Document ID: NHTSA-2012-0024-0003
Agency: nhtsa
Document Type: Notice
Title: Petitions for Decision of Inconsequential Noncompliance: Supreme Indiana Operations, Inc.
Posted Date: 2013-06-12T04:00Z

[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 113 (Wednesday, June 12, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35354-35355]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-13920]

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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[Docket No. NHTSA-2012-0024; Notice 2]

Supreme Indiana Operations, Inc., Grant of Petition for Decision 
of Inconsequential Noncompliance

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, DOT.

ACTION: Grant of Petition.

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SUMMARY: Startrans, a division of Supreme Indiana Operations, Inc., 
(Startrans)\1\ has determined that certain Startrans trucks, buses, and 
multifunction school activity buses (MFSAB) manufactured from 2006 
through 2011, do not fully comply with paragraph Sec.  5.3 of Federal 
Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 120, Tire selection and rims 
and motor home/recreation vehicle trailer load carrying capacity 
information for motor vehicles with a GVWR of more than 4,536 kilograms 
(10,000 pounds). Startrans has filed an appropriate report pursuant to 
49 CFR Part 573, Defect and Noncompliance Responsibility and Reports, 
dated November 16, 2011.
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    \1\ Supreme Indiana Operations, Inc., is manufacturer of motor 
vehicles and is registered under the laws of the state of Delaware.
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    Pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 30118(d) and 30120(h) and the rule 
implementing those provisions at 49 CFR Part 556, Startrans has 
petitioned for an exemption from the notification and remedy 
requirements of 49 U.S.C. Chapter 301 on the basis that this 
noncompliance is inconsequential to motor vehicle safety.
    Notice of receipt of Startran's petition was published, with a 30-
day public comment period, on March 22, 2012, in the Federal Register 
(77 FR 16893). No comments were received. To view the petition and all 
supporting documents log onto the Federal Docket Management System 
(FDMS) Web site at: http://www.regulations.gov/. Then follow the online 
search instructions to locate docket number ``NHTSA-2012-0024.''
    Contact Information: For further information on this decision, 
contact Ms. Amina Fisher, Office of Vehicle Safety Compliance, the 
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), telephone (202) 
366-1018.
    Vehicles Invovled: Affected are approximately 436 MFSAB (Activity 
School Buses) manufactured between 2007 and 2011, 9,543 School Buses 
manufactured between 2007 and 2011, 97,271 Truck models manufactured 
between 2006 and 2011, for a total of approximately 107,250 vehicles 
not in compliance with FMVSS No. 120.
    Summary of Startrans' Analysis and Arguments: Startrans explains 
that the noncompliance is that the height of the lettering on the 
combined certification and tire information labels attached to the 
subject vehicles is less than that required by paragraph Sec.  5.3 of 
FMVSS No. 120. The lettering on the noncompliant labels is only 2.12 
millimeters (mm) in height. The height required by paragraph Sec.  5.3 
is 2.4 mm.
    Startrans determined that the subject noncompliance existed after 
being notified by the NHTSA's Office of Vehicle Safety Compliance 
(OVSC) that an apparent noncompliance was identified during an OVSC 
FMVSS No. 120 compliance test of a model year 2010 Startrans MFSAB.
    Startrans makes the argument that the subject noncompliance is not 
performance related and is inconsequential to vehicle safety. The font 
height of the text on the certification label is just 0.28 mm less than 
the requirement, but the label text is clear, legible and meets all the 
other labeling requirements.

[[Page 35355]]

    Startrans also states that the number of vehicles that potentially 
require remedy is 107,250 and represents several concerns. These 
vehicles are already registered and currently represent no concern with 
licensing. To perform a remedy on this many vehicles invites the 
possibility of certification decals being reinstalled on the wrong 
vehicles.
    Startrans has additionally informed NHTSA that it has corrected the 
noncompliance so that all future production vehicles will comply with 
FMVSS No. 120.
    In summation, Startrans believes that the described noncompliance 
of its vehicles is inconsequential to motor vehicle safety, and that 
its petition, to exempt from providing recall notification of 
noncompliance as required by 49 U.S.C. 30118 and remedying the recall 
noncompliance as required by 49 U.S.C. 30120 should be granted.
    Background Requirement: Section Sec.  5.3 of FMVSS No. 120 
specifically states:

Sec.  5.3  Each vehicle shall show the information specified in Sec.  
5.3.1 and Sec.  5.3.2 and, in the case of a vehicle equipped with a 
non-pneumatic spare tire, the information specified in Sec.  5.3.3, in 
the English language, lettered in block capitals and numerals not less 
than 2.4 millimeters high and in the format set forth following this 
paragraph. This information shall appear either--

    (a) After each GAWR listed on the certification label required 
by Sec.  567.4 or Sec.  567.5 of this chapter; or at the option of 
the manufacturer,
    (b) On the tire information label affixed to the vehicle in the 
manner, location, and form described in Sec.  567.4 (b) through (f) 
of this chapter as appropriate of each GVWR-GAWR combination listed 
on the certification label.

    NHTSA Decision: NHTSA has reviewed and accepts Startrans analyses 
that the noncompliance is inconsequential to motor vehicle safety. In 
addition, NHTSA has verified that the certification and tire labels do 
comply with all other safety performance requirements of FMVSS No. 120. 
NHTSA agrees that, despite the lettering size discrepancy, the labels 
are clear and legible.
    In consideration of the foregoing, NHTSA has determined that 
Startrans has met its burden of persuasion that the subject FMVSS No. 
120 labeling noncompliance is inconsequential to motor vehicle safety. 
Accordingly, Startrans' petition is hereby granted, and Startrans is 
exempted from the obligation of providing notification of, and remedy 
for, the subject noncompliance under 49 U.S.C. 3018 and 30120.
    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, this decision 
only applies to approximately 107,250 vehicles that Startrans no longer 
controlled at the time that it determined that a noncompliance existed 
in the subject vehicles. However, the granting of 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 Startrans notified them that the subject noncompliance existed.

    Authority: (49 U.S.C. 30118, 30120: delegations of authority at 
CFR 1.95 and 501.8)

    Issued On: June 5, 2013.
Claude H. Harris,
Director, Office of Vehicle Safety Compliance.
[FR Doc. 2013-13920 Filed 6-11-13; 8:45 am]
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