[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 105 (Wednesday, May 31, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34800-34801]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-13536]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[Docket No. NHTSA-2000-7361; Notice 1]


Freightliner Corporation; Receipt of Application for Decision of 
Inconsequential Noncompliance

    Freightliner Corporation (Freightliner) of Portland, Oregon, has 
determined that some of its vehicles fail to meet the brake release 
time requirements of paragraph S5.3.4.1(b) of Federal Motor Vehicle 
Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 121, Air Brake Systems. On May 8, 1997, 
Freightliner filed a noncompliance information report pursuant to 49 
CFR Part 573.5. In that report, Freightliner indicated that it would 
file a petition for inconsequential noncompliance at a future date. 
Freightliner states that a Petition for Inconsequential Noncompliance 
dated October 10, 1997 was submitted to the agency but we have no 
record of it. Subsequently, on February 29, 2000, Freightliner 
resubmitted its Petition dated October 10, 1997.
    This notice of receipt of the application is published under 49 
U.S.C. 30118 and 30120, and does not represent an agency decision or 
other exercise of judgement concerning the merits of the application.
    Under the requirements of S5.3.4.1(a) of FMVSS No. 121, each truck 
equipped with air brakes is required to have a pressure reduction from 
95 psi to 5 psi, measured at each brake chamber of the truck, in not 
more than 0.55 second from the initial movement (release) of the 
service brake control. In addition, S5.3.4.1(b) requires that a truck 
which is equipped to tow another air-braked vehicle is required to have 
a pressure reduction from the initial test pressure equivalent to 95 
psi in the truck's brake chambers, to 5 psi in not more than 0.75 
second, measured in a 50-cubic-inch test reservoir attached to the 
control line coupling, upon initial movement (release) of the service 
brake control. Thus the pressure in the test reservoir is required to 
drop from approximately 95 psi to 5 psi in not more than 0.75 second 
upon release of the service brake control.

Number of Non-Complying Trucks

    From January 1994 through April 1996, Freightliner produced 
approximately 3,145 Model FLD trucks that may not have had a quick-
release valve installed at the control line coupling and therefore may 
not meet the release timing requirements in FMVSS No. 121. Data on the 
number of vehicles of the 3,145 affected truck population that were 
built without the quick release valve are as follows. According to 
Freightliner's noncompliance information report, a field inspection of 
34 subject vehicles indicated that 5.9 percent (two trucks) did not 
have the quick release valves. According to Freightliner's petition for 
inconsequential noncompliance, an inspection (of an unspecified number) 
of trucks at the St. Thomas Manufacturing Plant where these vehicles 
were manufactured indicated that 69 percent were manufactured without 
the quick release valve. Freightliner also said in its petition that a 
field inspection of 38 subject trucks indicated that 9 percent did not 
have the quick release valve installed.
    We telephoned Mr. Tony Moore of Freightliner's engineering 
department and Mr. Larry Winslow of Freightliner's compliance 
department on April 4, 2000, to clarify the numbers of non-compliant 
vehicles and two other subjects that are discussed below. The field 
inspection of 38 trucks indicated in the petition included the 34 
trucks identified in the noncompliance information report. When asked 
about the number of vehicles inspected at the St. Thomas plant, 
Freightliner indicated that it has documentation showing that 303 
trucks were inspected, and 70 trucks or 23 percent did not have quick 
release valves installed. Freightliner could not locate documentation 
regarding how the 69 percent number in the petition was derived and 
believes that this number is incorrect per the documentation it now 
has.

Brake Release Times of Non-Complying Trucks

    FMVSS No. 121, paragraph S5.3.4.1(b), requires that the release 
timing measured in the test reservoir from initial pressure to 5 psi 
shall be 0.75 second. In its petition, Freightliner states that it 
conducted a test program to predict the actual release timing of the 
subject vehicles. The results are as indicated in the table below:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                 Vehicle     Percent of
     [Predicted] release timing (seconds)       population   population
------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.76-0.80....................................          773         24.5
0.81-0.85....................................         1759         55.9
0.86-0.90....................................          602         19.1
0.91-0.95....................................            1          0.03
0.96-1.00....................................           10          0.3
over 1.00....................................            0          0
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In the April 4, 2000 telephone conversation, Freightliner indicated 
that this prediction of release timing is based upon the length of the 
air tubing from the treadle valve to the trailer service air line glad 
hand coupling. The overall length of the air tubing varies with tractor 
wheelbase and the resulting vehicle population numbers in the table 
were derived on this basis. Without the quick release valve, the air is 
released through the treadle valve. As indicated in Freightliner's 
petition, the installation of the quick release valve releases the air 
at the tractor end of the trailer service air line.

