Interpretation ID: nht76-5.49

DATE: 04/07/76

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; R. L. Carter; NHTSA

TO: HON. M. L. Esch - H.O.R.

TITLE: FMVSS INTERPRETATION

TEXT: The Secretary of Transportation has asked me to respond to your March 16, 1976, request for all information submitted to him since December 31, 1975, concerning the safety and economic feasibility of air cushion restraint systems or, in the alternative, the specific basis for withholding particular documents. We interpret your request to include documents submitted to the Office of the Secretary or to the public docket on passive restraints.

All materials concerning the safety and economic feasibility of air cushion systems that have been placed in the public docket are enclosed. These documents include all material on air cushion systems provided to the Assistant Secretary for Systems Development and Technology and to the Assistant Secretary for Environment, Safety and Consumer Affairs during their recent visits to General Motors Corporation, Ford Motor Company, and Chrysler Corporation. Films submitted to the docket that support this material are available for viewing at your request.

The NHTSA has provided material to the Office of the Secretary that discusses the value of requiring passive restraints in motor vehicles. All of this material consists of intra-agency memoranda that contain the opinions of agency staff on the considerations underlying a decision concerning passive restraints. The preparation of this material involved choosing and weighing data and making certain assumptions. I conclude that it is important to have full and free staff input to this decision-making process. Accordingly, I deny your request for this information pursuant to the exemption in the Freedom of Information Act for intra-agency memoranda (5. U.S.C. @ 552(b)(5)). I am the person responsible for this decision.

Pursuant to the Regulations of the U.S. Department of Transportation (49 CFR 7), this decision, to the extent information you seek is not released, may be appealed to John Hart Ely, Esq., General Counsel of the Department, whose decision will be administratively final. Your application for reconsideration must be made in writing within sixty days from the date of receipt of the original denial and must include all information and arguments relied upon in your original request. Such application must indicate that it is an appeal from a denial of a request made under the Freedom of Information Act and the envelope in which the application is sent must be prominently marked with the letters "FOIA".

Sincerely,

Enclosures