for implementation of the notification and remedy

requirements of the statute where it appears that the campaign would

not be commenced within 30 days or completed within 75 days of the

notification to the agency.

Four petitioners requested reconsideration of the time frames

specified in the amendment. NHTSA seeks additional information as to

whether the specified time periods are appropriate and the burdens, if

any, of submitting the required schedule.

2 and 3. Section 577.5(h) and (i), Duty to notify lessors and

lessees of defect and noncompliance determinations; and section

573.7(d) and (e), Retention of lists of leased vehicles affected by

safety recalls. The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act

added a statutory provision that requires lessors that are notified of

a recall applicable to a leased motor vehicle to provide notification

of the recall to their lessees in the manner prescribed by NHTSA

regulation. 49 U.S.C. 30119(f). To implement this provision, in the

April 5 final rule NHTSA amended its owner notification requirements,

49 CFR 577.5, by adding new paragraphs (h) and (i). Section 577.5(h)

requires manufacturers to include information regarding the lessor's

obligation in each owner notification letter. Section 577.5(i) provides

that lessors must send a copy of the owner notification letter to their

lessees unless the manufacturer has notified the lessee directly.

In addition, the agency amended 49 CFR 573.7, which establishes

requirements for the retention of lists of recipients of recall

notifications, by adding new paragraphs (d) and (e) regarding lessor

and lessee notifications. For many years, section 573.7(a) has required

manufacturers of motor vehicles to maintain lists of the names and

addresses of all registered owners or purchasers of vehicles covered by

defect or noncompliance recalls in order to enable NHTSA, inter alia,

to monitor the effectiveness of such recalls. New section 573.7(d)

requires manufacturers that have information indicating that a

particular vehicle covered by a recall is a leased vehicle to identify

the vehicle as leased on the list required by section 573.7(a) or to

maintain a separate list of leased vehicles covered by the campaign.

New section 573.7(e) requires manufacturers and lessors to maintain

information (for one year after the lease expires) identifying the

lessees (and their leased vehicles) to which the manufacturer and/or

lessor provided notification of a recall.

Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors raised several concerns

regarding these amendments. Among other things, these petitioners

contended that language regarding the responsibilities of lessors

should not be included in all owner notification letters, since it

could be confusing and counter-productive. They also contended that

requiring the manufacturers to maintain separate records regarding

lessors and lessees notified created an unreasonable burden on them.

NHTSA encourages discussion of alternative solutions to the lessee

notification issue that are less burdensome, yet will permit the agency

to assure compliance with the requirements of 49 U.S.C. 30119(f). The

agency particularly wishes to receive input from lessors and/or lessor

associations, which have not participated in this rulemaking to date.

4. Section 576.5, Records retention period. NHTSA imposes

recordkeeping

[[Page 35460]]

requirements on vehicle manufacturers in order to assure that they

preserve records needed for investigation and resolution of alleged

safety-related defects and noncompliances. The April 5, 1995 final rule

changed the retention period from five years from the date the record

was generated or acquired by the manufacturer to eight years from the

last day of the model year in which the vehicle to which it relates was

produced. (The agency's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking had proposed

requiring records to be maintained for the longer of the five-years-

from-acquisition or eight-years-from-production periods. 58 FR 50326

(Sept. 27, 1993). That proposal was modified in response to

manufacturer comments.)

AIAM, Chrysler, and Ford indicated that the amendment would require

substantial changes to manufacturers' record retention programs and

could increase their records maintenance costs. The agency is seeking

information on alternatives to the amendment (including the possibility

of returning to the preexisting requirement) that would allow it to

obtain adequate information from vehicle manufacturers, without adding

unreasonable recordkeeping burdens.

Effective Date of Amendments: By separate notice published in

today's Federal Register, NHTSA is extending indefinitely the effective

dates of the four amendments discussed above, in order to permit the

agency to consider additional information before ruling on the

petitions for reconsideration. The effective date as established on May

16, 1995 (60 FR 26002) for all other amendments made by the April 5

final rule continues to be July 7, 1995.

Procedural Matters: Persons or organizations wishing to appear at

the public meeting should contact Jonathan White at the address or

telephone number set out above by the indicated date. Persons wishing

to make an oral presentation should indicate the approximate amount of

time the presentation will take. NHTSA reserves the right to limit any

presentation if time considerations or other factors warrant.

If a speaker wishes to include slides, motion pictures, or other

visual aids, he or she must bring a copy to the meeting, so NHTSA can

include the material in the rulemaking record.

NHTSA staff may ask questions of any speaker. Participants may

submit written questions for the NHTSA staff, at its discretion, to

address to other participants. Except where authorized by NHTSA staff,

participants will not be permitted to question each other directly.

A schedule of participants making oral presentation will be

available at the designated meeting room. If time permits, persons who

have not requested time, but would like to make a presentation, will be

afforded an opportunity to do so.

NHTSA will place a copy of all written statements in the rulemaking

docket. A verbatim transcript of the meeting will be prepared and also

placed in the docket.

Participation in the meeting is not a prerequisite for the

submission of written comments. NHTSA invites written comments from all

interested parties on these issues. It is requested but not required

that 10 copies of all written materials be submitted.

If a commenter wishes to submit information under a claim of

confidentiality, three copies of the complete submission, including

purportedly confidential business information, should be submitted to

NHTSA's Chief Counsel. Copies from which the purportedly confidential

information has been deleted should be submitted to the Docket Section.

A request for confidentiality must be accompanied by a cover letter

setting forth the information specified in the agency's confidential

business information regulation, 49 CFR Part 512.

Kathleen C. DeMeter,

Director, Office of Defects Investigation.

[FR Doc. 95-16812 Filed 7-5-95; 2:51 pm]

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