Notice2023-18022
Mack Trucks, Inc., Denial 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
August 22, 2023
Issuing agencies
Transportation DepartmentNational Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Abstract
Mack Trucks, Inc., (Mack Trucks), has determined that certain model year (MY) 2015-2023 Mack GU/GR Class 8 trucks and truck-tractors do not fully comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 108, Lamps, Reflective Devices, and Associated Equipment. Mack Trucks filed an original noncompliance report dated November 1, 2022, and amended the report on November 3, 2022. Mack Trucks petitioned NHTSA on November 23, 2022, for a decision that the subject noncompliance is inconsequential as it relates to motor vehicle safety. This document announces the denial of Mack Trucks' petition.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 161 (Tuesday, August 22, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 161 (Tuesday, August 22, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57173-57174]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-18022]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
[Docket No. NHTSA-2022-0113; Notice 2]
Mack Trucks, Inc., Denial of Petition for Decision of
Inconsequential Noncompliance
AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),
Department of Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Denial of petition.
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SUMMARY: Mack Trucks, Inc., (Mack Trucks), has determined that certain
model year (MY) 2015-2023 Mack GU/GR Class 8 trucks and truck-tractors
do not fully comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS)
No. 108, Lamps, Reflective Devices, and Associated Equipment. Mack
Trucks filed an original noncompliance report dated November 1, 2022,
and amended the report on November 3, 2022. Mack Trucks petitioned
NHTSA on November 23, 2022, for a decision that the subject
noncompliance is inconsequential as it relates to motor vehicle safety.
This document announces the denial of Mack Trucks' petition.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Leroy Angeles, Safety Compliance
Engineer, Office of Vehicle Safety Compliance, NHTSA, (202) 366-5304.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Overview: Mack Trucks determined that certain MY 2015-2023 Mack
GU/GR Class 8 trucks and truck-tractors do not fully comply with
paragraph S6.4.3(a) and Table V-b of FMVSS No. 108, Lamps, Reflective
Devices, and Associated Equipment (49 CFR 571.108).
Mack Trucks filed an original noncompliance report dated November
1, 2022, and amended the report on November 3, 2022, pursuant to 49 CFR
part 573, Defect and Noncompliance Responsibility and Reports. Mack
Trucks petitioned NHTSA on November 23, 2022, 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.\1\
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\1\ Mack Trucks' petition failed to include all of the necessary
components of a petition pursuant to 49 CFR 556.4. The petition
described the noncompliance, but failed to include any reasoning for
why the noncompliance is inconsequential to safety. A petition is
required to: ``Set forth all data, views, and arguments of the
petitioner supporting [the] petition.'' Id. Sec. 556.4. Absent any
reasoning, a petitioner cannot meet its burden of persuasion that a
noncompliance is inconsequential to safety. Such an invalid petition
does not require a response by the agency. Nevertheless, in this
instance, the agency is publishing this notice to help ensure Mack
Trucks and other petitioners are aware that a petition for
inconsequentiality must be properly justified. In the future, the
agency may reject such incomplete petitions without further
consideration.
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Notice of receipt of Mack Trucks' petition was published with a 30-
day public comment period, on January 17, 2023, in the Federal Register
(88 FR 2759). No comments were received. To view the petition and all
supporting documents log onto the Federal Docket Management System
(FDMS) website at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov/">https://www.regulations.gov/</a>. Then follow the online
search instructions to locate docket number ``NHTSA-2022-0113.''
II. Vehicles Involved: Approximately 27,544 MY 2015-2023 Mack GU/GR
Class 8 trucks and truck-tractors, manufactured between September 1,
2014, and September 30, 2022, are potentially involved:
III. Noncompliance: Mack Trucks explains that the subject vehicles
are equipped with turn signal lamps that do not meet the visibility
requirement at all angles specified by S6.4.3(a) and Table V-b of FMVSS
No. 108. Based upon different axle positions and frame extension
configurations, the forward turn signals on specific vehicles are not
compliant with the 45 degree inboard and/or 15 degree downward angle
visibility requirement.