Freightliner Rationale for Inconsequentiality to Safety

    Freightliner does not believe that tractor glad hand timing between 
0.75 and 1.00 second poses any risk or compromises highway safety. It 
states that brake application pressures at a highway speed of 55 mph 
rarely exceed 20 psi, and that when comparing the release timing from 
20 psi on vehicles that would have 0.90 and 0.75 second release timing 
when tested according to FMVSS No. 121, the actual time differential 
drops to less than 0.10 second. In the April 4, 2000, telephone 
conversation, Freightliner clarified that the 0.10 second timing is the 
time for the pressure to be reduced at the glad hand coupling from 20 
psi to 5 psi on trucks with no quick release valve installed. 
Freightliner also indicated that it did not do a comparable analysis of 
release timing from 20 psi with the quick release valve installed.
    Freightliner believes that glad hand timing requirements were 
established primarily for the purpose of improving the application 
timing balance of combination vehicles, not the release timing. 
Freightliner cites the summary in Docket No. 85-07, Notice 3, as 
follows:

    The purpose of the glad hand timing requirements is to ensure 
that the air delivery from towing vehicles to towed vehicles is fast 
enough to apply the brakes of all vehicles in the combination at 
approximately the same time, thereby avoiding a reduction in the 
combination stability (e.g., trailer bumping) caused by a slow glad 
hand.

    Freightliner states that release timing is not mentioned, and that 
some

[[Page 34801]]

commenters in the same docket questioned NHTSA's research in justifying 
the proposed release timing requirement. Freightliner indicates that 
one commenter stated that it is difficult to determine the effect of 
trailer release timing and tractor/trailer release differentials on 
compatibility and suggested testing indicated 0.90 second is 
sufficient. Freightliner also indicates that another commenter argued 
that a 1.00 second release timing would be more practical and 
accomplish the objective of the proposal, and that NHTSA stated that:

    A short glad hand release time is not as important for safety 
and, in fact, it is not desirable to have the glad hand release 
before the tractor brakes.

    Freightliner believes that requiring the rearmost vehicle to 
release last tends to ``stretch'' out the unit (vehicle combination) 
and make it more stable, and that slower than the required release time 
may actually help overall stability.
    Freightliner summarizes its petition by stating that an estimated 
280 to 2170 tractors were manufactured without quick release valves 
such that the glad hand release timing may be slightly higher than the 
0.75 second specified in FMVSS No. 121, and that nearly all (99.6 
percent) do not exceed 0.90 second. Freightliner believes that this 
timing difference of 0.0 to 0.15 second has no discernable or 
measurable effect on braking performance and thus no detrimental effect 
on highway safety. Therefore, it requests that we grant its petition to 
exempt it from the notification and remedy requirements of the Motor 
Vehicle Safety Act.

Comments and Docket Submissions

    Interested persons are invited to submit written data, views, and 
arguments on Freightliner's petition for inconsequential noncompliance 
described above. Comments should refer to the Docket Number and be 
submitted to Docket Management at the address given above under 
ADDRESSES.
    All comments received before the close of business on the closing 
date indicated below will be considered. The application, supporting 
materials, and comments also will be filed in the docket. Comments 
received after the closing date will also be filed and considered to 
the extent possible. When the petition is granted or denied, the notice 
will be published in the Federal Register pursuant to the authority 
indicated below.
    Comment closing date: June 30, 2000.

(15 U.S.C. 1417; delegation of authority at 49 CFR 1.50 and 49 CFR 
501.8)

    Issued on: May 23, 2000.
Stephen R. Kratzke,
Associate Administrator for Safety Performance Standards.
[FR Doc. 00-13536 Filed 5-30-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P