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October 25, 2007

The Honorable Nicole R. Nason

Administrator

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

1200 New Jersey Ave., SE

West Building, 4^th^ Floor

Washington, DC 20590

Attn: Docket No. NHTSA-29134

**[Petition for Reconsideration]{.underline}**

The National Truck Equipment Association submits this Petition for
Reconsideration on the Final Rule issued in the September 11, 2007
Federal Register by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
(NHTSA) on federal motor vehicle safety standard -- Occupant Protection
in Interior Impact; Side Impact Protection; Fuel System Integrity;
Electric-Powered Vehicles: Electrolyte Spillage and Electrical Shock
Protection; Side Impact Phase-In Reporting Requirements.

The NTEA requests that NHTSA reconsider the scope of this amended
regulation and exempt multi-stage produced vehicles such as specialized
work trucks from the new requirements of this regulation. It will not be
possible for the chassis manufacturers to develop compliance strategies
for this regulation that would allow multi-stage manufacturers to
continue producing the range of diversified work trucks demanded by the
marketplace.

In the event this amended regulation continues to apply to multi-stage
produced vehicles, the NTEA requests that NHTSA consider amending the
phased-in effective dates such that the effective date for multi-stage
produced vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating greater than 8,500
is September 1, 2014 (one year later than the effective date for single
stage produced vehicles).

[Work Trucks]{.underline}

The NTEA requests that NHTSA exempt vehicles built in two or more stages
from these new requirements. The end users of multi-stage produced
vehicles such as work trucks require an extensive variety of completions
and alterations in order that the vehicle efficiently performs its
intended task (including bulkheads and partitions to protect the driver
from loose cargo in the back of the vehicle). The design of a vehicle
produced by a

multi-stage manufacturer or alterer will almost certainly affect the
performance of original equipment manufacturers\' (OEMs) side airbags
systems (side airbags, curtains, sensing systems, and interior and
structural components).

NHTSA\'s traditional view has been that multi-stage manufactures will be
able to pass through the certification of the chassis manufacturers. The
more complex the chassis manufacturers' compliance strategies for their
own products become, however, the less likely it becomes that
multi-stage manufacturers will be able to pass-through their
certification. In the case of this final rule, the chassis manufacturers
will typically be installing side airbag systems. As NHTSA is aware,
these systems are highly complex.

The side airbag system is just that, a system consisting of airbags,
curtains, sensors, and interior and structural components. Each
variation from that system as developed by the chassis manufacturer
would require individual compliance certification. While we are not
privy to the precise compliance plans of the chassis manufacturers, it
is clear that it will not be possible for the chassis manufacturers to
provide a generic compliance envelope covering any significant portion
of the vehicle configurations produced by today's work truck industry.
If NHTSA wishes to confirm our assumptions the Agency could directly
query the chassis manufacturers as to how they expect this final rule
will affect their pass-through certification plans for vehicles built in
more than one stage or altered prior to the first retail sale of the
vehicle.

In order to preserve the specialized vehicles required by today's
commercial and vocational users, the NTEA requests that NHTSA exempt
from these new requirements vehicles produced in more than one stage
such as specialized work trucks.

[Effective Dates]{.underline}

In the Final Rule NHTSA allows an additional year of lead-time for
alterers, manufacturers of vehicles produced in more than one stage,
**[and]{.underline}** manufacturers of vehicles with a gross vehicle
weight rating greater than 8,500 pounds - until September 1, 2013 to
meet the upgraded pole and barrier test requirements.

NHTSA has recognized that it is appropriate to allow additional
lead-time for multi-stage manufacturers as these manufacturers cannot
begin planning their compliance strategies until the chassis
manufacturers have validated the single stage version of the chassis.
The Final Rule provides multi-stage vehicle manufacturers an additional
year for compliance beyond that for single stage manufacturers with
regard to vehicles 8,500 pounds GVWR and less. It appears that NHTSA
then also granted the same additional year of lead-time to
**[all]{.underline}** manufacturers of vehicles over 8,500 pounds GVWR.

According to NHTSA, "...this final rule provides more lead time to meet
the pole test requirements to manufacturers of vehicles with a GVWR
greater than 3,855 kg (8,500 lb) than proposed in the NPRM. These
vehicles need more lead time because they have never been regulated
under FMVSS No. 214\'s dynamic requirements and are not subject to the
industry\'s voluntary commitment to install side air bags. Because these
vehicles may need more redesign of the vehicle side structure, interior
trim, and/or optimization of dynamically deploying head/side protection
systems than light vehicles, this final rule does not subject these
vehicles to the pole test requirements until September 1, 2013."

We understand and support NHTSA's decisions to allow additional
lead-time for vehicles above 8,500 pounds GVWR -- they have not been
previously subject to the dynamic testing requirements of FMVSS 214 and
therefore may require more significant redesigns. For the same reason
and those reasons NHTSA has recognized many times in the past, the NTEA
requests that if they remain subject to this rule, vehicles in that same
weight category (above 8,500 pounds GVWR) produced by multi-stage
manufacturers not be required to comply with the amended regulations
until September 1, 2014. It would not be possible for multi-stage
manufacturers of these larger vehicles to comply on the same date as the
chassis manufacturers of those vehicles.

Sincerely,

Michael Kastner

Director of Government Relations

NTEA Washington, DC Office