Interpretation ID: nht92-4.45

DATE: August 7, 1992

FROM: Barry Felrice -- Associate Administrator for Rulemaking, NHTSA

TO: Donald W. Vierimaa -- Vice President - Engineering, Truck Trailer Manufacturers Association

TITLE: None

ATTACHMT: Attached to letter dated 6/25/92 from Donald W. Vierimaa to Fred Grubbe

TEXT:

This letter denies your June 25, 1992, petition to extend the comment period for Docket No. 92-29, Notice 1 for an additional 60 days. That docket was established for comments received in response to an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) in which the agency stated that it was considering measures to improve the stability and control performance characteristics of heavy vehicles during braking. The agency sought responses to 32 questions about equipping medium and heavy vehicles, including trailers, with antilock braking systems (ABS), or other measures to improve the stability and control of heavy vehicles.

Your organization, the Truck Trailer Manufacturers Association (TTMA), stated that the 60-day comment period was inadequate since the advance notice involved what you termed a "major" rulemaking. You also questioned the ANPRM's timeliness, given that neither the testing nor the test reports have been completed related to this rulemaking. You indicated that 120 days would provide sufficient time to allow TTMA to coordinate the responses from its members and submit these comments to the docket.

After reviewing the relevant information, the agency has decided to deny your request to extend the ANPRM's comment period. Please be advised that the agency's regulations specify that a petition for extending the comment period should only be granted if the petitioner shows good cause for the extension and if the extension is consistent with the public interest (49 CFR S 553.19).

The Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 requires the agency to complete this rulemaking within 18 months after its initiation (with a limited extension permissible.) Thus, extending the comment period to 120 days would make it more difficult to complete the rulemaking within the prescribed statutory time frame. We further believe that the 60 day comment period provided in the ANPRM gives industry and other interested parties sufficient time to respond.

Based on the considerations outlined above, we have decided to deny your petition to extend the comment period an additional 60 days.