Consumer Information Regulations; Fees for Course Monitoring Tires and for Use of Traction Skid Pads

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

49 CFR Part 575

[Docket No. 95-19; Notice 1]

RIN 2127-AF-64

Consumer Information Regulations; Fees for Course Monitoring

Tires and for Use of Traction Skid Pads

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),

Department of Transportation.

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM).

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SUMMARY: This notice proposes to amend NHTSA's consumer information

regulations on uniform tire quality grading by establishing fees for

the purchase of treadwear course monitoring tires and for the use of

the traction skid pads at NHTSA's Uniform Tire Quality Grading Test

Facility in San Angelo, Texas.

DATES: Comments. Comments must be received on or before May 23, 1995.

ADDRESSES: Comments should refer to the docket and notice numbers above

and be submitted to: Docket Section, National Highway Traffic Safety

Administration, 400 Seventh Street, SW, Washington, DC 20590. Docket

hours are 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Clive Van Orden, Office of Vehicle

Safety Compliance, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 400

Seventh Street, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20590. (202-366-2830).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 203 of the National Traffic and

Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 directed the Secretary of

Transportation to prescribe standards establishing ``a uniform quality

grading system for motor vehicle tires.'' Those standards are found at

49 CFR 575.104. For the purpose of aiding consumers in making an

informed choice in the purchase of passenger car tires, the standards

require motor vehicle and tire manufacturers and tire brand owners to

label such tires with information indicating their relative performance

in the areas of treadwear, traction, and temperature resistance.

The uniform tire quality grading standards require treadwear

performance to be evaluated on a specific roadway course, approximately

400 miles in length, which was established by NHTSA in the vicinity of

Goodfellow Air Force Base in San Angelo, Texas. The course is designed

to produce treadwear rates that are generally representative of those

encountered by tires in public use. The standards require manufacturers

to correct the projected mileage obtained for tested tires to account

for environmental and other variations that occur during testing on the

course. This is done by comparing the performance of the tested tires

to that of course monitoring tires placed on a vehicle that is part of

the same convoy as the vehicles on which the tires being tested are

placed. The course monitoring tires are specially manufactured under

controlled conditions for NHTSA so that they can be used as a standard

for grading the tires being tested. Section 575.104(e)(ii) of the

standards states that ``the course monitoring tires are made available

by the NHTSA at Goodfellow Air Force Base, San Angelo, Tex., for

purchase by any persons conducting tests at the test course.''

The uniform tire quality grading standards also require that tire

traction be ``evaluated on skid pads that are established, and whose

severity is monitored, by the NHTSA * * *.'' 49 CFR 575.104(f)(1). As

further described in the standards, these test pads are paved with

asphalt and concrete surfaces that have specified locked-wheel traction

coefficients when evaluated in a manner prescribed in the standards.

Two of these traction skid pads have been constructed at NHTSA's

Uniform Tire Quality Grading Test Facility in San Angelo. This facility

also includes an instrumented vehicle and test trailer, and maintenance

support equipment. In addition to this government test facility,

traction skid pads have been constructed at several commercial

facilities. These include the Transportation Research Center's facility

in East Liberty, Ohio, Juan Lopez in Laredo, Texas (formerly the

Uniroyal Proving Grounds), Firestone's facility in Fort Stockton,

Texas, General Tire's Test Track in Uvalde, Texas, and the Smithers

Transportation Test Center in Pecos, Texas. For the purpose of

evaluating tire traction, manufacturers are not restricted to the use

of the traction skid pads at the government facility in San Angelo, and

may use those at any commercial facility.

The Department of Transportation's Office of Inspector General

(OIG) recently completed an audit of NHTSA's [[Page 15530]] Uniform

Tire Quality Grading Test Facility in San Angelo. As a result of this

audit, the OIG concluded that NHTSA was not recovering the full cost of

the course monitoring tires that it sells at San Angelo and was not

charging a user fee for the use of the traction skid pads at that

facility, contrary to the requirements of Office of Management and

Budget (OMB) Circular A-25.

