Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 83 / Monday, April 30, 2012 / Notices 25533 

1 Docket NHTSA–2011–0174 available at 

www.regulations.gov. 

5. Standard Assurances 

The Applicant assures that it will 

comply with all applicable Federal 

statutes, regulations, executive orders, 

FTA circulars, and other Federal 

administrative requirements in carrying 

out any project supported by the FTA 

grant. The Applicant acknowledges that 

it is under a continuing obligation to 

comply with the terms and conditions 

of the grant agreement issued for its 

project with FTA. The Applicant 

understands that Federal laws, 

regulations, policies, and administrative 

practices might be modified from time 

to time and affect the implementation of 

the project. The Applicant agrees that 

the most recent Federal requirements 

will apply to the project, unless FTA 

issues a written determination 

otherwise. Certifications and 

Assurances for grants to be awarded 

under this program in FY 2012 are 

included in the FTA Certifications and 

Assurances for FY 2012 which were 

published in the Federal Register of 

November 1, 2011, and made available 

for electronic signature in FTA’s grants 

system. Every applicant must submit 

Certification 01, ‘‘For Each Applicant.’’ 

Each applicant for more than $100,000 

must provide both Certification 01, and, 

02, the ‘‘Lobbying Certification.’’ 

6. Reporting 

Post-award reporting requirements 

include submission of final Federal 

Financial Report and milestone report, 

or annual reports for grants remaining 

open at the end of each Federal fiscal 

year (September 30). Documentation is 

required for payment. 

VII. Agency Contact(s) 

Contact the appropriate FTA Regional 

Office at http://www.fta.dot.gov for 

proposal-specific information and 

issues. For general program information, 

contact Blenda Younger, Office of 

Program Management, (202) 366–4345, 

email: blenda.younger@dot.gov. A TDD 

is available at 1–800–877–8339 (TDD/ 

FIRS). 

Issued in Washington, DC, this 25th day of 

April 2012. 

Peter Rogoff, 

Administrator. 

[FR Doc. 2012–10369 Filed 4–27–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

National Highway Traffic Safety 

Administration 

[Docket No. NHTSA–2012–0046] 

Agency Requests for Approval of a 

New Information Collection(s): Human 

Subjects Experiments Related to 

Keyless Ignition Controls, Gear 

Selection Controls, and Audible 

Warnings 

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic 

Safety Administration (NHTSA), 

Department of Transportation (DOT). 

ACTION: Notice and request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: The Department of 

Transportation (DOT) invites public 

comments about our intention to request 

Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) approval for a new information 

collection. The collection involves 

recruitment of participants, balancing 

the subject sample and debriefing 

questionnaires. The information to be 

collected will be used to balance the 

participants between younger and older 

age groups, genders and previous 

driving experience with keyless 

ignition, or lack thereof. These 

observational experiments are being 

conducted in support of current agency 

regulatory efforts that contemplate 

revising Federal Motor Vehicle Safety 

Standard No. 114 (Docket No. NHTSA– 

2011–0174 RIN 2127–AK88). We are 

required to publish this notice in the 

Federal Register by the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104– 

13. 

DATES: Written comments should be 

submitted by June 29, 2012. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

[identified by Docket No. NHTSA– 

2012–0046] through one of the 

following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the online 

instructions for submitting comments. 

• Fax: 1 (202) 493–2251 

• Mail or Hand Delivery: Docket 

Management Facility, U.S. Department 

of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey 

Avenue SE., West Building, Room W12– 

140, Washington, DC 20590, between 9 

a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through 

Friday, except Federal holidays. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Gayle Dalrymple, NVS–123, National 

Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 

U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 

New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, 

DC 20590. Phone: 202–366–5559. Email: 

gayle.dalrymple@dot.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

OMB Control Number: 2127-New. 

Title: Human Subjects Experiments 

Related to Keyless Ignition Controls, 

Gear Selection Controls and Audible 

Warnings. 

Form Numbers: n/a. 

Type of Review: New Information 

Collection. 

