DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

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AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Department of Transportation (DOT).

ACTION: Final Rule.

SUMMARY: In response to a mandate in the Transportation Recall Enhancement, Accountability, and Documentation (TREAD) Act of 2000, this agency is issuing a two-part final rule.

The first part is contained in this document. It establishes a new Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard that requires the installation of tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMSs) that warn the driver when a tire is significantly under-inflated. The standard applies to passenger cars, trucks, multipurpose passenger vehicles, and buses with a gross vehicle weight rating of 10,000 pounds or less, except those vehicles with dual wheels on an axle.

This document establishes two compliance options for the short-term, for the period between November 1, 2003, and October 31, 2006. Under the first compliance option, a vehicle''s TPMS must warn the driver when the pressure in any single tire or in each tire in any combination of tires, up to a total of four tires, has fallen to 25 percent or more below the vehicle manufacturer''s recommended cold inflation pressure for the tires, or a minimum level of pressure specified in the standard, whichever pressure is higher. Under the second compliance option, a vehicle''s TPMS must warn the driver when the pressure in any single tire has fallen to 30 percent or more below the vehicle manufacturer''s recommended cold inflation pressure for the tires, or a minimum level of pressure specified in the standard, whichever pressure is higher. Compliance with the options would be phased in during that period by increasing percentages of production.

The second part of this final rule will be issued by March 1, 2005, and will establish performance requirements for the long-term, i.e., for the period beginning on November 1, 2006. In the meantime, the agency will leave the rulemaking docket open for the submission of new data and analyses concerning the performance of TPMSs. The agency also will conduct a study comparing the tire pressures of vehicles without any TPMS to the pressures of vehicles with TPMSs, especially TPMSs that do not comply with the four-tire, 25 percent compliance option.

Based on the record now before the agency, NHTSA tentatively believes that the four-tire, 25 percent option would best meet the mandate in the TREAD Act. However, it is possible that the agency may obtain or receive new information that is sufficient to justify a continuation of the options established by this first part of this rule, or the adoption of some other alternative.

DATES: This final rule is effective [insert date that is 30 days after publication in the Federal Register]. Under the rule, vehicles will be required to comply with the requirements of the standard according to a phase-in beginning on November 1, 2003. If you wish to submit a petition for reconsideration of this rule, your petition must be received by [insert date that is 45 days after the date of publication in the Federal Register].

ADDRESSES: Petitions for reconsideration should refer to the docket number and be submitted to: Administrator, Room 5220, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 400 Seventh Street, SW, Washington, D.C. 20590.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

For technical and other non-legal issues, you may call Mr. George Soodoo or Mr. Joseph Scott, Office of Crash Avoidance Standards (Telephone: 202-366-2720) (Fax: 202-366-4329).

For legal issues, you may call Mr. Dion Casey, Office of Chief Counsel (Telephone: 202-366-2992) (Fax: 202-366-3820).

You may send mail to these officials at National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 400 Seventh Street, SW, Washington, D.C. 20590.

You may call Docket Management at 202-366-9324. You may visit the Docket on the plaza level at 400 Seventh Street, SW, Washington, D.C., from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

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