Interpretation ID: nht75-6.10

DATE: 06/19/75

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; A.G. Detrick; NHTSA

TO: Holley Carburetor Division

TITLE: FMVSR INTERPRETATION

TEXT: This is in reference to your defect notification and remedy campaign involving some chrome reverse wheels which may have insufficient welds between the center disc and the rim. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) identification number 75E-022 has been assigned to this campaign. Please refer to that number in any future correspondence concerning this campaign.

The letter which you have submitted as the letter to be sent to retail purchasers of the subject wheels does not meet the requirement of Part 577 (49 CFR) as well as the Motor Vehicle and Schoolbus Safety Amendments of 1974. Part 577, the Defect Notification regulation, is presently still in effect except for those sections which conflict with the 1974 amendment. Your notification letter therefore should have had the opening statements specified by Part 577.4(a) and (b).

The letter also does not notify owners that they may inform the Secretary of Transportation if they are unable to receive remedy without charge, as required by Section 153(a)(6) of the 1974 amendment. The fact that your company has set up a procedure intended to insure that all owners will receive remedy without charge does not eliminate that requirement. This office knows of numerous instances where an individual owner of a vehicle or item of motor vehicle equipment was not able to have a defect corrected. This may be due to a parts' supply problem, an uncooperative dealer, or some other problem which may not be known to the manufacturer. In any event, NHTSA does not have the authority to delete a requirement imposed by an act of Congress and must therefore insist that all manufacturers respond to Section 153(a)(6) in their owner notification letters. To comply, owners may be told that they may write to the Administrator, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Washington, D. C. 20590.

Although the letter does imply that dealers are prepared to remedy the defect, it does not give the earliest date on which the defect will be remodled without charge, as required by Section 153(a)(5) of the 1974 amendment.

It is therefore necessary that you revise the owner notification letter to conform with Part 577, as well as Section 153 of the 1974 amendment. A copy of the revised letter should be sent to all owners who have not yet had their wheels inspected or replaced, and also to this office. If you desire further information, please contact Messrs. James Murray or W. Reinhart of this office at (202) 426-2840. A copy of Part 577 is enclosed.

Sincerely,

Colt Industries

Holley Carburetor Division May 9, 1975

Administrator, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Department of Transportation

This is a "notification to the Secretary", in accordance with Section 151 of the Motor Vehicle and School Bus Safety Amendments of 1974, to which you will find attached a copy of our notification to our known customers (39 warehouse distributors), in accordance with Section 153 and proposing to remedy any defect in accordance with Section 154.

This notification is made in view of a determination resulting from an investigation made as a result of the one (1) and only failure of which we are aware, a copy of our letter to that consumer being attached.

The writer is advised that, according to our records, we have already recalled 307 wheels for purposes of our investigation, which comprises about 71% of the total of 431 suspect wheels built by us. This leaves only 124 suspect wheels to be recalled, and, since 229 of the 307 wheels already recalled were found to be free of any possible defect, we have sufficient good wheels available to begin to replace suspect wheels immediately. Our suggested letter to retail purchasers states that they should bring suspect wheels in for inspection "just as soon as possible", which we consider to satisfy the "earliest date" requirement of Section 153(a)(5). Our letter to our customers is, likewise, effective immediately.

This is our first notification experience. However, we consider that our attached notification meets the requirements of the Act. While we do not fully understand what is meant by Section 153 (a)(6), we consider that such a "description" is not required inasmuch as we are able to remedy this defect without charge.

Walter Potoroka -- Asst. Sec'y,

Resident General Counsel,

Patent Counsel

(SUGGESTED LETTER TO BE SENT BY W.D. AND OTHERS TO RETAIL PURCHASERS/OWNERS.)

cc: S. D. Jursek

Holley Carburetor Div.

Colt Industries

Dear Sir:

This is a notification under the provisions of the Motor Vehicle and Schoolbus Safety Amendments of 1974.

Our records indicate that you purchased for your own use (quantity) Chrome Reverse Wheel(s), Holley part number 253-461 (14" x 6" with a 5-bolt pattern on a 4" bolt circle).

We have recently received notification from Holley Carburetor Division that some of these wheels, produced during a certain period, may have insufficient welds which could possibly cause the center disc to separate from the rim, possibly resulting in an accident.

If the wheels you purchased are still in your possession will you please bring them to our shop, just as soon as possible, for inspection. If the wheels are identified as suspect they will be replaced with reasonably equivalent wheels at no charge to you. If these wheels are no longer in your possession please advise us the name and address of the present owner, if known to you, or what other disposition was made of these wheels.

Please call us if you have any questions about these wheels.