Notice2022-10438
Cooper Tire & Rubber Company, Receipt of Petition for Decision of Inconsequential Noncompliance
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
May 16, 2022
Issuing agencies
Transportation DepartmentNational Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Abstract
Cooper Tire & Rubber Company (Cooper Tire), has determined that certain Cooper CS5 Grant Touring and Cooper Evolution Tour replacement passenger car tires do not fully comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 139, New Pneumatic Radial Tires for Light Vehicles. Cooper Tire filed a noncompliance report dated April 28, 2021, and subsequently, Cooper Tire petitioned NHTSA on May 12, 2021, for a decision that the subject noncompliance is inconsequential as it relates to motor vehicle safety. This notice announces receipt of Cooper Tire's petition.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 94 (Monday, May 16, 2022)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 94 (Monday, May 16, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29779-29781]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-10438]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
[Docket No. NHTSA-2021-0047; Notice 1]
Cooper Tire & Rubber Company, Receipt of Petition for Decision of
Inconsequential Noncompliance
AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),
Department of Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Receipt of petition.
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SUMMARY: Cooper Tire & Rubber Company (Cooper Tire), has determined
that certain Cooper CS5 Grant Touring and Cooper Evolution Tour
replacement passenger car tires do not fully comply with Federal Motor
Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 139, New Pneumatic Radial Tires for
Light Vehicles. Cooper Tire filed a noncompliance report dated April
28, 2021, and subsequently, Cooper Tire petitioned NHTSA on May 12,
2021, for a decision that the subject noncompliance is inconsequential
as it relates to motor vehicle safety. This notice announces receipt of
Cooper Tire's petition.
DATES: Send comments on or before June 15, 2022.
ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit written data,
views, and arguments on this petition. Comments must refer to the
docket and notice number cited in the title of this notice and
submitted by any of the following methods:
<bullet> Mail: Send comments by mail addressed to the U.S.
Department of Transportation, Docket Operations, M-30, West Building
Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC
20590.
[[Page 29780]]
<bullet> Hand Delivery: Deliver comments by hand to the U.S.
Department of Transportation, Docket Operations, M-30, West Building
Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC
20590. The Docket Section is open on weekdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
except for Federal holidays.
<bullet> Electronically: Submit comments electronically by logging
onto the Federal Docket Management System (FDMS) website at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov/">https://www.regulations.gov/</a>. Follow the online instructions for submitting
comments.
<bullet> Comments may also be faxed to (202) 493-2251.
Comments must be written in the English language and be no greater
than 15 pages in length, although there is no limit to the length of
necessary attachments to the comments. If comments are submitted in
hard copy form, please ensure that two copies are provided. If you wish
to receive confirmation that comments you have submitted by mail were
received, please enclose a stamped, self-addressed postcard with the
comments. Note that all comments received will be posted without change
to <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>, including any personal information
provided.
All comments and supporting materials received before the close of
business on the closing date indicated above will be filed in the
docket and will be considered. All comments and supporting materials
received after the closing date will also be filed and will be
considered to the fullest extent possible.
When the petition is granted or denied, notice of the decision will
also be published in the Federal Register pursuant to the authority
indicated at the end of this notice.
All comments, background documentation, and supporting materials
submitted to the docket may be viewed by anyone at the address and
times given above. The documents may also be viewed on the internet at
<a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> by following the online instructions for
accessing the docket. The docket ID number for this petition is shown
in the heading of this notice.
DOT's complete Privacy Act Statement is available for review in a
Federal Register notice published on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477-78).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jayton Lindley, General Engineer,
NHTSA, Office of Vehicle Safety Compliance, (325) 655-0547.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Overview
Cooper Tire has determined that certain Cooper CS5 Grand Touring
and Cooper Evolution Tour replacement passenger car tires do not fully
comply with the requirements of paragraph S5.5.1(b) of FMVSS No. 139,
New Pneumatic Radial Tires for Light Vehicles (49 CFR 571.139). Cooper
Tire filed a noncompliance report dated April 28, 2021, pursuant to 49
CFR part 573, Defect and Noncompliance Responsibility and Reports.
Cooper Tire subsequently petitioned NHTSA on May 12, 2021, for an
exemption from the notification and remedy requirements of 49 U.S.C.
Chapter 301 on the basis that this noncompliance is inconsequential as
it relates to motor vehicle safety, pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 30118(d) and
30120(h) and 49 CFR part 556, Exemption for Inconsequential Defect or
Noncompliance.
This notice of receipt of Cooper Tire's petition is published under
49 U.S.C. 30118 and 30120 and does not represent any Agency decision or
other exercise of judgment concerning the merits of the petition.
II. Tires Involved
Approximately 294 Cooper CS5 Grand Touring, size 225/50R18, and
Cooper Evolution Tour, size 225/60R16, replacement passenger car tires,
manufactured between February 14, 2021, and March 27, 2021, are
potentially involved.
