75106 Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 240 / Wednesday, December 15, 2004 / Notices 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety 

Administration 

[Docket No. NHTSA 2004–19347; Notice 2] 

Bridgestone/Firestone North American 

Tire, LLC, Grant of Petition for 

Decision of Inconsequential 

Noncompliance 

Bridgestone/Firestone North 

American Tire, LLC (Bridgestone/

Firestone) has determined that certain 

tires it manufactured do not comply 

with S6.5 of Federal Motor Vehicle 

Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 119, 

‘‘New pneumatic tires for vehicles other 

than passenger cars.’’ Pursuant to 49 

U.S.C. 30118(d) and 30120(h), 

Bridgestone/Firestone has petitioned for 

a determination that this 

noncompliance is inconsequential to 

motor vehicle safety and has filed an 

appropriate report pursuant to 49 CFR 

part 573, ‘‘Defect and Noncompliance 

Reports.’’ Notice of receipt of a petition 

was published, with a 30-day comment 

period, on October 26, 2004, in the 

Federal Register (69 FR 62513). NHTSA 

received one comment. 

A total of approximately 1,083 sizes 

2.75–10 and 80/90–10 Bridgestone 

HOOP tires are affected. S6.5 of FMVSS 

No. 119 requires that the maximum load 

rating and corresponding inflation 

pressure of the tires be marked on the 

tire in both English and metric units. 

The noncompliant tires do not have the 

metric markings. The actual stamping is 

‘‘MAX. LOAD 355 LBS AT 36 PSI 

COLD.’’ The correct stamping should be 

‘‘MAX. LOAD 160kg (353 LBS) AT 50 

kPa (36 PSI) COLD.’’

Bridgestone/Firestone believes that 

the noncompliance is inconsequential to 

motor vehicle safety and that no 

corrective action is warranted. 

Bridgestone/Firestone states that the 

actual performance of the tires will not 

be affected by the mismarking, and that 

the tires meet or exceed all performance 

requirements of FMVSS No. 119. 

Further, Bridgestone/Firestone states 

that the mismarking will have no impact 

on the operational performance or safety 

of vehicles on which the tires are 

mounted, and that the problem has been 

corrected. 

The agency agrees that the 

noncompliance is inconsequential to 

safety. The correct English unit 

information required by FMVSS No. 119 

is provided and therefore is likely to 

achieve the safety purposes of the 

requirement. All other informational 

markings are present, and the tires meet 

or exceed all of the performance 

requirements of FMVSS No. 119. 

Bridgestone/Firestone has corrected the 

problem. One comment was received. 

However, the comment does not address 

the effect of the noncompliance on 

motor vehicle safety, and therefore is 

not persuasive in its argument that the 

petition should not be granted. 

In consideration of the foregoing, 

NHTSA has decided that the petitioner 

has met its burden of persuasion that 

the noncompliance described is 

inconsequential to motor vehicle safety. 

Accordingly, Bridgestone/Firestone’s 

petition is granted and the petitioner is 

exempted from the obligation of 

providing notification of, and a remedy 

for, the noncompliance.

Authority: 49 U.S.C. 30118, 30120; 

delegations of authority at CFR 1.50 and 

501.8.

Issued on: December 9, 2004. 

Kenneth N. Weinstein, 

Associate Administrator for Enforcement.

[FR Doc. 04–27454 Filed 12–14–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–59–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety 

Administration 

[Docket No. NHTSA–2004–19792; Notice 1] 

Unified Marine, Inc., Receipt of Petition 

for Decision of Inconsequential 

Noncompliance 

Unified Marine, Inc. (Unified Marine) 

has determined that certain combination 

lamps it distributed for sale, which were 

produced in 2002 through 2004, do not 

comply with 49 CFR 571.108, Federal 

Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 

No. 108, ‘‘Lamps, reflective devices, and 

associated equipment.’’ Unified Marine 

has filed an appropriate report pursuant 

to 49 CFR part 573, ‘‘Defect and 

Noncompliance Reports.’’

Pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 30118(d) and 

30120(h), Unified Marine has petitioned 

for an exemption from the notification 

and remedy requirements of 49 U.S.C. 

chapter 301 on the basis that this 

noncompliance is inconsequential to 

motor vehicle safety. 

This notice of receipt of Unified 

Marine’s petition is published under 49 

U.S.C. 30118 and 30120 and does not 

represent any agency decision or other 

exercise of judgment concerning the 

merits of the petition. 

Approximately 52,665 combination 

lamps and combination lamp kits 

produced between December 2002 and 

July 2004 and marketed as ‘‘Road 

Warrior by SeaSense’’ are affected. 

These include the following 

combination lamps: 1,624 model 

50080272 (right hand), 1,001 model 

50080274 (left hand), 1,612 model 

80272, and 1,947 model 80274, as well 

as 46,481 model 50080270 combination 

lamp kits that consist of two lamps per 

kit. 

The subject rear combination lamps 

contain taillamps, stop lamps, turn 

signal lamps, rear reflex reflectors, and 

a side marker lamp. In addition, the 

combination lamps designated for the 

left (driver’s) side of the vehicle contain 

a license plate lamp. FVMSS No. 108, 

S5.8.1, requires that each lamp, 

reflective device, or item of associated 

equipment manufactured to replace any 

lamp, reflective device, or item of 

associated equipment on any vehicle to 

which this standard applies, be 

designed to conform to the standard. As 

such, in order to comply with S5.8.1, 

the combination lamps must be 

designed to conform to the photometry, 

color, and other requirements specific to 

the devices incorporated into the lamp 

combination. 

Unified Marine’s noncompliance 

report indicates that the lamps may 

have incorrectly positioned circuit 

boards that, consequently, cause 

insufficient light output to meet the 

minimum color and photometry 

requirements of the standard. 

Unified Marine believes that the 

noncompliance is inconsequential to 

motor vehicle safety and that no 

corrective action is warranted. Unified 

Marine states that

* * * our light has some deficiencies that are 

only detectable by highly sensitive testing 

equipment and not by visual means in actual 

use and therefore is not a safety issue. Upon 

review and extensive research, we have 

found out that the variations are not 

perceivable to the naked eye, and they are 

indeed inconsequential as they may only be 

seen in the laboratory environment. The 

lights are in no way unsafe in our opinion, 

and in fact much safer than the millions of 

conventional lights currently used in the 

marketplace.

Interested persons are invited to 

submit written data, views, and 

arguments on the petition described 

above. Comments must refer to the 

docket and notice number cited at the 

beginning of this notice and be 

submitted by any of the following 

methods. Mail: Docket Management 

Facility, U.S. Department of 

Transportation, Nassif Building, Room 

PL–401, 400 Seventh Street, SW., 

Washington, DC 20590–0001. Hand 

Delivery: Room PL–401 on the plaza 

level of the Nassif Building, 400 

Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC. It 

is requested, but not required, that two 

copies of the comments be provided. 

The Docket Section is open on