36594 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 130 / Monday, July 12, 2021 / Notices 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

National Highway Traffic Safety 

Administration 

[Docket No. NHTSA–2020–0114; Notice 1] 

Volkswagen Group of America, Inc., 

Receipt of Petition for Decision of 

Inconsequential Noncompliance 

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic 

Safety Administration (NHTSA), 

Department of Transportation (DOT). 

ACTION: Receipt of petition. 

SUMMARY: Volkswagen Group of 

America, Inc. (Volkswagen), has 

determined that certain model year 

(MY) 2020–2021 Volkswagen motor 

vehicles do not fully comply with 

Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 

(FMVSS) No. 138, Tire Pressure 

Monitoring Systems. Volkswagen filed a 

noncompliance report dated October 23, 

2020, and later amended it on 

November 11, 2020. Volkswagen also 

petitioned NHTSA on November 16, 

2020, for a decision that the subject 

noncompliance is inconsequential as it 

relates to motor vehicle safety. This 

notice announces receipt of 

Volkswagen’s petition. 

DATES: Send comments on or before 

August 11, 2021. 

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are 

invited to submit written data, views, 

and arguments on this petition. 

Comments must refer to the docket and 

notice number cited in the title of this 

notice and submitted by any of the 

following methods: 

• Mail: Send comments by mail 

addressed to the U.S. Department of 

Transportation, Docket Operations, M– 

30, West Building Ground Floor, Room 

W12–140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, 

Washington, DC 20590. 

• Hand Delivery: Deliver comments 

by hand to the U.S. Department of 

Transportation, Docket Operations, M– 

30, West Building Ground Floor, Room 

W12–140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, 

Washington, DC 20590. The Docket 

Section is open on weekdays from 10 

a.m. to 5 p.m. except for Federal 

holidays. 

• Electronically: Submit comments 

electronically by logging onto the 

Federal Docket Management System 

(FDMS) website at https://

www.regulations.gov/. Follow the online 

instructions for submitting comments. 

• Comments may also be faxed to 

(202) 493–2251. 

Comments must be written in the 

English language, and be no greater than 

15 pages in length, although there is no 

limit to the length of necessary 

attachments to the comments. If 

comments are submitted in hard copy 

form, please ensure that two copies are 

provided. If you wish to receive 

confirmation that comments you have 

submitted by mail were received, please 

enclose a stamped, self-addressed 

postcard with the comments. Note that 

all comments received will be posted 

without change to https://

www.regulations.gov, including any 

personal information provided. 

All comments and supporting 

materials received before the close of 

business on the closing date indicated 

above will be filed in the docket and 

will be considered. All comments and 

supporting materials received after the 

closing date will also be filed and will 

be considered to the fullest extent 

possible. 

When the petition is granted or 

denied, notice of the decision will also 

be published in the Federal Register 

pursuant to the authority indicated at 

the end of this notice. 

All comments, background 

documentation, and supporting 

materials submitted to the docket may 

be viewed by anyone at the address and 

times given above. The documents may 

also be viewed on the internet at https:// 

www.regulations.gov by following the 

online instructions for accessing the 

docket. The docket ID number for this 

petition is shown in the heading of this 

notice. 

DOT’s complete Privacy Act 

Statement is available for review in a 

Federal Register notice published on 

April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477–78). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Kerrin Bressant, Compliance Engineer, 

NHTSA, Office of Vehicle Safety 

Compliance, (202) 366–1110. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Overview: Volkswagen has 

determined that certain MY 2020–2021 

Volkswagen motor vehicles do not fully 

comply with the requirements of 

Paragraph S4.5(a) of FMVSS No. 138, 

Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems (49 

CFR 571.138). Volkswagen filed a 

noncompliance report dated October 23, 

2020, and later amended it on 

November 11, 2020, pursuant to 49 CFR 

part 573, Defect and Noncompliance 

Responsibility and Reports. Volkswagen 

subsequently petitioned NHTSA on 

November 16, 2020, for an exemption 

from the notification and remedy 

requirements of 49 U.S.C. Chapter 301 

on the basis that this noncompliance is 

inconsequential as it relates to motor 

vehicle safety, pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 

30118(d) and 30120(h) and 49 CFR part 

556, Exemption for Inconsequential 

Defect or Noncompliance. 