III. Noncompliance
Cooper Tire explains that the noncompliance is that the subject
tires were molded with an upside down and backwards serial week and
year on the outboard sidewall as required by paragraph S5.5.1(b) of
FMVSS No. 139.
IV. Rule Requirements
Paragraph S5.5.1(b) of FMVSS No. 139 includes the requirements
relevant to this petition.
<bullet> Each tire must be labeled with the tire identification
number required by 49 CFR part 574, which includes the date code, on
the intended outboard sidewall of the tire.
V. Summary of Cooper Tire's Petition
The following views and arguments presented in this section, ``V.
Summary of Cooper Tire's Petition,'' are the views and arguments
provided by Cooper Tire. They have not been evaluated by the Agency and
do not reflect the views of the Agency. Cooper Tire describes the
subject noncompliance and contends that the noncompliance is
inconsequential as it relates to motor vehicle safety.
In support of its petition, Cooper Tire submitted the following
reasoning:
1. The tires subject to this petition, on their outboard side only,
were molded with an upside down and backwards DOT serial week and year.
The serial number stampings should read: DOT U9 X3 1 LP 0721 and UP 78
1CW 1221. The outboard side, which includes the date code, was molded
with the date code information oriented incorrectly upside down and
backwards, which resulted in the characters being out of proper
sequence.
2. Cooper contends that the 294 tires subject to this petition meet
and/or exceed all performance requirements and all other labeling
markings as required by FMVSS No. 139.
3. Furthermore, Cooper Tire says that is not aware of any crashes,
injuries, customer complaints, or field reports associated with the
subject tires involved in this petition.
4. Cooper Tire believes that the upside down and backward date code
will not cause confusion for the consumer or dealer that is selecting
and mounting the tire, as the error is quite obvious, and there is no
logical reading or interpretation of the date code in its upside down
and backward position. Cooper Tire also believes that consumers and
dealers will easily be able to see the issue and correctly identify the
date code.
5. Cooper believes the following NHTSA statements, taken from
another petition, apply to its petition: ``The purpose of the date code
is to identify a tire so that, if necessary, the appropriate action can
be taken in the interest of public safety--such as a safety recall
notice.'' See Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc., 64 FR 29080 (May 28, 1999);
see also Cooper Tire & Rubber Company, 68 FR 16115 (April 2, 2003).
Furthermore, Cooper feels the following NHTSA statement applies to its
petition, ``[t]he agency believes that the true measure of
inconsequentiality to motor vehicle safety in this case is the effect
of the noncompliance on the ability of the tire manufacturer to
identify the tires in the event of recall.'' See Bridgestone/Firestone,
Inc., 66 FR 45076 (Aug. 27, 2001).
6. Cooper also stated that NHTSA has granted petitions and found
that TIN noncompliance is inconsequential to safety in cases where the
TIN is out of sequence or mislabeled. See, Bridgestone/Firestone North
America Tire, LLC, 71 FR 4396 (Jan. 26, 2006) (granting petition where
date code was missing because manufacturer could still identify and
recall the tires); Cooper Tire & Rubber Company, 68 FR 16115 (April 2,
2003) (granting petition where
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tires were labeled with wrong plant code, because ``the tires have a
unique DOT identification''); Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc., 66 FR 45076
(Aug. 27, 2001) (granting petition where the date code was labeled
incorrectly, because ``the information included on the tire
identification label and the manufacturer's tire production records is
sufficient to ensure that these tires can be identified in the event of
a recall''); Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc., 64 FR 29080 (May 28, 1999)
(granting petition where the wrong year was marked in date code on the
tires); Cooper Tire & Rubber Company; 63 FR 29059 (May 27, 1998)
(granting petition where date code was missing where tires had a unique
TIN for recall purposes); Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc., 60 FR 57617
(Nov. 16, 1995) (granting petition where date code was out of
sequence); Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Company, 59 FR 64232 (Dec. 13, 1994)
(granting petition where week and year were mislabeled on tires).
Cooper Tire concludes that the subject noncompliance is
inconsequential as it relates to motor vehicle safety and that its
petition to be exempted from providing notification of the
noncompliance, as required by 49 U.S.C. 30118, and a remedy for the
noncompliance, as required by 49 U.S.C. 30120, should be granted.
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, any decision on
this petition only applies to the subject tires that Cooper Tire no
longer controlled at the time it determined that the noncompliance
existed. However, any decision on this petition does not relieve
equipment distributors and dealers of the prohibitions on the sale,
offer for sale, or introduction or delivery for introduction into
interstate commerce of the noncompliant tires under their control after
Cooper Tire notified them that the subject noncompliance existed.
(Authority: 49 U.S.C. 30118, 30120: delegations of authority at 49
CFR 1.95 and 501.8)
Otto G. Matheke, III,
Director, Office of Vehicle Safety Compliance.
[FR Doc. 2022-10438 Filed 5-13-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on May 16, 2022.
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