Interpretation ID: 77-3.21

TYPE: INTERPRETATION-NHTSA

DATE: 07/08/77

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; J. K. Hofferberth for R. L. Carter; NHTSA

TO: Volkswagen of America, Inc.

TITLE: FMVSS INTERPRETATION

TEXT: This responds to Volkswagen's March 9, 1977, petition for reconsideration of Standard No. 120, Tire Selection and Rims for Motor Vehicles Other Than Passenger Cars.

Procedures for processing petitions for reconsideration are contained in the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 49, Part 553. Part 553.35(c) states that "[the] Administrator does not consider repetitious petitions." Your March 9 petition raises two issues that were also discussed in your February 20, 1976, petition for reconsideration. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) carefully considered those issues in our February 7, 1977 (42 FR 7140) response to petitions for reconsideration. Since the agency has considered these issues previously, the NHTSA declines to consider them again as you suggest.

SINCERELY,

Volkswagon of America, Inc.

March 9, 1977

Docket Section National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

SUBJECT: Docket 71-19, Notice 06; Docket 75-32, Notice 02 -- Tire Selection and Rims for Vehicles Other Than Passenger Cars, FMVSS 120, Petition for Reconsideration

We respectfully submit enclosed the petition of Volkswagen-werk Aktiengesellschaft and Audi NSU Auto Union AG with respect to "Tire Selection and Rims for Vehicles Other Than Passenger Cars," as called for by the above docket.

Joseph W. Kennebeck Manager, Emissions, Safety and Development

VOLKSWAGEN PETITION FOR RECONSIDERATION, FMVSS 120, DOCKET 71-19, NOTICE 06; DOCKET 75-32, NOTICE 02

In our Petition for Reconsideration of February 20, 1976, Volkswagen requested, among other things, that the Administration reconsider those parts of FMVSS 120 that required rims be marked:

1. With the letter "D" for DIN, and, 2. With a rim size designation having the diameter preceding the width.

Docket 71-19, Notice 06; Docket 75-32, Notice 02 (42FR7140) denied our requests for amendment.

In the following, we present new facts and ask that the administration reconsider its decision not to amend the standard.

Specifically, we request that S 5.2 be amended so that the full letter abbreviation of the source organization be required to designate the organization, and that in the rim size designation, the width be required to proceed the diameter.

Attachment "A" shows a wheel we marked to comply with German law and our suggested changes to S 5.2 of FMVSS 120. As can be seen there is extremely little flat space on the disc to accept additional markings. Marking the other side of the wheel would require new tooling, and might interfere with the wheel/drum interface. In our previous petition, we explained the reasons for not being able to mark the rims.

In spite of the fact that ISO is considering a standard that would recommend specifying rims by diameter x width, which may or may not become part of the final standard, the DIN still specifies that one-piece, single-manufacturer wheels have their discs marked with the rim size and type, with the width preceding the diameter, (Ref. attachment 4 of our petition of February 20, 1976). This is in addition to the other DIN information.

In its response to Volkswagen's petition of February 20, the NHTSA stated, "This order of information is being considered as the uniform practice to be adopted by the International Standards Organization. For reason of uniformity, the requests are denied." According to our information, the draft proposal submitted by the U.S. delegation to ISO has not been voted upon, and there are other proposals from European delegates which would specify the designation order as width x diameter. This uniformity argument, then, does not apply.

In its denial of permission to use the letters "DIN" to designate the source organization, the Administration stated that ". . . they are undesirable in the interests of maintaining uniformity and comprehension." We submit that the addition of a new letter, e.g., "D", would upset the current uniformity achieved by accepted practice of using the letters "DIN," and interfere with comprehension since the "DIN" letters are well known in automotive circles around the world, while the letter "D" would not be understood, and, in fact, might be confused with load ratings. We note that under Notice 2, which proposed the use of "a designation to indicate the source of the published dimensions to which the rim conforms . . .," the "DIN" letters would have been acceptable. If the full letters of the abbreviation for the source organization were now required by the NHTSA, a greater uniformity would be achieved.

We suggest that it is contrary to logic for a standard to require that the acronym for an organization recognized by that standard be abbreviated when that acronym is already in use on subject equipment.

Regarding the rim designation, in 41FR3478, it is stated, "The tires must be fitted to rims which have been designated by the tire manufacturer, in accordance with S 4.4 of Standard No. 109 or S 5.1 of Standard No. 119, as suitable for use with those tires. The designations are made by listing the tire-rim matching information in one of seven industry-maintained publications . . ." In the case of the DIN maintained publications, the rim size is designated width x diameter. Further, S 5.1.1, states, ". . . each vehicle . . . shall be equipped . . . with rims that are listed by the manufacturer of the tires as suitable for use with those tires . . ." In the case of German tire manufacturers, the subject listing will be width x diameter.

We ask for your answer to this petition for reconsideration as early as possible because production lead time in wheel manufacturing is such that if retooling is required, it must be started no later than April 1 in order to comply with this standard's deadline of September 1, 1977.

Attachment

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