Document ID: NHTSA-2022-0011-0002
Agency: nhtsa
Document Type: Notice
Title: Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposals, Submissions, and Approvals: Record Retention
Posted Date: 2022-11-04T04:00Z

[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 213 (Friday, November 4, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66771-66773]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-24032]

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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[Docket No. DOT-NHTSA-2022-0011]

Agency Information Collection Activities; Notice and Request for 
Comment; Record Retention

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 
Department of Transportation (DOT).

ACTION: This is a reinstatement of a previous approved information 
collection.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), 
this notice announces that the Information Collection Request (ICR) 
abstracted below is being forwarded to the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) for review and approval. A Federal Register Notice with a 
60-day comment period soliciting comments on the following information 
collection was published on July 20, 2022. No comments were received.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before December 5, 2022.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed 
information collection, including suggestions for reducing burden, 
should be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget at 
www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. To find this particular information 
collection, select ``Currently under Review--Open for Public Comment'' 
or use the search function.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For additional information or access 
to background documents, contact Paul Simmons, Office of Defect 
Investigation (NEF-110), (202) 366-2315, National Highway Traffic 
Safety Administration, Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey 
Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590, email [email protected]. Please 
identify the relevant collection of information by referring to its OMB 
Control Number 2121-0042.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the PRA (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), a 
Federal agency must receive approval from the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) before it collects certain information from the public and 
a person is not required to respond to a collection of information by a 
Federal agency unless the collection displays a valid OMB control 
number. In compliance with these requirements, this notice announces 
that the following information collection request will be submitted 
OMB.
    Title of Collection: Record Retention--49 CFR part 576.
    OMB Control Number: 2127-0042.
    Form Numbers(s): N/A.
    Type of Request: This is a reinstatement of a previous approved 
Information Collection.
    Type of Review Requested: Regular.
    Length of Approval Requested: Three years.

[[Page 66772]]

Summary of the Collection of Information

    Under 49 U.S.C. 30166(e), NHTSA ``reasonably may require a 
manufacturer of a motor vehicle or motor vehicle equipment to keep 
records, and a manufacturer, distributor or dealer to make reports, to 
enable [NHTSA] to decide whether the manufacturer, distributor, or 
dealer has complied or is complying with this chapter or a regulation 
prescribed under this chapter.''
    To ensure that NHTSA will have access to this type of information, 
the agency exercised the authority granted in 49 U.S.C. 30166(e) and 
promulgated 49 CFR part 576 Record Retention, initially published on 
August 20, 1974 and most recently amended on July 10, 2002 (67 FR 
45873), requiring manufacturers to retain one copy of all records that 
contain information concerning malfunctions that may be related to 
motor vehicle safety for a period of five calendar years after the 
record is generated or acquired by the manufacturer. Manufacturers are 
also required to retain for five years the underlying records related 
to early warning reporting (EWR) information submitted under 49 CFR 
part 579. The information collections support NHTSA's mission by 
increasing the effectiveness of NHTSA's investigations into potential 
safety related defects.

Description of the Need for the Information and Proposed Use of the 
Information

    The records that are required to be retained per 49 CFR part 576 
are used to promptly identify potential safety-related defects in motor 
vehicles and motor vehicle equipment in the United States. When a trend 
in incidents arising from a potentially safety-related defect is 
discovered, NHTSA relies on this information, along with other agency 
data, to determine whether or not to open a formal defect investigation 
(as authorized by Title 49 U.S.C. chapter 301--Motor Vehicle Safety). 
NHTSA normally becomes aware of possible safety-related defects because 
it receives consumer complaints.
    Agency experience has shown that manufacturers receive 
significantly more consumer complaints than does the agency. This is 
because the consumer with the product does not know whether their 
particular vehicle or equipment has a problem that is common with an 
entire group of vehicles or equipment. Whereas consumers know the 
manufacturer of their vehicle or equipment, relatively few know how to 
file a complaint with the National Highway Traffic Safety 
Administration's Auto Safety Hotline. The complaints filed with the 
manufacturer give the agency a fair indication of how widespread the 
potential problem may be.
    If the manufacturer did not retain its records, NHTSA would be 
unable to enforce the statutory requirements that the manufacturer 
notify the agency and other persons of a safety-related defect when the 
manufacturer ``learns'' of the defect, and notify the agency and other 
persons of a noncompliance when it ``decides in good faith'' that the 
noncompliance exists. Without access to the manufacturer's records, it 
would be impossible for anyone other than the manufacturer to show when 
or if that manufacturer had obtained knowledge of a potential defect or 
had determined in good faith that the noncompliance did or did not 
exist. Without access to manufacturers' records, NHTSA's examinations 
of potential defects and non-compliances would be seriously 
handicapped. NHTSA could conduct surveys of vehicle owners or use other 
means to learn of problems with vehicles and equipment, but any of 
these other methods would require significantly more information 
collections by the agency and necessitate a larger staff of the 
agency's Office of Defect Investigations.
    60-Day Notice: A Federal Register Notice with a 60-day comment 
period soliciting comments on the following information collection was 
published on July 20, 2022. No comments were received.
    Affected Public: Manufacturers of motor vehicles and motor vehicle 
equipment.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 1,030.
    NHTSA estimates that approximately 1,030 manufacturers of vehicles 
and equipment (including tires, child restraint systems and trailers) 
are required to maintain records under Part 576.
    Frequency: As needed.
    Number of Responses: 1,030.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 40,225.
    NHTSA estimates the total annual burden for each vehicle, tire, and 
child restraint manufacturer to be 40 hours for a subtotal of 40,200 
hours (1,005 respondents x 40 hours). In addition, there are 
approximately 23,660 equipment manufacturers (excluding tires, child 
seat restraint systems and trailer manufacturers) whose record 
retention requirements under part 576 are limited to the documents 
underlying their part 579 reporting requirements. Their part 579 
requirements include only the reporting of incidents involving deaths. 
Therefore, based on the number of death reports submitted to date by 
these equipment manufacturers, we estimate that an additional 25 
equipment manufacturers have record retention requirements imposed by 
part 576. We estimate that it will take one hour each to maintain the 
necessary records each year for a subtotal burden of 25 hours (25 
respondents x one hour). Accordingly, NHTSA estimates that the total 
annual burden hours is 40,225 hours ((1,005 respondents x 40 hours) + 
(25 respondents x 1 hour)).
    To calculate the labor cost associated with maintaining, NHTSA 
looked at wage estimates for the type of personnel involved with 
compiling and submitting the documents. NHTSA estimates the total labor 
costs associated with these burden hours by looking at the average wage 
for clerical workers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) estimates 
that the average hourly wage for office clerks (BLS Occupation code 43-
9061) in the Motor Vehicle Manufacturing Industry is $20.98.\1\ The 
Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that private industry workers' 
wages represent 70.2% of total labor compensation costs.\2\ Therefore, 
NHTSA estimates the hourly labor costs to be $29.89 and NHTSA estimates 
the total labor cost associated with the 40,225 burden hours to be 
$1,202,325.25. Table 1 provides a summary of the estimated burden hours 
and labor costs associated with those submissions.
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    \1\ May 2020 National Industry-Specific Occupational Employment 
and Wage Estimates, NAICS 336100--Motor Vehicle Manufacturing, 
available at https://www.bls.gov/oes/2020/may/naics4_336100.htm#43-0000 (accessed March 25, 2022).
    \2\ See Table 1. Employer Costs for Employee Compensation by 
ownership (Mar. 2020), available at https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/ecec_06182020.pdf (accessed March 25, 2022).

[[Page 66773]]

                                            Table 1--Burden Estimates
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                   Estimated  burden per    Average hourly   Labor cost per    Total burden
Annual responses     response  (hours)        labor cost        response          hours        Total labor costs
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          1,030                    39.05           $29.89        $1,167.31           40,225       $1,202,325.25
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    Estimated Total Annual Burden Cost: $0.
    NHTSA estimates that there are no costs resulting from this 
collection of information other than labor costs associated with the 
burden hours.
    Public Comments Invited: You are asked to comment on any aspect of 
this information collection, including (a) whether the proposed 
collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of 
the functions of the Department, including whether the information will 
have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the Department's estimate 
of the burden of the proposed information collection; (c) ways to 
enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the information to be 
collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of 
information on respondents, including the use of automated collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology.
    A comment to OMB is most effective if OMB receives it within 30 
days of publication.
    Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. chapter 
35, as amended; 49 CFR 1.49; and DOT Order 1351.29A.

Stephen A. Ridella,
Director, Office of Defects Investigation.
[FR Doc. 2022-24032 Filed 11-3-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P