Background: NHTSA has initiated 

research and rulemaking to address 

these issues related to consumer 

confusion when using ignition systems 

in which there is no physical key: 

Inability to shut off the engine and/or 

shift to neutral during unintended 

acceleration events, leaving the vehicle 

not in ‘‘park’’ and inadvertently leaving 

the vehicle without shutting off the 

propulsion system.1 Evaluations of 

driver use of push-button start/stop 

controls and electronically shifted 

transmissions are required to support 

this rulemaking. 

Human factors observational 

experiments are proposed to examine 

these issues. The Volpe National 

Transportation Systems Center (Volpe 

Center), which is a component of the 

U.S. DOT, Research and Innovative 

Technology Administration (RITA), has 

been funded to conduct this research 

under an Inter-Agency Agreement (IAA) 

with NHTSA. Under a task order 

contract with the Massachusetts 

Institute of Technology (MIT), these 

experiments will be conducted in a 

simulator at the Volpe Center by staff of 

the MIT Age Lab. The collection of 

information consists of: (1) Recruitment 

material and a brief eligibility 

questionnaire for applicants and (2) 

debriefing questionnaire for 

participants. Applicant responses to the 

eligibility questionnaire will be used to 

balance the subject sample 

demographically and between drivers 

who are naı ̈ve to keyless ignition, and 

those who are not. Subjects will be paid 

$20 to $75 depending on the required 

time commitment, and will be tested 

and debriefed individually. The purpose 

of the debriefing is to probe for insights 

into the factors that led to errors in the 

simulated driving and participant 

reactions to mitigation measures such as 

audible alarms. 

Respondents: The Age Lab has 

conducted numerous experiments 

related to driving instrumented research 

vehicles and simulators, and has a panel 

of more than 7,000 persons in the 

Boston area who have indicated they 

would like to be participants in future 

experiments. Whenever the Age Lab has 

a new experiment, an email blast is sent 

to all members of this panel. The email 

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25534 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 83 / Monday, April 30, 2012 / Notices 

consists of a one-paragraph description 

of the experiment and the eligibility 

requirements, along with a reply button 

that connects respondents to the 

eligibility questionnaire. Typically, 

more persons apply than are needed. 

Staff members from the Age Lab then 

contact applicants individually by email 

to match them with available time slots. 

For these experiments, the subject pool 

will be balanced across age and gender. 

About two-thirds of the subjects will be 

naı ̈ve to cars with keyless ignition 

systems, while one-third will be owners 

of vehicles with keyless ignitions 

systems. 

For evaluation of auditory warnings to 

prevent vehicle roll-away, a very short 

test (one response per subject) is 

proposed. This testing will be 

conducted in stationary vehicles in 

public parking lots using a convenience 

sample drawn from passers-by. 

Estimated Number of Respondents: 

∼135 for keyless/PRNDL experiment. 

∼240 for roll-away warning experiment. 

Estimated Number of Responses: One 

response per respondent to 7 to 10 

questions 

Estimated Total Annual Burden: 

Three minutes per respondent to 

consider and respond to recruiting 

questions (18.75 hours total for number 

of respondents needed for study, but a 

substantially larger and unknown 

number may respond). 

Estimated Frequency: One time 

Public Comments Invited: You are 

asked to comment on any aspect of this 

information collection, including (a) 

Whether the proposed collection of 

information is necessary for the 

Department’s performance, (b) the 

accuracy of the estimated burden, (c) 

ways for the Department to enhance the 

quality, utility and clarity of the 

information collection and (d) ways that 

the burden could be minimized without 

reducing the quality of the collected 

information. The agency will summarize 

and/or include your comments in the 

request for OMB’s clearance of this 

information collection. 

Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act 

of 1995; 44 U.S.C. Chapter 35, as amended; 

and 49 CFR 1:48. 

Issued on: April 24, 2012. 

Christopher J. Bonanti, 

Associate Administrator for Rulemaking. 

[FR Doc. 2012–10300 Filed 4–27–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–59–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

National Highway Traffic Safety 

Administration 

Petition for Exemption From the 

Federal Motor Vehicle Motor Theft 

Prevention Standard; General Motors 

Corporation 

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic 

Safety Administration (NHTSA), 

Department of Transportation (DOT). 

