[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 121 (Wednesday, June 24, 1998)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 34330-34332]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-16824]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
49 CFR Part 571
[Docket No. NHTSA-98-3968, Notice 1]
RIN 2127-AG14
Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Occupant Crash Protection
AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),
Department of Transportation.
ACTION: Response to petitions for reconsideration.
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SUMMARY: This action denies four petitions for reconsideration of
NHTSA's final rule and correcting amendments concerning air bag warning
labels. The rule requires vehicles with air bags to bear three new,
attention-getting warning labels. Two of the labels replace previous
labels on the sun visor and the third is a new temporary (i.e.,
removable) label located on the vehicle dash.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
NHTSA published a final rule amending Federal Motor Vehicle Safety
Standard (FMVSS) No. 208, Occupant Crash Protection'', on November 27,
1996 (61 FR 60206). The rule requires vehicles with air bags to bear
three new, attention-getting warning labels. Two of the labels replace
previous labels on the sun visor and the third is a new removable label
located on the vehicle dash. Under the final rule, the labels on the
sun visors in vehicles produced after February 25, 1997, are required
to state:
WARNING: DEATH or SERIOUS INJURY can occur. Children 12 and
under can be killed by the air bag. The BACK SEAT is the SAFEST
place for children. NEVER put a rear-facing child seat in the front
(unless air bag is off) 1. Sit back as far as possible
from the air bag. ALWAYS use SEAT BELTS and CHILD RESTRAINTS.
\1\ Parenthetical text is only appropriate for vehicles with a
factory-installed on-off switch.
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The removable label on the dash must state:
WARNING: Children May Be KILLED or INJURED by Passenger Air Bag.
The back seat is the safest place for children 12 and under. Make
sure all children use seat belts or child seats.
The rule excludes vehicles with smart passenger air bags, as those
devices are defined in the regulatory text made part of the final
rule.2
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\2\ While the final rule includes a definition of ``smart
passenger air bags'', the agency is currently working on a
rulemaking which will replace this definition with a definition of
``advanced air bags''.
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Subsequent to the final rule, NHTSA published three correcting or
technical amendments. On December 4, 1996, the agency published a
correcting amendment allowing manufacturers of vehicles without
passenger-side air bags to omit the required warning language
concerning hazards to children from air bags (61 FR 64297). A second
correcting amendment was issued on December 11, 1996 that allowed
manufacturers of vehicles with no back seat to omit the required
warning language stating that children are safest in the back seat (61
FR 57187). On January 2, 1997, NHTSA published a technical amendment
correcting a typographical error by changing the word ``may'' to
``can'' in the temporary warning label (62 FR 31).
II. Summary of Petitions
NHTSA received three petitions for reconsideration of the November
27, 1996 final rule. Meyercord, a label manufacturer, petitioned for a
definition of the term ``permanently affixed'' as used in the standard.
The Parent's Coalition for Air Bag Warnings asked for the definition of
``smart passenger air bag'' to be refined to include air bags that do
not deploy if the passenger seat is occupied by an individual weighing
130 pounds or less rather than 66 pounds or less. AAMA requested an
amendment allowing the new air bag warning label and the utility
vehicle rollover warning label required under 49 CFR section 575.105 to
be on the same side of the sun visor.
The agency received one petition for reconsideration of the
December 11, 1996 correcting amendment. AAMA asked that the required
warning language regarding children and the back seat be changed from
``The BACK SEAT is the SAFEST place for children'' to ``If the vehicle
has a BACK SEAT, that seat is the SAFEST place for children''. Under
AAMA's petition, all vehicles, including those without a back seat,
would be required to use its proposed language in the warning labels.
