22022 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 71 / Wednesday, April 13, 2022 / Notices 

6https://www.nhtsa.gov/interpretations/16-1289- 

gm-hazard-innovative-28-apr-16-rsy. 

7See SAE J910, Jan. 1966; see also Letter to Sen. 

Richard Lugar (May 9, 2000). 

apply the maximum braking force’’ and 

cause the vehicle to come to a complete 

stop. When the emergency braking is 

activated in this phase while the subject 

vehicle is traveling at 20 mph or more 

‘‘the hazard warning lamps are 

automatically activated and flash at a 

rate of 140 Hz.’’ Therefore, DTNA says, 

the automatic activation of the hazard 

warning lamps would not occur ‘‘in stop 

and go traffic.’’ DTNA also notes that 

after the subject vehicle ‘‘comes to a 

complete stop, the hazard lamps revert 

to a standard flash rate’’ and 

‘‘throughout the ABA event, the hazard 

warning signal operating unit can be 

manually engaged by the driver.’’ 

DTNA then contends that the 

automatic activation of the hazard 

warning lamps is consistent with prior 

NHTSA interpretations in which it says, 

‘‘the agency has found automatic 

activation of the hazard warning signal 

operating unit to be appropriate in 

certain circumstances.’’ DTNA claims 

that the November 18, 2016, 

interpretation letter to General Motors 6

supports its view. In that interpretation 

letter, DTNA says that NHTSA 

‘‘concluded that in the context of an 

adaptive cruise control system, the 

automatic activation of the hazard 

warning lamps was consistent with 

FMVSS 108 if the human driver failed 

to respond to the system’s requests to 

regain control of the vehicle.’’ DTNA 

argues that the automatic activation of 

the hazard warning lamps in the subject 

vehicles is consistent with the condition 

found in the interpretation letter to 

General Motors. Id. 

DTNA claims that the automatic 

activation of the hazard warning lamps 

‘‘is consistent with the type of message 

the hazard lamps are intended to 

convey’’ and consistent with other 

NHTSA precedents.7

DTNA concludes by expressing its 

belief that the subject noncompliances 

are 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 DTNA 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 vehicles under their 

control after DTNA notified them that 

the subject noncompliances 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. 2022–07825 Filed 4–12–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–59–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

National Highway Traffic Safety 

Administration 

[Docket No. NHTSA–2021–0095; Notice 1] 

Continental Tire the Americas, LLC, 

Receipt of Petition for Decision of 

Inconsequential Noncompliance 

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic 

Safety Administration (NHTSA), 

Department of Transportation (DOT). 

ACTION: Receipt of petition. 

SUMMARY: Continental Tire the 

Americas, LLC, (CTA) has determined 

that certain Continental motorcycle tires 

do not fully comply with Federal Motor 

Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 

119, New Pneumatic Tires for Motor 

Vehicles with a GVWR of More Than 

4,536 Kilograms (10,000 Pounds), 

Specialty Tires, and Tires for 

Motorcycles. CTA filed a 

noncompliance report dated December 

2, 2021, and subsequently petitioned 

NHTSA on December 22, 2021, for a 

decision that the subject noncompliance 

is inconsequential as it relates to motor 

vehicle safety. This notice announces 

receipt of CTA’s petition. 

DATES: Send comments on or before 

May 13, 2022. 

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: 

Jayton Lindley, General Engineer, 


jspears on DSK121TN23PROD with NOTICES1
Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 71 / Wednesday, April 13, 2022 / Notices 22023 

1https://recallinfo.ustires.org/. 

NHTSA, Office of Vehicle Safety 

Compliance, (325) 655–0547. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Overview 

CTA has determined that certain 

Continental motorcycle tires from 

several different tire lines do not fully 

comply with the requirements of 

paragraph S6.5(b) of FMVSS No. 139, 

New Pneumatic Tires for Motor Vehicles 

with a GVWR of More Than 4,536 

Kilograms (10,000 Pounds) (49 CFR 

571.119). CTA filed a noncompliance 

report dated December 2, 2021, 

pursuant to 49 CFR part 573, Defect and 

Noncompliance Responsibility and 

Reports. CTA subsequently petitioned 

NHTSA on December 22, 2021, 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 CTA’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. Tires Involved 

Approximately 14,198 Continental 

motorcycle tires, size 100/80–16 M/C 

50P, manufactured between July 2, 

2018, and September 24, 2020, are 

potentially involved. 

