[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 87 (Monday, May 7, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25833-25834]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-8680]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[Docket No. NHTSA 2007-27111; Notice 2]


Baby Trend, Inc.; Grant of Petition for Decision of 
Inconsequential Noncompliance

    Baby Trend Inc. (Baby Trend) has determined that certain infant car 
seats that it produced in 2006 do not comply with paragraph S5.6.1.7(i) 
of 49 CFR 571.213, Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 
213, Child Restraint Systems. Pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 30118(d) and 
30120(h), Baby Trend 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 Responsibility and Reports. Notice of receipt of a 
petition was published, with a 30-day public comment period, on 
February 16, 2007, in the Federal Register (72 FR 7708). The National 
Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) received no comments. To 
view the petition and all supporting documents, go to: http://dms.dot.gov/search/searchFormSimple.cfm and enter Docket No. NHTSA-
2007-27111.
    Affected are a total of approximately 30,450 infant car seats 
produced by Baby Trend between June 21, 2006 and November 30, 2006. 
Specifically, paragraph S5.6.1.7(i) of FMVSS No. 213 addresses the use 
of the following statement on child restraints:

    For recall information, call the U.S. Government's Vehicle 
Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY: 1-800-424-9153), or go to 
http://www.NHTSA.gov.

    The infant car seats do not have the markings most recently 
required by paragraph S5.6.1.7. Baby Trend has corrected the problem 
that caused these errors so that they will not be repeated in future 
production.
    Baby Trend argued that the noncompliance is inconsequential to 
motor vehicle safety and that no corrective action is warranted. Baby 
Trend stated that the child restraint seats comply with the stringent 
dynamic performance requirements of FMVSS No. 213. Baby Trend also 
asserted that no safety consequence exists for the technical labeling 
non-compliance. Further, they believe that given the existing lag time, 
the use of the older version of the information remains a viable means 
for contacting the NHTSA. Although telephone exchanges have changed, 
NHTSA still forwards calls in an integrated manner to provide

[[Page 25834]]

consumer service to the general population. In addition, Baby Trend 
states that the use of the internet, improvements to NHTSA's Web sites 
and the implementation of the integrated http://www.recall.gov Web site 
allows consumers interested in contacting NHTSA to do so more 
effectively than ever before.

NHTSA Decision

    NHTSA specifies that child seat manufacturers must provide the 
telephone number for the Vehicle Safety Hotline so that consumers 
concerned about safety recalls or potential safety related defects 
could contact the agency. That telephone number has been changed. A 
final rule published on June 21, 2005, in the Federal Register (70 FR 
3556) revised the relevant section of the Code of Federal Regulations 
(CFR) to correct the telephone number. In that same final rule, NHTSA 
also added guidance related to the use of the URL of the NHTSA Web site 
on printed instructions for the proper use of infant car seats.
    Although the Hotline number included in the printed instructions 
for the Baby Trend infant car seats is not the correct number for the 
Hotline, it is an active number which currently provides callers with a 
referral to the new Hotline number. This referral from the old number 
will be active for the foreseeable future. Inclusion of the NHTSA Web 
site address in the printed instructions for proper use is optional and 
its absence on the printed instructions for the subject infant child 
seats does not constitute a noncompliance of FMVSS No. 213. NHTSA 
therefore agrees with Baby Trend that there is no safety consequence 
because consumers will still have ready access to the new Hotline 
number by calling the old Hotline number provided by Baby Trend.
    NHTSA agrees that the noncompliance is inconsequential to motor 
vehicle safety. The use of the outdated telephone number should not 
prevent the owners of the child seats from being able to readily access 
recall information.
    In consideration of the foregoing, NHTSA has decided that Baby 
Trend has met its burden of persuasion that the noncompliance described 
is inconsequential to motor vehicle safety. Accordingly, Baby Trend'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 
49 CFR 1.50 and 501.8.

    Issued on: May 1, 2007.
Daniel C. Smith,
Associate Administrator for Enforcement.
[FR Doc. E7-8680 Filed 5-4-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P