Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 108 / Tuesday, June 4, 1996 / Proposed Rules 28123

4(j) and 303(r)of the Communications

Act of 1934, 47 U.S.C. 154 (j) and 303

(r), it is ordered that the period of time

for filing comments and reply comments

in the Notice of Proposed Rule Making,

CI Docket 95–55, released on April 26,

1996, is hereby extended. Comments

must be filed on or before June 24, 1996.

Reply comments must be filed on or

before July 15, 1996.

3. To file formally in this proceeding,

you must file an original and four copies

of all comments, reply comments, and

supporting comments. If you want each

Commissioner to receive a personal

copy of your comments, you should file

an original and nine copies. You should

send your comments and reply

comments to Office of the Secretary,

Federal Communications Commission,

Washington, D.C. 20554.

4. You may also file informal

comments by electronic mail. You

should address informal comments to

gdillon@fcc.gov. You must put the

docket number of this proceeding on the

subject line (see the caption at the

beginning of this Notice). You must also

include your full name and Postal

Service mailing address in the text of

the message. Comments and reply

comments will be available for public

inspection during regular business

hours in the Reference Center of the

Federal Communications Commission

(Room 239), 1919 M Street, N.W.,

Washington, D.C. 20554.

Federal Communications Commission.

Beverly G. Baker,

Chief, Compliance and Information Bureau.

[FR Doc. 96–13835 Filed 6–3–96; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6712–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety

Administration

49 CFR Part 571

Denial of Petition for Rulemaking;

Federal Motor Vehicle Safety

Standards

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic

Safety Administration (NHTSA),

Department of Transportation.

ACTION: Denial of petition for

rulemaking.

SUMMARY: This document denies the

Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE)

petition to incorporate the latest version

of SAE J592 Clearance, Side Marker, and

Identification Lamps, and SAE J593

Backup Lamps, into Federal Motor

Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No.

108. NHTSA’s analysis of the petition

concludes that there is minimal benefit

to the public in updating the reference

to these SAE standards. While

incorporation would make them more

readily available to lighting and vehicle

design engineers as a reference, this is

a minimal benefit compared to the

expenditures of Agency resources to

implement it and other SAE standards

whose references in FMVSS No. 108 are

not the most recent. The Agency’s

commitment of its resources to its safety

priorities precludes granting this

petition. However, the agency has

compiled a reference document of

materials incorporated into FMVSS No.

108 to improve the availability of these

materials. This document is available

upon request.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr.

Richard L. Van Iderstine, Office of Crash

Avoidance Standards, NHTSA, 400

Seventh Street, SW, Washington, DC

20590. Mr. Van Iderstine’s telephone

number is: (202) 366–5280. His

facsimile number is (202) 366–4329.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: By letter

dated February 15, 1996, William A.

McKinney, Chairman of the Lighting

Coordinating Committee of the Society

of Automotive Engineers, Inc.

(Petitioner) petitioned the agency to

incorporate the latest version of SAE

J592 Clearance, Side Marker, and

Identification Lamps, and SAE J593

Backup Lamps, into 49 CFR 571.108

(Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard

No. 108, Lamps, reflective devices and

associated equipment.)

The Petitioner claimed the changes in

SAE J592 DEC94 Clearance, Side

Marker, and Identification Lamps

provide significant improvements as

follows:

a. Photometric performance

requirements are based on zones,

including 60% minimum requirement

for individual test points, and are

consistent with the required format used

for most signal and marking lamps

regulated by FMVSS 108, and a 0.5

degree radius tolerance area for

maximum readings is also additionally

specified to allow for inconsequential

light streaks,

b. Additional explanations and

guidelines for installation are provided,

c. The format and content is

consistent with the current SAE

formatting requirements, and

d. Information on SAE publications

referenced in the document is

incorporated.