III. Noncompliance 

CTA explains the noncompliance is 

that the tires contain unallowed 

symbols in the tire identification 

number (TIN) and, therefore, do not 

meet the requirements of 49 CFR 

574.5(f) which results in a 

noncompliance with paragraph S6.5(b) 

of FMVSS No. 119. Specifically, the 

sidewalls of the subject tires are marked 

with a TIN that may contain one of the 

following unallowed symbols: G, I, O, 

Q, S, and Z. 

IV. Rule Requirements 

Paragraph S6.5(b) of FMVSS No. 119 

includes the requirements relevant to 

this petition. Each tire must be marked 

on each sidewall with the TIN required 

by part 574. Specifically, part 574.5(f) 

states that the only symbols that 

manufacturers and retreaders are 

allowed to use in the tire identification 

number are: A, B, C, D, E, F, H, J, K, L, 

M, N, P, R, T, U, V, W, X, Y, 1, 2, 3, 

4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 0. 

V. Summary of CTA’s Petition 

The following views and arguments 

presented in this section, ‘‘V. Summary 

of CTA’s Petition,’’ are the views and 

arguments provided by CTA. They have 

not been evaluated by the Agency and 

do not reflect the views of the Agency. 

CTA begins its petition by describing 

the subject noncompliance and 

contending that it is inconsequential 

because the subject tires can still be 

registered with the unauthorized 

symbols and can be identified, in the 

event of a recall. 

CTA explains that it uses a third-party 

company, Computerized Information 

and Management Services, Inc. (CIMS), 

who maintains ‘‘a database of all CTA’s 

tire registrations for the purpose of 

identifying purchasers of tires in the 

event of a future recall.’’ Further, CTA 

states that the database can be searched 

for not only exact matches but also 

‘‘close matching database entries,’’ 

which would mean the database can 

perform a search ‘‘if an ‘I’ was 

misrepresented as a ‘1’ or vice versa.’’ 

CTA says that in the event of a recall, 

the subject tires can be identified in the 

U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association’s 

tire recall search tool 1 because it uses 

an algorithm in which the unallowed 

letter can be used interchangeably with 

a corresponding allowed number, for 

example, ‘‘G or 6, I or 1, O or 0, etc.’’ 

CTA states that NHTSA has 

previously assigned a plant code 

containing an unauthorized letter to 

Continental Tire’s location in Timisoara, 

Romania. In that case, the plant code 

contained the letter ‘‘G’’ which CTA 

believes ‘‘does not cause any issues with 

tire registration and would not affect the 

registration search in the case of a 

recall.’’ Therefore, CTA argues, the use 

of the unallowed symbols in the TIN of 

the subject tires will not affect tire 

registration or the identification of the 

TIN in the event of a recall. 

CTA says that it has stopped the sale 

of the subject tires and ‘‘has initiated the 

process of changing tire curing molds to 

compliant DOT TIN’s’’ and that ‘‘the 

mold change dates will be documented 

in the CTA specification system for 

future traceability.’’ CTA also says that 

it is taking action to prevent the 

reoccurrence of the subject 

noncompliance by modifying its 

sidewall specification system to include 

‘‘a control point before a DOT TIN can 

be released for production.’’ 

Additionally, CTA says that it will 

comply with the new 13 character TIN 

requirement by including a 3 character 

assigned plant code and the 6 digit 

manufacturer code that will be 

‘‘automatically generated by the 

specification system, which assumes 

that only authorized symbols are used.’’ 

CTA concludes its petition by stating 

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 tires that CTA no longer 

controlled at the time it determined that 

the noncompliance existed. However, 

any decision on this petition does not 

relieve equipment distributors and 

dealers of the prohibitions on the sale, 

offer for sale, or introduction or delivery 

for introduction into interstate 

commerce of the noncompliant tires 

under their control after CTA 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. 2022–07827 Filed 4–12–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–59–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Pipeline and Hazardous Materials 

Safety Administration 

Hazardous Materials: Notice of 

Applications for New Special Permits 

AGENCY: Pipeline and Hazardous 

Materials Safety Administration 

(PHMSA), Transportation (DOT). 

ACTION: List of applications for special 

permits. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

procedures governing the application 

for, and the processing of, special 

permits from the Department of 

Transportation’s Hazardous Material 

Regulations, notice is hereby given that 

the Office of Hazardous Materials Safety 

has received the application described 

herein. 


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