III. Discussion of Issues
A. Petitions for Reconsideration of the November 27, 1996 Final Rule
1. Meyercord
Meyercord petitioned the agency to ``require that the air bag
warning graphics pass specifications to ensure that the important
message does in fact remain ``permanently affixed.'' Meyercord
maintains that there is consensus in the automotive industry that
labels which are ``permanently affixed'' ``should last the life of the
vehicle and that any attempt to remove it would result in the base
material being cut or gouged in some way.'' According to Meyercord,
only heat transfer graphics can meet this definition of ``permanently
affixed''. Sticker graphics, Meyercord avers, can be peeled away. The
company included in its petition a photograph of a sun visor with a
peeling sticker graphic and Ford's 15-page Engineering Material
Specification No. WSS-M7G7-B1, which it believes will assist the agency
in defining a level of adhesiveness.
Meyercord's petition is denied. Following its practice in other
NHTSA regulations where the term ``permanently affixed'' is also used,
NHTSA did not define ``permanently affixed'' when it added the term to
Standard No. 208. NHTSA has not found a definition necessary in those
other regulations. When asked, NHTSA has issued an interpretation of
the term.3 Specifically, NHTSA has said that a label is
permanent if it cannot be removed without destroying or defacing it and
that the label should remain legible for the expected life of the
product under normal conditions.
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\3\ Cf., letter to Hank Thorp, Inc., August 7, 1973 (FMVSS No.
211); letter to Joseph Lucas North America, Inc., October 6, 1975
(FMVSS No. 106).
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NHTSA does not know the context under which the label depicted in
the photograph submitted by Meyercord began to peel away from the sun
visor. NHTSA surmises that the vehicle was probably within its expected
lifespan, given the time when such labels were first required on motor
vehicles. Absent the existence of abnormal conditions in the history of
the vehicle, the photograph might be an indication of a noncompliance
with Standard No. 208. In such an instance, the existence of a
performance test is not necessary to enforce the requirement for
permanently affixing a label.
[[Page 34331]]
2. Parents' Coalition for Air Bag Warnings
The Parents' Coalition for Air Bag Warnings (Coalition) requested
that NHTSA amend the provision which excludes a ``smart passenger air
bag'' from the requirement for a warning label on the above sun visor.
Currently, in order to qualify as a smart air bag, a passenger air bag
must not deploy if the passenger seat is occupied by a child or child
and car seat (if applicable) having a total mass of 30 kg
(approximately 66 lbs) or less. The Coalition would like to revise the
exclusion so that in order to qualify as a smart passenger air bag, an
air bag must not deploy if the passenger seat is occupied by a child
weighing 130 pounds or less. The Coalition notes that the average 12
year old boy weighs 99 pounds and the average 12 year old girl weighs
102 pounds. The Coalition also notes that 90th percentile male and
female 12 year old children weigh 130 pounds and 133 pounds,
respectively. The Coalition believes that amending the criteria for a
smart passenger air bag is necessary to make them consistent with the
warning label requirement that states all children 12 years and under
should ride in the back seat.
The petition is denied. The warning label requirement and the smart
passenger air bag exclusion serve two separate functions. The warning
label advises parents and other adult drivers of the risks involved in
allowing a child to ride in the front seat. The smart passenger air bag
exclusion is intended to encourage the installation of smart passenger
air bags by relieving a vehicle manufacturer from complying with some
of the labeling requirements if the manufacturer installs such a
passenger air bag. The criteria for a smart passenger air bag were
selected to ensure that a qualifying air bag would not injure two
specially at-risk groups of children (i.e., infants in rear facing
child restraints or children weighing less that 30 kg). Most of the
child deaths have involved children weighing less than 60 pounds and
significantly younger than twelve. Smart air bag technology based on
weight classifications is an absolute measure which would deactivate
the air bag regardless of who is sitting in the front seat. The agency
believes that the air bag should remain operable for occupants who do
not fall within the narrowly prescribed risk group. An upper weight
limit of 130 pounds would be overly broad since it would deactivate the
air bag for a large portion of the adult population as well as most
children.
Additionally, NHTSA noted in the preamble to the notice of proposed
rulemaking issued in August 1996 that the definition of a smart
passenger air bag was very general and would be refined in future
rulemaking. In the more recent (November 1997) final rule permitting
retrofit on-off switches for air bags, the agency stated that the
definition would be addressed in the forthcoming proposal on advanced
air bags (the current name of smart air bags).
