Dorsey Trailers, Inc., Grant of Application for Decision of Inconsequential Noncompliance

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[Docket No. NHTSA-98-4453; Notice 2]

Dorsey Trailers, Inc., Grant of Application for Decision of

Inconsequential Noncompliance

Dorsey Trailers, Inc. (Dorsey), a manufacturer of trailers, is a

corporation organized under the laws of the State of Delaware with

headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia and manufacturing facilities in Elba,

Alabama; Cartersville, Georgia; and Dillon, South Carolina. Dorsey has

determined that its tire and rim label information, on some units, was

not in full compliance with 49 CFR 571.120, Federal Motor Vehicle

Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 120, ``Tire Selection and Rims for Vehicles

Other Than Passenger Cars,'' and has filed an appropriate report

pursuant to 49 CFR Part 573, ``Defect and Noncompliance Reports.''

Dorsey has also applied to be exempted from the notification and remedy

requirements of 49 U.S.C. Chapter 301--``Motor Vehicle Safety'' on the

basis that the noncompliance is inconsequential to motor vehicle

safety.

Notice of receipt of the application was published, with a 30-day

comment period, on October 2, 1998, in the Federal Register (63 FR

53123). NHTSA received two comments on this application during the 30-

day comment period. Both commenters recommended that NHTSA grant the

application.

Paragraph S5.3 of FMVSS No. 120 states that each vehicle shall show

the information specified on the tire information label in both English

and metric units. The standard also shows an example of the prescribed

format.

After the requirement went into effect on March 14, 1996, Dorsey

manufactured and/or distributed 18,816 trailers that do not meet the

requirements stated in the standard. Of these 18,816 units, 16,788 were

produced in Elba between March 14, 1996 and August 27, 1998; 1,713

units were produced in Cartersville between March 14, 1996 and October

31, 1997; and 315 were produced in Dillon between July 1, 1996 and

December 9, 1997. The certification label affixed to Dorsey's trailers

pursuant to Part 567 failed to comply with S5.3 of FMVSS No. 120

because of the omission of metric measurements, and Dorsey did not

separately provide the metric measurements on another label, an

alternative allowed by FMVSS No. 120. The use of metric measurements is

required by FMVSS No. 120, pursuant to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety

Standards: Metric Conversion, 60 FR 13639, published on March 14, 1995,

and effective on March 14, 1996.

Dorsey supports its application for inconsequential noncompliance

with the following statements:

1. The certification label contains the correct English unit

information and has headings for the required metric data with voids in

the area of the required data;

2. The omission of the metric data from Dorsey's 49 CFR 571.120 and

49 CFR 567 certification label is highly unlikely to have any effect

whatsoever on motor vehicle safety since the correct English units are

included on the label and since the nonconforming vehicles will

probably be out of service before the American general public ceases to

be familiar with the English system of measurement;

3. The metric requirements of 49 CFR 571.120 S5.3 were not mandated

for safety reasons and, the second regulation governing certification

label data, 49 CFR 567, has not yet been changed to require that metric

data be shown and still states that GVWR and GAWR data be stated in

pounds;

4. Each Dorsey manufacturing facility has now begun to provide all

the required data on certification labels since appropriate people at

each location have been made aware of the requirement; and

5. Dorsey has not received any complaints from customers on the

omission of the metric data from the certification labels and has not

received

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any reports of accidents which were related to the omission to the

metric data.

The purpose of labeling requirements in S5.3, Label information, of

FMVSS No. 120 is to provide safe operation of vehicles by ensuring that

those vehicles are equipped with tires of appropriate size and load

rating; and rims of appropriate size and type designation. Section 5164

of the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act (Pub. L. 100-418) makes it

the United States policy that the metric system of measurement is the

preferred system of weights and measures for U.S. trade and commerce.

On March 14, 1995, NHTSA published in the Federal Register (60 FR

13693) the final rule that metric measurements be used in S5.3 of FMVSS

No. 120. The effective date for this final rule was March 14, 1996.

Paragraph S5.3 states that each vehicle shall show the appropriate

tire information (such as: recommended cold inflation pressure) and rim

information (such as: size and type designations) in metric and English

units. This information must appear either on the certification label

or a tire information label, lettered in block capitals and numerals

not less than 2.4 millimeters high, and in the prescribed format.

The agency agrees with Dorsey that the label on these trailers is

likely to achieve the safety purpose of the required label. The vehicle

user will have the correct safety information sans the metric

conversion in the prescribed location. First, all the correct English

unit information required by FMVSS No. 120 is provided on the

certification label. Second, the information contained on the label is

of the correct size. Third, the information contained on the label is

in the prescribed format.

In consideration of the foregoing, NHTSA has decided that the

applicant has met its burden of persuasion that the noncompliance it

describes is inconsequential to safety. Accordingly, its application is

granted, and the applicant is exempted from providing the notification

of the noncompliance that is required by 49 U.S.C. 30118, and from

remedying the noncompliance, as required by 49 U.S.C. 30120.

(49 U.S.C. 30118, delegations of authority at 49 CFR 1.50 and

501.8).

Issued on: January 8, 1999.

L. Robert Shelton,

Associate Administrator for Safety Performance Standards.

[FR Doc. 99-766 Filed 1-12-99; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910-59-P