The petitioner claimed the changes in

SAE J593 OCT95 Backup provide the

following:

a. A definition of point of visibility,

b. Photometric performance

requirements based on zones, including

60% minimum requirement for

individual test points, thus allowing the

deletion of FMVSS 108, Figure 2,

Minimum Luminous Intensity

Requirements for Backup Lamps,

c. A specific maximum requirement of

500 cd for a one (1) backup lamp

system, whereas the current FMVSS

108, Table 2 footnote leaves the

maximum requirement subject to

interpretation,

d. Specific requirements for limiting

and measuring the currently specified

‘‘incidental red, amber, or white light

* * *.’’

e. Additional explanations and

guidelines for photometry and

installation,

f. Revised format with content that is

consistent with the current SAE

formatting requirements, and

g. Information on SAE publications

referenced in the document.

Petitioner further claimed that these

revisions make new versions easier to

apply, as well as easier to find because

they are located in current SAE

Handbooks. Petitioner also claimed that

the changes would not adversely affect

the costs of any lighting. No claims

about safety or performance were made.

The agency has reviewed what would

be required to implement the

Petitioner’s desired solution. It has

found that the tests and many

requirements of the new documents are

from other SAE standards newer than

those referenced in FMVSS No. 108,

making an update only partially of value

to any particular user.

Thus, the advantage claimed by

Petitioner by referencing standards in

current SAE Handbooks appears to be

very small because this action would

update only the two referenced

documents, and none of the

subreferenced documents. Additionally,

because NHTSA reference to SAE

standards is not always absolute, in that

parts of standards are referenced or

exceptions are made to specific

requirements in SAE standards where

different or more stringent performance

is necessary for safety purposes, the

value of having the latest version of an

SAE document is lessened. Thus,

without a careful reading of FMVSS No.

108, a reader of the newest referenced

documents could be misled as to the

pertinent requirements, just as can

occur with the currently referenced

versions.

Additionally, it is unlikely these two

documents, or any version of a

referenced industry standard would be

wholly usable for more than just a short

period of time and probably would be

out of print within no more than five

years because of SAE’s 5-year schedule
28124 Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 108 / Tuesday, June 4, 1996 / Proposed Rules

of periodic updating of its standards. In

fact, SAE J593 was updated in June

1987, February 1995, and October 1995,

three times in less than nine years.

Thus, unless SAE changes the policy of

regular updates, the value of the

rulemaking effort requested by this

petition soon would be negated by

another update. While the agency

acknowledges that industry standards

must be updated to assure their

relevance to technology and their value

to users, periodic updating where few if

any substantive changes are made may

be counterproductive for use as Federal

Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.

Allocation of agency resources and

agency priorities also must be

considered in processing what is the

second petition from the SAE to update

its standards directly or indirectly

referenced in FMVSS No. 108. All of

these standards have specific dated

versions referenced in FMVSS No. 108.

Because the SAE endeavors to update its

standards on a regular schedule, the

federal regulatory workload from such a

course of updating would be continuous

and drain resources from the Agency’s

identified priorities. This is not a

desirable course. Nonetheless, NHTSA

recognizes that the technical expertise

of engineers from around the world

participating in SAE Committee

activities is invaluable to NHTSA’s

mission, particularly when performance

requirements must be developed to

accommodate new technologies.

As stated in the recent denial (61 FR

14044) on the first SAE petition to

update references to SAE standards,

NHTSA is considering how best to

cooperate with SAE. The Agency has

compiled and will provide on request,

a reference document containing all the

SAE and other organizations’ standards

that are directly referenced in FMVSS

No. 108. The immediate effect is to

make it easier for all interested parties,

especially lighting and vehicle

personnel, to have available the

requirements in the Federal lighting

standard. The agency recognizes the

problem of finding older SAE standards,

and takes this action as a short term

solution to solve that problem. Together,

this document of referenced standards

and the current version of FMVSS No.

108 will provide our customers with as

current a version of the lighting

standard as is reasonable.

As a longer term solution, the Agency

looks to SAE and our regulated partners

to help find ways to make the more

recent SAE documents be more

acceptable from a regulatory burden and

motor vehicle safety perspective, and to

be longer lasting in their value. Thus,

the agency will be favorably inclined to

consider any future SAE or other

petitioner’s request that has significant

safety benefit or when such action

would remove impediments to the use

of new technologies.