This notice of receipt of Volkswagen’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. 

II. Vehicles Involved: Approximately 

115,855 of the following MY 2020–2021 

motor vehicles, manufactured between 

December 16, 2019, and August 28, 

2020, are potentially involved: 

• MY 2020 Volkswagen Arteon; 

• MY 2020 Volkswagen Passat; 

• MY 2021 Volkswagen Atlas; 

• MY 2020 Volkswagen Atlas Cross 

Sport; 

• MY 2020 Volkswagen Tiguan; 

• MY 2020 Volkswagen Jetta; and 

• MY 2020 Volkswagen Jetta GLI. 

III. Noncompliance: Volkswagen 

explains that the noncompliance is due 

to an error in the owner’s manual 

editing process and that the subject 

motor vehicles may have received an 

owner’s manual that did not have the 

exact statement in English as required 

by paragraph S4.5(a) of FMVSS No. 138. 

Specifically, the written instructions to 

vehicle operators about the functionality 

of the tire pressure monitoring system 

was not included in the exact wording 

per paragraph S4.5(a). 

IV. Rule Requirements: Paragraph 

S4.5(a) of FMVSS No. 138 includes the 

requirements relevant to this petition. 

Beginning on September 1, 2006, the 

owner’s manual in each vehicle certified 

as complying with paragraph S4 of 

FMVSS No. 138 must provide an image 

of the Low Tire Pressure Telltale symbol 

(and an image of the TPMS Malfunction 

Telltale warning (TPMS), if a dedicated 

telltale is utilized for this function) with 

the following statement in English: 

Each tire, including the spare (if 

provided), should be checked monthly 

when cold and inflated to the inflation 

pressure recommended by the vehicle 

manufacturer on the vehicle placard or 

tire inflation pressure label. (If your 

vehicle has tires of a different size than 

the size indicated on the vehicle placard 

or tire inflation pressure label, you 

should determine the proper tire 

inflation pressure for those tires.) 

As an added safety feature, your 

vehicle has been equipped with a tire 

pressure monitoring system (TPMS) that 

illuminates a low tire pressure telltale 

when one or more of your tires is 

significantly under-inflated. 

Accordingly, when the low tire pressure 

telltale illuminates, you should stop and 

check your tires as soon as possible, and 

inflate them to the proper pressure. 

Driving on a significantly under-inflated 

tire causes the tire to overheat and can 

lead to tire failure. Under-inflation also 

reduces fuel efficiency and tire tread 


khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 130 / Monday, July 12, 2021 / Notices 36595 

life, and may affect the vehicle’s 

handling and stopping ability. 

Please note that the TPMS is not a 

substitute for proper tire maintenance, 

and it is the driver’s responsibility to 

maintain correct tire pressure, even if 

under-inflation has not reached the 

level to trigger illumination of the TPMS 

low tire pressure telltale. 

[The following paragraph is required 

for all vehicles certified to the standard 

starting on September 1, 2007, and for 

vehicles voluntarily equipped with a 

compliant TPMS MIL before that time.] 

Your vehicle has also been equipped 

with a TPMS malfunction indicator to 

indicate when the system is not 

operating properly. [For vehicles with a 

dedicated MIL telltale, add the 

following statement: The TPMS 

malfunction indicator is provided by a 

separate telltale, which displays the 

symbol ‘‘TPMS’’ when illuminated.] 

[For vehicles with a combined low tire 

pressure/MIL telltale, add the following 

statement: The TPMS malfunction 

indicator is combined with the low tire 

pressure telltale. When the system 

detects a malfunction, the telltale will 

flash for approximately one minute and 

then remain continuously illuminated. 

