[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 145 (Friday, July 29, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-18512]
[[Page Unknown]]
[Federal Register: July 29, 1994]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
49 CFR Part 571
Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Occupant Crash Protection
AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), DOT.
ACTION: Petition for rulemaking, denial.
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SUMMARY: This document denies a petition for rulemaking to amend
Standard No. 208, Occupant Crash Protection, to allow the air bag and
safety belt warning label and the utility vehicle label to be combined.
NHTSA is denying this petition because the agency believes that the
warning label must be short and have a consistent format for the
message to be received. Further, allowing the combination of this label
and another label would divert attention away from the warning.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Mr. Daniel Cohen, Chief, Frontal Crash Protection Division, Office of
Vehicle Safety Standards, NRM-12, National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration, 400 Seventh Street, SW, Washington, DC 20590.
Telephone: (202) 366-2264.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On September 2, 1993, NHTSA published a
final rule specifying that manufacturers must install air bags to
satisfy automatic crash protection requirements. The final rule also
required that labels bearing specified information related to air bags
be placed in vehicles equipped with air bags and that additional, more
detailed information about air bags be provided in the owner's manual.
The September 2 final rule specified requirements for three air bag
labels: (1) A warning label permanently affixed to the sun visor for
each seating position with an air bag; (2) if periodic maintenance or
replacement of an air bag was required, a maintenance label on the
interior of the passenger compartment; and (3) if the warning label was
not visible when the sun visor was stowed, an alert label affixed
either on the sun visor in a manner that it would be visible when the
sun visor was stowed or on the cover of the air bag. The September 2
final rule also specified that no information other than that required
by the warning label was to appear on the same side of the sun visor as
the warning label, and that no other information (other than the alert
label) concerning air bags or the need to wear seat belts was to appear
anywhere on the sun visor.
On March 10, 1994, NHTSA published a final rule responding to two
petitions for reconsideration and three requests for interpretation of
the September 2 final rule. Of relevance to the current petition were
amendments that (1) allowed the warning label and maintenance label to
be combined and (2) permitted the placing of a utility vehicle label
containing the language required by 49 CFR 575.105(c)(1) on the sun
visor.
On January 7, 1994, Chrysler petitioned the agency to allow the
combination of the warning label and the utility vehicle label.
The prohibition against placing other air bag or seat belt
information on the sun visor in the September 2 final rule was intended
to prevent ``information overload'' regarding air bags and seat belts.
The agency believed that additional information could divert the
attention of vehicle occupants and dilute the impact of the required
information. NHTSA amended the prohibition in the March 10 final rule
to allow the utility vehicle label to be placed on the opposite side of
the sun visor from the warning label because: (1) The main emphasis of
the utility vehicle label is the possibility of rollover; (2) the
required statement concerning belt use is incidental to that message;
and (3) the statements about seat belt use in the utility vehicle label
and air bag label are similar. NHTSA further amended the placement
prohibitions to make it clear that a maintenance label could be
combined with the warning label.
NHTSA required a uniform warning label in the September 2 final
rule so that occupants are repetitively exposed to the same
information. NHTSA limited the warnings on that label to those
considered the most important, as persons are likely to have a limited
time period for exposure to the warning. NHTSA is concerned that
combining the warning label and a utility vehicle label in one label
could defeat both these purposes. Chrysler provided no information to
suggest that combining these labels would not divert attention and
dilute the message of the air bag warning label.
Based on the foregoing, there is no reasonable possibility that the
order requested in the petition will be issued at the conclusion of a
rulemaking proceeding. Therefore, this petition is denied.
Issued on July 26, 1994.
Barry Felrice,
Associate Administrator for Rulemaking.
[FR Doc. 94-18512 Filed 7-28-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-M