ACTION: Grant of petition for exemption. 

SUMMARY: This document grants in full 

the petition of General Motors 

Corporation (GM) for an exemption of 

the Buick Verano vehicle line in 

accordance with 49 CFR part 543, 

Exemption from the Theft Prevention 

Standard. This petition is granted, 

because the agency has determined that 

the antitheft device to be placed on the 

line as standard equipment is likely to 

be as effective in reducing and deterring 

motor vehicle theft as compliance with 

the parts-marking requirements of the 

Theft Prevention Standard (49 CFR part 

541). 

DATES: The exemption granted by this 

notice is effective beginning with the 

2013 model year (MY). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. 

Carlita Ballard, Office of International 

Policy, Fuel Economy, and Consumer 

Standards, NHTSA, W43–439, 1200 

New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, 

DC 20590. Ms. Ballard’s phone number 

is (202) 366–5222. Her fax number is 

(202) 493–2990. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In a 

petition dated February 3, 2012, GM 

requested an exemption from the partsmarking requirements of the theft 

prevention standard (49 CFR part 541) 

for the Buick Verano vehicle line 

beginning with MY 2013. The petition 

requested an exemption from partsmarking pursuant to 49 CFR part 543, 

Exemption from Vehicle Theft 

Prevention Standard, based on the 

installation of an antitheft device as 

standard equipment for the entire 

vehicle line. 

Under § 543.5(a), a manufacturer may 

petition NHTSA to grant an exemption 

for one vehicle line per model year. In 

its petition, GM provided a detailed 

description and diagram of the identity, 

design and location of the components 

of the antitheft device for the Buick 

Verano vehicle line. GM will install a 

passive, transponder-based, electronic 

immobilizer device (PASS-Key III+) as 

standard equipment on its Buick Verano 

vehicle line beginning with MY 2013. 

GM stated that the device will provide 

protection against unauthorized use 

(i.e., starting and engine fueling), but 

will not provide any visible or audible 

indication of unauthorized vehicle entry 

(i.e., flashing lights or horn alarm). GM 

stated that it will also offer a keyless 

ignition version of the PASS-Key III+ as 

optional equipment for the vehicle line. 

The PASS-Key III+ device is designed 

to be active at all times without direct 

intervention by the vehicle operator. 

The device is fully armed immediately 

after the ignition has been turned off 

and the key removed. Components of 

the antitheft device include an 

electronically-coded ignition key, an 

antenna module, a controller module 

and a engine control module. The 

ignition key contains electronics 

molded into the key head, providing 

billions of possible electronic 

combinations. The electronics receive 

energy and data from the antenna 

module. Upon receipt of the data, the 

key will calculate a response using an 

internal encryption algorithm and 

transmit the response back to the 

vehicle. The antenna module translates 

the radio frequency signal received from 

the key into a digital signal and 

compares the received response to an 

internally calculated value. If the values 

match, the key is recognized as valid, 

and a password is then transmitted 

through a serial data link to the engine 

control module to enable fueling and 

vehicle starting. If an invalid key code 

is received, the PASS-Key III+ controller 

module will send a ‘‘Disable Password’’ 

to the engine control module and 

starting, ignition and fuel will be 

inhibited. 

In addressing the specific content 

requirements of 543.6, GM provided 

information on the reliability and 

durability of its proposed device. To 

ensure reliability and durability of the 

device, GM conducted tests based on its 

own specified standards. GM provided 

a detailed list of the tests conducted to 

validate the device’s integrity, durability 

and reliability, and stated that after each 

test, the components on the device must 

operate as designed. GM also stated that 

the design and assembly processes of 

the device and its components are 

validated for vehicle life and of 

performance. 

GM stated that the PASS-Key III+ 

device has been designed to enhance the 

functionality and theft protection 

provided by its first, second and third 

generation PASS-Key, PASS-Key II and 

PASS-Key III devices. GM also 

referenced data provided by the 

American Automobile Manufacturers 

Association (AAMA) in support of the 

effectiveness of GM’s PASS-Key devices 

in reducing and deterring motor vehicle 

theft. The AAMA’s comments to the 

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