2010-7396. Reports, Forms and Record Keeping Requirements; Agency Information Collection Activity Under OMB Review

AGENCY:

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

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this notice announces that the Information Collection Request (ICR) abstracted below has been forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and comment. The ICR describes the nature of the information collection and the expected burden. The Federal Register notice with a 60-day comment period was published on June 22, 2009. This is a request for a new collection.

DATES:

Comments must be submitted on or before May 3, 2010.

ADDRESSES:

Send comments within 30 days to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, 725 17th Street, NW., Washington, DC 20503, Attention: NHTSA Desk Officer.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Ms. Mary Versailles, Office of Rulemaking, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590. Telephone: [phone].

For legal issues: Ms. Sarah Alves, Office of the Chief Counsel, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590.

Telephone: [phone].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Under the procedures established by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), 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. The final rule establishes a new consumer information program at 49 CFR Part 575.106, Tire fuel efficiency consumer information program. Tire manufacturers would provide data to NHTSA under a reporting requirement. For this new regulation, NHTSA is submitting to OMB a request for approval of the following collection of information.

In compliance with the PRA, this notice announces that the Information Collection Request (ICR) abstracted below has been forwarded to OMB for review and comment. The ICR describes the nature of the information collections and their expected burden. This is a request for a new collection.

Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Title: 49 CFR Part 575.106, Tire fuel efficiency consumer information program.

Type of Request: New collection.

OMB Clearance Number: Not assigned.

Form Number: The collection of this information will not use any standard forms.

Requested Expiration Date of Approval: Three years from the date of approval.

Summary of the Collection of Information

NHTSA is adding a new requirement in Part 575 which would require tire manufacturers and tire brand name owners to rate all replacement passenger car tires for fuel efficiency (i.e., rolling resistance), safety (i.e., wet traction), and durability (i.e., treadwear), and submit reports to NHTSA regarding the ratings. The ratings for safety and durability are based on test procedures specified under the UTQGS traction and treadwear ratings requirements. This information would be used by consumers of replacement passenger car tires to compare tire fuel efficiency across different tires and examine any tradeoffs between fuel efficiency (i.e., rolling resistance), safety (i.e., wet traction), and durability (i.e., treadwear) in making their purchase decisions.

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

NHTSA needs the information to provide consumers information to allow them to compare tire fuel efficiency across different tires and examine any tradeoffs between fuel efficiency (i.e., rolling resistance), safety (i.e., wet traction), and durability (i.e., treadwear) in making their purchase decisions.

Description of the Likely Respondents (Including Estimated Number, and Proposed Frequency of Response to the Collection of Information)

There are approximately 28 manufacturers of replacement tires sold in the United States who would be required to report annually.

Estimate of the Total Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping Burden Resulting from the Collection of Information

NHTSA estimates that there are 28 tire manufacturers that will be required to report. Each of these will need to set up the software in a computer program to combine the testing information, organize it for NHTSA's use, etc. We estimate this cost to be a one-time charge of about $10,000 per company. Based on the costs used in the Early Warning Reporting Regulation analysis,^[1] we estimate the annual cost per report per tire manufacturer to be $287. There are also computer maintenance costs of keeping the data up to date, etc. as tests come in throughout the year. In the EWR analysis, we estimated costs of $3,755 per year per company. Thus, the total annual cost is estimated to be $4,042 per company. Thus the total costs would be $280,000 + $113,176 = $393,176 for the first year and $113,176 as an annual cost for the 28 tire manufacturers.

The largest portion of the cost burden imposed by the tire fuel efficiency program arises from the testing necessary to determine the ratings that should be assigned to the tires. As detailed in our reponse to question #8, our revised per-SKU costs to test for rolling resistance, traction, and treadwear amount to $2,040 (i.e. $540 + $500 + $1,000). This would result in testing costs of $38,760,000 in the first year (19,000 SKUs) and $6,573,000 in subsequent years (3,222 new SKUs annually).

The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is $1.28 million. This cost includes $730,000 for enforcement testing, and about $550,000 annually to set up and keep up to date a website that includes the information reported to NHTSA.

Comments are invited on:

• Whether the collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the Department, including whether the information will have practical utility.
• Whether the Department's estimate for the burden of the information collection is accurate.
• 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.

Issued on: March 29, 2010.

Stephen R. Kratzke,

Associate Administrator for Rulemaking.

Footnotes

1.  Preliminary Regulatory Evaluation, Tread Act Amendments to Early Warning Reporting Regulation Part 579 and Defect and Noncompliance Part 573, August 2008 (Docket No. 2008-0169-0007.1).