This sequence will continue upon 

subsequent vehicle start-ups as long as 

the malfunction exists.] When the 

malfunction indicator is illuminated, 

the system may not be able to detect or 

signal low tire pressure as intended. 

TPMS malfunctions may occur for a 

variety of reasons, including the 

installation of replacement or alternate 

tires or wheels on the vehicle that 

prevent the TPMS from functioning 

properly. Always check the TPMS 

malfunction telltale after replacing one 

or more tires or wheels on your vehicle 

to ensure that the replacement or 

alternate tires and wheels allow the 

TPMS to continue to function properly. 

V. Summary of Volkswagen’s Petition: 

The following views and arguments 

presented in this section, ‘‘V. Summary 

of Volkswagen’s Petition,’’ are the views 

and arguments provided by 

Volkswagen. They have not been 

evaluated by the Agency and do not 

reflect the views of the Agency. 

Volkswagen describes the subject 

noncompliance and contends that the 

noncompliance is inconsequential as it 

relates to motor vehicle safety. 

In support of its petition, Volkswagen 

submitted the following reasoning: 

1. Volkswagen states that the affected 

manuals all have sections devoted to 

describing appropriate tire pressures 

and the functionality of the tire pressure 

monitoring system and that the affected 

manuals contain equivalent instructions 

to those set forth in S4.5(a), just in 

different words. Volkswagen compared 

the required language and the actual 

language and believes that the 

comparable text present in the owner’s 

manuals is consistent with the rationale 

and intent of the FMVSS No. 138 

requirements, even though the exact 

words required by the standard are not 

used. 

2. Volkswagen asserts that NHTSA 

has granted similar petitions in the past 

in which required owner’s manual text 

was not present in verbatim form, but an 

equivalent version of the text was 

present. See 65 FR 14009 (label and 

owner’s manual missing FMVSS No. 

303 required text but include 

substantive equivalent) and 80 FR 68602 

(owner’s manual missing description 

required by FMVSS No. 226). 

3. Volkswagen states that as of the last 

dates of production for the subject 

vehicles, the condition has been 

corrected and that any affected vehicles 

held at the factory have been corrected, 

and unsold units in dealer inventory 

will be corrected prior to sale. 

4. Additionally, Volkswagen says it is 

not aware of any field or customer 

complaints related to this condition, nor 

has it been made aware of any accidents 

or injuries that have occurred as a result 

of this issue. 

Volkswagen concludes that the 

subject noncompliance is 

inconsequential as it relates to motor 

vehicle safety, and that its petition to be 

exempted from providing notification of 

the noncompliance, as required by 49 

U.S.C. 30118, and a remedy for the 

noncompliance, as required by 49 

U.S.C. 30120, should be granted. 

NHTSA notes that the statutory 

provisions (49 U.S.C. 30118(d) and 

30120(h)) that permit manufacturers to 

file petitions for a determination of 

inconsequentiality allow NHTSA to 

exempt manufacturers only from the 

duties found in sections 30118 and 

30120, respectively, to notify owners, 

purchasers, and dealers of a defect or 

noncompliance and to remedy the 

defect or noncompliance. Therefore, any 

decision on this petition only applies to 

the subject vehicles that Volkswagen no 

longer controlled at the time it 

determined that the noncompliance 

existed. However, any decision on this 

petition does not relieve vehicle 

distributors and dealers of the 

prohibitions on the sale, offer for sale, 

or introduction or delivery for 

introduction into interstate commerce of 

the noncompliant motor vehicles under 

their control after Volkswagen notified 

them that the subject noncompliance 

existed. 

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

delegations of authority at 49 CFR 1.95 and 

501.8) 

Otto G. Matheke III, 

Director, Office of Vehicle Safety Compliance. 

[FR Doc. 2021–14743 Filed 7–9–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–59–P 


khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES