Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 218 / Thursday, November 9, 2000 / Notices 67471

Docket Clerk, U.S. DOT Dockets, Room

PL–401, Nassif Building, Department of

Transportation, 400 Seventh Street, SW,

Washington, D.C. 20590.

Comments may also be submitted by

electronic means via the internet at

http://dms.dot.gov/submit/. You may

call Docket Management at (202) 366–

9324. You may visit the Docket Room to

inspect and copy comments at the

address above between 10 a.m. and 5

p.m. EST, Monday through Friday,

except holidays. An electronic version

of this document is available on the

World Wide Web at http://dms.dot.gov.

Comments must be received by close of

business November 24, 2000.

This notice is published as a matter of

discretion, and the fact of its publication

should in no way be considered a

favorable or unfavorable decision on the

application, as filed, or as may be

amended. We will consider all

comments submitted in a timely

fashion, and will take such action

thereto as may be deemed appropriate.

Dated: November 6, 2000.

By order of the Maritime Administrator.

Joel C. Richard,

Secretary, Maritime Administration.

[FR Doc. 00–28827 Filed 11–8–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910–81–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety

Administration

Announcing the Third Quarterly

Meeting of the Crash Injury Research

and Engineering Network

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic

Safety Administration (NHTSA), DOT.

ACTION: Meeting announcement.

SUMMARY: This notice announces the

Third Quarterly Meeting of members of

the Crash Injury Research and

Engineering Network. CIREN is a

collaborative effort to conduct research

on crashes and injuries at nine Level 1

Trauma Centers which are linked by a

computer network. Researchers can

review data and share expertise, which

could lead to a better understanding of

crash injury mechanisms and the design

of safer vehicles.

DATE AND TIME: The meeting is

scheduled from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on

November 30, 2000.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held in

Room 6200–04 of the U.S. Department

of Transportation Building, which is

located at 400 Seventh Street, SW,

Washington, DC.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

CIREN System has been established and

crash cases have been entered into the

database by each Center. NHTSA has

held three Annual Conferences (two in

Detroit and one in conjunction with

STAPP in San Diego) where CIREN

research results were presented. Further

information about the three previous

CIREN conferences is available through

the NHTSA website at: http://wwwnrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/include/

bio_and_trauma/ciren-final.htm.

NHTSA held the first quarterly meeting

on May 5, 2000, with a topic of lower

extremity injuries in motor vehicle

crashes and the second quarterly

meeting on July 21, 2000, with a topic

of side impact crashes. Information from

the May 5 and July 21 meetings are also

available through the NHTSA website.

NHTSA plans to continue holding

quarterly meetings on a regular basis to

disseminate CIREN information to

interested parties. This is the third such

meeting. The topic for this meeting is

thoracic injuries in motor vehicle

crashes. Subsequent meetings have

tentatively been scheduled for March

and June 2001. These quarterly meetings

will be in lieu of an annual CIREN

conference.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mrs.

Donna Stemski, Office of HumanCentered Research, 400 Seventh Street,

SW., Room 6206, Washington, DC

20590, telephone: (202) 366–5662.

Issued on: November 2, 2000.

Raymond P. Owings,

Associate Administrator for Research and

Development, National Highway Traffic

Safety Administration.

[FR Doc. 00–28700 Filed 11–8–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910–59–U

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety

Administration

[Docket No. NHTSA 2000–6947, Notice 2]

Subaru of America, Inc.; Grant of

Application for Decision of

Inconsequential Non-Compliance

This notice grants the application by

Subaru of America, Inc. (Subaru) to be

exempted from the notification and

remedy requirements of 49 U.S.C. 30118

and 30120 with respect to a

noncompliance with Federal Motor

Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No.

209, ‘‘Seat Belt Assemblies.’’ Subaru has

filed an appropriate report pursuant to

49 CFR Part 573, ‘‘Defect and

Noncompliance Reports.’’ Pursuant to

49 CFR Part 556, Subaru has also

applied to be exempted from the

notification and remedy requirements of

49 U.S.C. Chapter 301, ‘‘Motor Vehicle

Safety.’’ The basis of the grant is that the

noncompliance is inconsequential to

motor vehicle safety.

Notice of receipt of the application

was published March 9, 2000, and an

opportunity afforded for comment (65

FR 12615). The closing date was April

10, 2000. No comments were received.

Description of Noncompliance

Replacement seat belt assemblies

were packaged without instruction

sheets required by FMVSS No. 209

S4.1(k) and (l). All of the seat belt

assemblies involved meet all other

requirements of FMVSS No. 209.

Approximately 522 sets of

replacement seat belt assemblies

manufactured and sold were involved.

Subaru Submitted the Following in

Support of Its Application

In accordance with FMVSS No. 209,

S4.1(k) replacement seat belt assemblies must

be accompanied by installation instructions

for installing the assembly in a motor vehicle.

These instructions ‘‘shall state whether the

assembly is for universal installation or for

installation only in specifically stated motor

vehicles and shall include at least those

items specified in SAE Recommended

Practice J800c, Motor Vehicle Seat Belt

Installation, November 1973.

Subaru understands SAE Recommended

Practice J800c, it deals primarily with the

threading of webbing and location and

drilling of anchorage holes and is not

relevant here since all affected Subaru

vehicles have pre-existing anchorage holes.

All of the affected replacement seat belt

assemblies are supplied ready for use with

fully threaded webbing.

Subaru believes that S4.1(k) is intended to

prevent the mismatch of a seat belt assembly

in the wrong model vehicle or the wrong

seating position and prevent improper

installation of a seat belt at the correct

position.

In accordance with FMVSS No. 209, S4.1(l)

requires instructions addressing the

importance of warning seat belts ‘‘snugly and

properly located on the body’’ and

information about seat belt maintenance.

Subaru believes that since the owner’s

manual already provides proper usage and

maintenance information to the vehicle

owner and operator, incorrect usage and

maintenance by the vehicle owner is highly

unlikely.

Subaru has corrected all the replacement

seat belt assembly inventory for shipment to

dealers and will provide additional

instruction documents to dealers with

inventory subject to the noncompliance.

Replacement seat belt assemblies sold at

retail to customers has not resulted in owner

complaints as a result of this inconsequential

noncompliance.

Subaru believes that, based upon the

information described above, this is an

inconsequential noncompliance.

NHTSA has reviewed Subaru’s

application and, for the reasons