IV. Rule Requirements: Paragraph S6.4.3 of FMVSS No. 108 includes
the requirements relevant to this petition. A manufacturer is required
to certify compliance of each lamp function to
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one of two visibility requirement options: the lens area option or the
luminous intensity option. The manufacturer may not thereafter choose a
different option for that vehicle.
V. Summary of Mack Trucks' Petition: The following statements
presented in this section, ``V. Summary of Mack Trucks' Petition,'' are
the statements provided by Mack Trucks. They do not reflect the views
of the Agency. Mack Trucks describes the subject noncompliance and
contends, without explanation, that the noncompliance is
inconsequential as it relates to motor vehicle safety.
Mack Trucks explains that after FMVSS No. 108 was updated in 2014,
certain vehicle configurations were not updated accordingly which
resulted in the subject vehicles being noncompliant with the taillamp
signal visibility requirements provided in S6.4.3. Mack Trucks states
that due to an unrelated engineering change, the subject noncompliance
was identified. Mack Trucks found the subject vehicles did not meet the
minimum unobstructed view requirement of 1,250 sq mm at all the
required angles. The standard requires the unobstructed view to be met
at all angles between the corner points, up to and including 15 degrees
down and 45 degrees inboard toward the vehicle's longitudinal
centerline; however, for the GU and GR Axle Back models of the subject
vehicles failed to meet the requirements past 15 degrees down and 37
degrees inboard angle. For the GU and GR Axle Forward and Axle Forward
Extended Frame Rails models of the subject vehicles, Mack Trucks found
that the subject vehicles failed to meet the requirements past 7
degrees down and 45 degrees inboard angle. Mack Trucks provides
illustrations to show the noncompliances on the affected vehicle
configurations.
Mack Trucks concludes by stating its belief that the subject
noncompliance is inconsequential to motor vehicle safety and its
petition for relief from providing notice and remedy for the
noncompliance be granted. Mack Trucks failed to include any reasoning
for why the noncompliance was purportedly inconsequential to safety.
VI. NHTSA's Analysis:
Mack Trucks did not provide any data, views, or arguments
supporting its belief that this noncompliance is inconsequential to
safety, as required by 49 CFR 556.4. It is the petitioner's burden to
establish the inconsequentiality of a failure to comply with a FMVSS.
FMVSS are adopted to ``meet the need for motor vehicle safety.'' 49
U.S.C. 30111(a). ``[M]otor vehicle safety'' is ``the performance of a
motor vehicle or motor vehicle equipment in a way that protects the
public against unreasonable risk of accidents occurring because of the
design, construction, or performance of a motor vehicle, and against
unreasonable risk of death or injury in an accident, and includes
nonoperational safety of a motor vehicle.'' 49 U.S.C. 30102(a)(9).
Given the safety need for the FMVSS, an invalid petition that fails to
provide justification that a specific noncompliance is inconsequential
to motor vehicle safety need not be considered. Nevertheless, in this
instance, the agency is publishing this notice to help ensure
petitioners are aware of the requirement to provide ``all data, views,
and arguments of the petitioner supporting [the] petition.'' 49 CFR
556.4. Mack Trucks and other petitioners are on notice that the agency
may reject incomplete petitions without further consideration and they
must carry out their statutory recall obligations without delay.
VII. NHTSA's Decision: In consideration of the foregoing, NHTSA has
decided that Mack Trucks has not met its burden of persuasion that the
subject FMVSS No. 108 noncompliance is inconsequential to motor vehicle
safety. Accordingly, Mack Trucks' petition is hereby denied and Mack
Trucks is consequently obligated to provide notification of and free
remedy for that noncompliance under 49 U.S.C. 30118 and 30120.
(Authority: 49 U.S.C. 30118, 30120; delegations of authority at 49
CFR 1.95 and 501.8.)
Otto G. Matheke, III,
Acting Associate Administrator for Enforcement.
[FR Doc. 2023-18022 Filed 8-21-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on August 22, 2023.
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