OMB Circular A-25 establishes Federal policy regarding fees

assessed for Government services and for the sale or use of Government

goods or resources. The Circular expresses the general policy that

``[a] user charge * * * will be assessed against each identifiable

recipient for special benefits derived from Federal activities beyond

those received by the general public.'' For the purpose of determining

the amount of user charges to assess, the Circular states that ``user

charges will be sufficient to recover the full cost to the Federal

Government * * * of providing the service, resource, or good when the

Government is acting in its capacity as sovereign.'' Full cost is

defined in the Circular as ``all direct and indirect costs to any part

of the Federal Government of providing a good, resource, or service * *

*.'' The Circular further provides that when the Government is not

acting in its capacity as sovereign, ``user charges will be based on

market prices * * *.''

In selling course monitoring tires to manufacturers, the government

is acting in its capacity as sovereign, because the manufacturers have

no practical alternative means of acquiring tires with a specific base

course wear rate that must be used in grading the treadwear of the

tires they are testing. Before it was audited by the OIG, NHTSA was

charging $304.50 for each course monitoring tire that it sold. In its

audit report, the OIG noted that this amount was not sufficient to

recover the full cost incurred by the government in furnishing these

tires. In order to recover this full cost, NHTSA raised the charge for

each course monitoring tire to $379.00 in January, 1995. Through this

notice, NHTSA is proposing to formally establish $379.00 as the fee for

each course monitoring tire that it sells. This amount was derived by

performing the following calculation for the 700 course monitoring

tires that are purchased annually by NHTSA:

Purchase price of course monitoring tires................... $175,000

General facility costs relating to tires.................... 3,400

Warehouse storage fees...................................... 24,000

Salaries relating to tires.................................. 29,825

Testing fees to establish base course wear rate for tires... 32,800

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Total................................................... 265,025

Number of tires purchased= 700

$265,025/700 = $378.61 cost per tire.

Because manufacturers are not required to use the traction skid

pads at NHTSA's San Angelo facility for the purpose of meeting the tire

traction grading requirements of 49 CFR 575.104(d), and may use any of

the several commercial facilities that are available for that purpose,

the government is not acting as sovereign in making the San Angelo

facility available for traction tests. Accordingly, the government may

charge a market rate for the use of the traction pads. Based on an

agency review of the rates charged by commercial facilities, NHTSA

proposes to assess a user charge of $288 per day for the use of the

traction skid pads at San Angelo. While not exceeding market rates,

such a charge would be sufficient for NHTSA to recover the costs that

can be allocated to industry use of its traction skid pads. Those costs

are calculated as follows, based on an equivalent of 360 days of

industry use in 1993:

Skid pad calibration expenses............................... $6,210

General facility costs relating to skid pads................ 7,140

Depreciable items (skid system, water truck, air compressor,

skid track, tractor sweeper, equipment, buildings)......... 65,904

Salaries relating to skid pads.............................. 24,375

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Total................................................... 103,629

$103,629/360 days industry use = $287.86 cost per day.

Rulemaking Analyses and Notices

1. Executive Order 12866 (Federal Regulatory Planning and Review) and

DOT Regulatory Policies and Procedures

This proposal was not reviewed under E.O. 12866. NHTSA has analyzed

this proposal and determined that it is not ``significant'' within the

meaning of the Department of Transportation's regulatory policies and

procedures.

2. Regulatory Flexibility Act

In accordance with the Regulatory Flexibility Act, NHTSA has

evaluated the effects of this action on small entities. Based upon this

evaluation, I certify that the proposed amendment would not have a

significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.

Motor vehicle and tire manufacturers and tire brand owners typically

would not qualify as small entities. This amendment would affect small

businesses, small organizations, and small governmental units to the

extent that these entities purchase vehicles and tires. However,

because the user fees proposed in this amendment could be spread across

a manufacturer's entire production, the amendment would have a

negligible cost impact on vehicles and tires. For these reasons,

vehicle manufacturers, small businesses, small organizations, and small

governmental units that purchase motor vehicles would not be

significantly affected by the proposed user fees. Accordingly, no

regulatory flexibility analysis has been prepared.

3. Executive Order 12612 (Federalism)

This action has been analyzed in accordance with the principles and

criteria contained in Executive Order 12612, and it has been determined

that the proposed rule would not have sufficient Federalism

implications to warrant preparation of a Federalism Assessment. No

State laws would be affected.

4. National Environmental Policy Act

The agency has considered the environmental implications of this

proposed rule in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act

of 1969 and determined that the proposed rule would not significantly

affect the human environment.

