Opinion ID: 783159
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The 25 Percent Aspect of the Four-Tire, 25 Percent Standard

Text: 91 As we have noted, in the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the agency proposed two alternatives: a four-tire, 20 percent standard, and a three-tire, 25 percent standard. Notice, 66 Fed. Reg. at 38983. Then, in the draft final rule, the agency shifted both standards, proposing an option for automakers to meet either a four-tire, 25 percent standard or a one-tire, 30 percent standard. Final Rule, 67 Fed. Reg. at 38717. The petitioners argue that the agency's shift from 20 to 25 percent in the four-tire standard was arbitrary and capricious. To support this argument, the petitioners observe that according to the agency's own findings, current direct systems are already able to detect under-inflation levels equal to or greater than 20 percent. 92 As we have noted, however, the agency explained the shift from a four-tire, 20 percent standard to a four-tire, 25 percent standard in the Final Rule: 93 The agency ... adjust[ed] ... the four-tire option to 25 percent (instead of 20 percent) so that improved indirect TPMSs and hybrid TPMSs could be used to comply with the TPMS standard. 94 Id. at 38717-18. The agency supported this justification with a cost/benefit analysis, which concluded that the net cost per equivalent life saved of the four-tire, 20 percent standard was between $5.1 million and $5.3 million, whereas the net cost per equivalent life saved of the four-tire, 25 percent standard was $4.3 million. Id. at 38717. The agency concluded that the difference in benefits between TPMSs meeting four-tire, 20 percent requirements and TPMSs meeting four-tire, 25 percent requirements should not be substantial. Id. at 38706. Given that the 25 percent standard was a substantially more cost effective means of preventing injuries and saving lives than the 20 percent standard, we conclude that it was reasonable for NHTSA to adopt the former and reject the latter.