3. AAMA
AAMA petitioned the agency to permit the new air bag warning labels
and the utility vehicle rollover warning label required by 49 CFR
section 595.105 to be on the same side of a utility vehicle's sun
visor. As was the case prior to the publication of the final rule, the
utility vehicle label is prohibited from being placed on the same side
of the sun visor as the air bag warning label. The vehicle rollover
warning label can be placed on the front of sun visors that have an air
bag alert label with the actual air bag warning label on the back of
the visor.
AAMA stated that the language proposed in the August 1996 NPRM did
not include the prohibition against having the vehicle rollover warning
label and the air bag warning label on the front side of the visor.
This omission was corrected in the final rule. Additionally, AAMA noted
that the size and number of the required air bag alert labels will lead
many manufacturers to place an air bag warning label on the front of
the visor only. AAMA contended that there is no good location for the
utility vehicle label other than the front of the sun visor. It also
maintained that the two labels, coexisting on the same side of the sun
visor, will not distract people's attention from the air bag warning
given ``the number and prominence of those labels''.
The petition is denied. NHTSA believes that AAMA may be correct
that manufacturers will place a single warning label on the front of
the visor and will discard the air bag alert label. The agency also
acknowledges that the new air bag warning labels are more eye-catching
than existing utility vehicle labels which only have a required text
and not required size, color, or layout. However, on April 13, 1998,
NHTSA proposed changes to the utility vehicle label that would make it
nearly as eye catching as the air bag warning labels (63 FR 17974).
That rulemaking specifically asks for comments on the location of the
proposed label, including whether it should be allowed on the same side
of the sun visor as the air bag label. Accordingly, NHTSA intends to
address AAMA's concerns in that rulemaking.
B. Petition for Reconsideration of the December 11, 1996 Correcting
Amendment
AAMA petitioned NHTSA to amend the warning label language
applicable to children and a vehicle's rear seat. The current language
states that ``The BACK SEAT is the SAFEST place for children.'' AAMA
suggested changing the language to read: ``If the vehicle has a BACK
SEAT, that seat is the SAFEST place for children.'' A corresponding
change was suggested for the temporary dashboard label. AAMA also
suggested that the current exclusion from the required language for
vehicles with no back seat be eliminated.
AAMA maintained that the post-final rule amendments allow up to
eight possible labels, a situation which it regards as confusing and
expensive for manufacturers. It contended that its suggestion would
eliminate the need for two separate labels (one for vehicles with a
back seat and a different one for vehicles without a back seat). It
also argued that absence of a labeling requirement for vehicles without
a back seat may encourage adults to place children in those vehicles
instead of in vehicles in which the children can be placed in the back
seat, away from the passenger air bag.
The petition is denied. NHTSA finds no support for AAMA's
contention that people would be more likely to transport their children
in a vehicle without a back seat than in a vehicle with a back seat
under the current labeling requirements. Accordingly, the agency
believes that this contention is incorrect.
NHTSA notes that AAMA member companies were among the manufacturers
recommending the amendments which allow for multiple labeling options,
depending on vehicle type. The original warning label, without any
exclusions based on vehicle type, is appropriate for any vehicle
regardless of the existence of a back seat. Indeed, NHTSA is concerned
that AAMA's suggested language could lead a consumer to believe that
the front seat of vehicles without a back seat are somehow safer than
the front seat of vehicles with a back seat. The original label clearly
states that back seats are safest. Additionally, NHTSA notes that the
AAMA's recommended language increases the length and wordiness of the
warning label. Focus groups indicated that the messages on the label
should be concise.
[[Page 34332]]
Authority: 49 U.S.C. 322, 30111, 30115, 30117, and 30166;
delegation of authority at 49 CFR 1.50.
Issued on: June 18, 1998.
L. Robert Shelton,
Associate Administrator for Performance Standards.
[FR Doc. 98-16824 Filed 6-23-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P
