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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 148 / Thursday, August 5, 2021 / Proposed Rules
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be no more than one year old at the commencement of testing and that it must be used within two months after removal from storage. NHTSA lacks facilities to store tires in a climatecontrolled environment at its testing facility in San Angelo, Texas. Therefore, because of the time limitations on the use of the CMT in the BCWR testing, NHTSA only purchases CMTs on a quarterly basis depending on funding availability and conducts BCWR testing as soon as feasible after receiving a shipment of CMTs. Lack of funding sometimes requires NHTSA to delay CMT purchases, and sometimes when NHTSA purchases CMTs, supplies may be limited, meaning that NHTSA is required to wait weeks or months before receiving CMTs for testing. To increase NHTSAs flexibility in purchasing and testing CMTs, NHTSA is considering lengthening the amount of time tires may be removed from storage to four months, so that NHTSA can purchase CMTs in advance and store them in its San Angelo facility. NHTSA also requests comment on whether the word storage is sufficiently well defined and, if not, how NHTSA could define storage more clearly to ensure tires are stored in such a way that would minimize testing variability without providing inflexible limitations on NHTSAs use of the SRTT. NHTSA
requests comment on this proposed change.
C. Summary Based on the foregoing, NHTSA has tentatively concluded that the best course of action in response to Michelins determination to cease production of the 14-inch SRTT is to replace the 14-inch SRTT with the 16inch SRTT for all uses in NHTSAs standards and regulations. Because the 16-inch SRTT is a different size and made of different materials, changes are necessary to the FMVSS and tire regulations to ensure that the use of the 16-inch SRTT to evaluate test surface friction does not alter the stringency of the standards or the treadwear ratings of tires in the UTQGS treadwear testing program. NHTSA tentatively believes that this proposal accomplishes those goals. NHTSA requests comment on that determination, the merits of these goals, and whether the proposed amendments would accomplish those goals. NHTSA
also seeks comment on the use and storage requirements for the CMT tires used in the BCWR calculation.
III. Effective Date For the changes to the UTQGS, NHTSA expects to make these changes effective at the next BCWR

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determination at least 30 days after the date of publication of a final rule.
NHTSA does not believe any further lead time is necessary for the following reasons. First, because NHTSA is using a conversion factor to keep the rating scale used with the 14-inch SRTT and 16-inch SRTT identical, ratings of a particular line of tires should not be affected by this proposed rule. Second, tire lines rated prior to the effective date of the changes proposed in this rule would not be required to be rerated.
Third, limited availability of the 14-inch SRTT could make it difficult for NHTSA
to continue to obtain 14-inch SRTTs in its BCWR determinations. NHTSA is currently restricted by its regulations to using SRTTs that were manufactured within one year prior to the commencement of testing and two months after removal from storage in order to prevent variability in results due to tire aging. This provision prevents NHTSA from stockpiling 14inch SRTTs.
For FMVSS changes, NHTSA is proposing a lead time of six months.
This will give NHTSAs compliance test facilities sufficient time to obtain and validate test surfaces using the 16-inch SRTT. Although NHTSA has determined an equivalent level of surface friction when evaluating PBC
with the 16-inch SRTT in place of the 14-inch SRTT, NHTSA anticipates requiring test facilities conducting NHTSAs compliance tests to revalidate test surfaces using the 16-inch SRTT, to ensure that testing is being done in accordance with the procedures in the FMVSS. A six-month lead time is consistent with the requirements of 49
U.S.C. 30111d that standards be effective between 180 days and 1 year after they are prescribed. However, potential unavailability of the 14-inch SRTT may constitute good cause for NHTSA to impose a shorter lead time in a final rule resulting from this proposal.
NHTSA does not believe that manufacturers require more than six months of lead time. Because NHTSA
intends the proposed peak braking coefficient specifications in the FMVSS
using the 16-inch SRTT to be an equivalent level of friction to existing peak braking coefficients using the 14inch SRTT, NHTSA does not intend to affect the FMVSS compliance of any vehicle and does not believe this proposal would do so.
NHTSA requests comments on the proposed lead time for changes to the UTQGS and FMVSSs.

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IV. Public Participation How do I prepare and submit comments?
To ensure that your comments are correctly filed in the Docket, please include the docket number of this document in your comments.
Your comments must not be more than 15 pages long 49 CFR 553.21.
NHTSA established this limit to encourage you to write your primary comments in a concise fashion.
However, you may attach necessary additional documents to your comments. There is no limit on the length of the attachments.
Please submit your comments electronically to the docket following the steps outlined under ADDRESSES.
You may also submit two copies of your comments, including the attachments, by mail to Docket Management at the beginning of this document, under ADDRESSES.
How can I be sure that my comments were received?
If you wish to be notified upon receipt of your mailed comments, enclose a self-addressed, stamped postcard in the envelope containing your comments.
Upon receiving your comments, Docket Management will return the postcard by mail.
How do I submit confidential business information?
If you wish to submit any information under a claim of confidentiality, you should submit the following to the NHTSA Office of Chief Counsel, 1200
New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC
20590: 1 A complete copy of the submission; 2 a redacted copy of the submission with the confidential information removed; and 3 either a second complete copy or those portions of the submission containing the material for which confidential treatment is claimed and any additional information that you deem important to the Chief Counsels consideration of your confidentiality claim. A request for confidential treatment that complies with 49 CFR part 512 must accompany the complete submission provided to the Chief Counsel. For further information, submitters who plan to request confidential treatment for any portion of their submissions are advised to review 49 CFR part 512, particularly those sections relating to document submission requirements. Failure to adhere to the requirements of part 512
may result in the release of confidential information to the public docket. In addition, you should submit two copies from which you have deleted the
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