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CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS INFORMATION REDACTED
 

Hogan Lovells US LLP 

Columbia Square 

555 Thirteenth Street, NW 

Washington, DC 20004 

T +1 202 637 5600 

F +1 202 637 5910 

www.hoganlovells.com 

September 26, 2017 

Mr. Stephen P. Wood 

Acting Chief Counsel 

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 

(NCC-111), Room W41-227 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE 

West Building 

Washington, DC 20590 

RE:	 Docket No. NHTSA-2015-0055 – Daimler Vans Request for Extension of Priority 

Group 6 Launch Deadline Under ¶ 34 of the Third Amended Coordinated 

Remedy Order 

Dear Mr. Wood: 

On behalf of our client, Daimler Vans, this letter requests an extension of time in which to comply 

with the sufficient supply and remedy launch deadline for Priority Group 6 vehicles contained in 

Paragraph 34 of the Third Amended Takata Coordinated Remedy Order (ACRO). The Daimler Vans 

vehicles included in Priority Group 6 are Model Year (MY) 2013 and 2014 Freightliner and 

Mercedes- Benz Sprinters in Zones A and non-A, for the driver side airbag. 

As discussed with NHTSA and the Monitor team, Daimler Vans recently learned that its expected 

supply of Takata [ ] inflators for the remainder of 2017 would not be as robust as planned. 

Daimler Vans has been working with Takata for the past several weeks to increase its part supply 

allocation, and has had some success in improving the situation. Daimler Vans initially thought that, 

despite the supply disruption, it might have enough parts to launch Priority Group 6. However, 

based on the most recent information available and current calculations, Daimler Vans does not 

believe it can fully launch Priority Group 6 by the September 30, 2017 deadline. 

Daimler Vans is therefore requesting that it be permitted to launch the Priority Group 6 recall in 

phases. Daimler Vans would launch the recall for MY 2013 vehicles first, since these are the oldest 

vehicles in that Priority Group. Daimler Vans believes that it will have sufficient parts in place to 

launch the recall for MY 2013 vehicles by late October, and requests an extension for that vehicle 

population to October 30, 2017. For MY 2014 vehicles, Daimler Vans is requesting an additional two 

and a half week extension, to November 17, 2017, in order to provide additional time to accumulate 

anticipated parts. Daimler Vans intends to also “flag” MY14 vehicles for dealers, in the event a MY14 

owner demands a driver-side replacement prior to receiving the notification letter. 

Hogan Lovells US LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in the District of Columbia. Hogan Lovells refers to the international legal practice comprising Hogan Lovells US LLP, Hogan 

Lovells International LLP, Hogan Lovells Worldwide Group (a Swiss Verein), and their affiliated businesses with offices in: Abu Dhabi Alicante Amsterdam Baltimore Beijing Berlin 

Boulder Brussels Caracas Chicago Colorado Springs Denver Dubai Dusseldorf Frankfurt Hamburg Hanoi Ho Chi Minh City Hong Kong Houston London Los Angeles 

Madrid Miami Milan Moscow Munich New York Northern Virginia Paris Philadelphia Prague Rome San Francisco Shanghai Silicon Valley Singapore Tokyo Warsaw 

Washington DC Associated offices: Budapest Jeddah Riyadh Zagreb 
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7,000 21,000

thirty percent

twenty percent

14 – 21 2 –

4

Mr. Stephen P. Wood CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS INFORMATION REDACTED 

September 26, 2017 

Page 2 

Daimler Vans believed it had a reasonable plan in place to procure a sufficient quantity of Takata 

[ ] inflators to launch this recall and has been following its normal ordering processes. Daimler 

Vans placed weekly parts orders, and, once it realized that it would not be receiving sufficient 

supplies, escalated this issue with Takata on August 17, 2017 (escalation through Daimler 

purchasing department), August 31, 2017, and September 5, 2017 (telephone conference with 

Takata to confirm shipment schedules for remainder of 2017), in order to increase its part allocation. 

Daimler Vans was able to successfully increase the number of inflators to be delivered for the 

remainder of 2017 from [ ] to [ ], and to move up the anticipated delivery date for the next 

shipment to the week of October 9, 2017. 

Daimler Vans normally launches a recall with [ ] of the replacement parts available to 

dealers; however, in this case Daimler Vans is planning to launch the recall with approximately 

[ ] in order to expedite the recall launch. 

The normal delivery time via airfreight from when parts leave the DAG Parts Center in Germany to 

when they arrive at the US Parts Center is [ ] days. Allocation to dealers takes another [ 

] days. Sufficient quantities of parts for MY 2013 vehicles should be accumulated by the week of 

October 23, 2017, then allocated to dealers so the launch can commence the week of October 30, 

2017. Daimler Vans expects to be able to accumulate sufficient additional parts to launch the full 

recall, including MY 2014 vehicles, by the week of November 13, 2017. 

Daimler Vans respectfully requests an extension of time in which to comply with the September 30, 

2017 deadline specified for Priority Group 6 in Paragraph 34 of the ACRO. Daimler Vans proposes 

that its deadline for acquiring a sufficient supply of parts and launching the remedy for MY 2013 

vehicles in Priority Group 6 be extended to October 30, 2017, and that the deadline for MY 2014 

vehicles in Priority Group 6 be extended to November 17, 2017. 

Thank you for your consideration of this request. Please let us know if you need any additional 

information. 

Sincerely, 

R. Latane Montague 

Attachment: Affidavit in Support of Extension Request 

Cc: Stephen Hench, Esq. 

R. Thomas Brunner
 

Michael D. Scott