5. Civil Justice Reform

This proposed rule would not have any retroactive effect. Under

section 103(d) of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act (49

U.S.C. 30111), whenever a Federal motor vehicle safety standard is in

effect, a state may not adopt or maintain a safety standard applicable

to the same aspect of performance which is not identical to the Federal

standard. Section 105 of the Act (49 U.S.C. 30161) sets forth a

procedure for judicial review of final rules establishing, amending or

revoking Federal motor vehicle safety standards. That section does not

require submission of a petition for reconsideration or other

administrative proceedings before parties may file suit in court.

Public Comments

Interested persons are invited to submit comments on the proposal.

It is requested but not required that 10 copies be submitted.

All comments must not exceed 15 pages in length. (49 CFR 553.21).

Necessary attachments may be appended to these submissions without

regard to the 15-page limit. This limitation is intended to encourage

[[Page 15531]] commenters to detail their primary arguments in a

concise fashion.

If a commenter wishes to submit certain information under a claim

of confidentiality, three copies of the complete submission, including

purportedly confidential business information, should be submitted to

the Chief Counsel, NHTSA, at the street address given above, and seven

copies from which the purportedly confidential information has been

deleted should be submitted to the Docket Section. A request for

confidentiality should be accompanied by a cover letter setting forth

the information specified in the agency's confidential business

information regulation. 49 CFR part 512.

All comments received before the close of business on the comment

closing date indicated above for the proposal will be considered, and

will be available for examination in the docket at the above address

both before and after that date. To the extent possible, comments filed

after the closing date will also be considered. Comments received too

late for consideration in regard to the final rule will be considered

as suggestions for further rulemaking action. The NHTSA will continue

to file relevant information as it becomes available in the docket

after the closing date, and it is recommended that interested persons

continue to examine the docket for new material.

Those persons desiring to be notified upon receipt of their

comments in the rules docket should enclose a self-addressed, stamped

postcard in the envelope with their comments. Upon receiving the

comments, the docket supervisor will return the postcard by mail.

List of Subjects in 49 CFR Part 575

Consumer protection, Labeling, Motor vehicle safety, Motor

vehicles, Rubber and rubber products, Tires.

In consideration of the foregoing, the agency proposes to amend

Sec. 575.104, Uniform tire quality grading standards, in Title 49 of

the Code of Federal Regulations at part 575 as follows:

PART 575--[AMENDED]

1. The authority citation for Part 575 would continue to read as

follows:

Authority: 49 U.S.C. 322, 30111, and 30123; delegation of

authority at 49 CFR 1.50.

2. A new appendix D would be added to Sec. 575.104, to read as

follows:

Sec. 575.104 Uniform tire quality grading standards.

* * * * *

Appendix D--User Fees

1. Course monitoring tires: A fee of $379.00 will be assessed

for each course monitoring tire purchased from NHTSA at Goodfellow

Air Force Base, San Angelo, Tex. This fee is based upon the direct

and indirect costs attributable to: (a) The purchase of course

monitoring tires by NHTSA, (b) a pro rata allocation of salaries and

general facility costs associated with maintenance of the tires, (c)

warehouse storage fees for the tires, and (d) testing fees paid by

NHTSA to establish the base course wear rate for the tires.

2. Use of Government traction skid pads: A fee of $288.00 will

be assessed for each day that the traction skid pads at Goodfellow

Air Force Base, San Angelo, Tex. are used. This fee is based upon

the direct and indirect costs attributable to: (a) Depreciation on

facilities and equipment comprising or used in conjunction with the

traction skid pads (i.e., skid system, water truck, air compressor,

skid track, tractor sweeper, equipment, buildings), (b) the

calibration of the traction skid pads, and (c) a pro rata allocation

of salaries and office operating expenses associated with

maintenance of the traction skid pads.

3. Fee payments shall be by check, draft, money order, or

Electronic Funds Transfer System made payable to the Treasurer of

the United States.

4. The fees set forth in this appendix continue in effect until

adjusted by the Administrator of NHTSA. The Administrator reviews

the fees set forth in this appendix and, if appropriate, adjusts

them by rule at least every 2 years.

Issued on: March 21, 1995.

Barry Felrice,

Associate Administrator for Safety Performance Standards.

[FR Doc. 95-7351 Filed 3-23-95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910-59-P