In accordance with 49 CFR part 552,

this completes the agency’s review of

the petition. The agency has concluded

that there is no reasonable possibility

that the specific action requested by the

petitioner would be issued at the

conclusion of a rulemaking proceeding.

Accordingly, it denies the SAE’s

petition.

Authority: 49 U.S.C. 30103, 30162;

delegation of authority at 49 CFR 1.50 and

501.8.

Issued on: May 29, 1996.

Barry Felrice,

Associate Administrator for Safety

Performance Standards.

[FR Doc. 96–13866 Filed 6–3–96; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910–59–P

49 CFR Part 57l

[Docket No. 87–10; Notice 6]

RIN 2127–AF83

Federal Motor Vehicle Safety

Standards; Power-Operated Window,

Partition, and Roof Panel Systems

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic

Safety Administration (NHTSA),

Department of Transportation.

ACTION: Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

(NPRM).

SUMMARY: In response to a petition from

Prospects Corporation (Prospects), this

document proposes to amend Standard

118, Power-Operated Window,

Partition, and Roof Panel Systems, to

accommodate power windows,

partitions, and roof panels which

automatically reverse when closing if an

infrared system detects an object in or

near the path of the closing window,

partition, or panel. Since infrared

systems may fail to detect an object the

size of a very young child’s finger, but

can detect the child’s hand, the agency

is proposing to test those systems using

a rod representing the side profile of a

child’s hand. The proposal also

specifies the infrared reflectance of the

rods used for testing those systems. This

document also proposes to amend the

requirements for systems that stop the

window, partition, or panel before an

appendage or other body part could

become trapped by it by eliminating the

requirement that those systems reverse

after stopping. Reversal is not necessary

unless there is a risk that a person may

become trapped. In addition, this

document requests comment on the

safety of express-up power windows

(i.e., power windows that fully close

after a single, momentary touching of

the window switch), because numerous

callers to NHTSA have alleged that

express-up windows exist and are

unsafe.

DATES: Comment Date: Comments must

be received by August 5, 1996

Effective and Compliance Dates: If

adopted, the proposed amendments

would become effective, and

compliance required, 30 days following

publication of the final rule.

ADDRESSES: Comments should refer to

the docket and notice number of this

notice and be submitted to: Docket

Section, Room 5109, National Highway

Traffic Safety Administration, 400

Seventh Street, SW, Washington, DC

20590. (Docket Room hours are 9:30

a.m.–4 p.m., Monday through Friday.)

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The

following persons by mail at the

National Highway Traffic Safety

Administration, 400 Seventh Street, SW,

Washington, DC 20590:

For technical issues:

Mr. Richard Van Iderstine, Office of

Crash Avoidance Standards, NPS–21,

telephone (202) 366–5280, facsimile

(202) 366–4329, electronic mail

‘‘rvaniderstine@nhtsa.dot.gov’’.

For legal issues:

Mr. Paul Atelsek, Office of the Chief

Counsel, NCC–20, telephone (202) 366–

2992, facsimile (202) 366–3820,

electronic mail

‘‘patelsek@nhtsa.dot.gov’’. Please note

that comments should be sent to the

docket section rather than faxed to the

contact persons.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

Standard No. 118 regulates the safety

of power windows, partitions, and roof

panels. For the sake of simplicity, and

because NHTSA anticipates that this

proposal would primarily affect power

windows, the agency collectively refers

to these three systems as ‘‘power

windows’’ in the preamble. However,

the proposed changes apply equally to

powered partitions and roofs. The

standard addresses the threat to

unsupervised children of being

strangled or suffering limb-crushing

injuries by closing power windows.

Originally, the standard required that

the activation of power windows be

linked to an ignition interlock. The

standard prohibited the activation of

power windows unless the ignition key

was in the ignition and turned to the

‘‘on’’, ‘‘start’’ or ‘‘accessory’’ position,

based on the presumption that this

precondition would ensure that a driver