[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 113 (Wednesday, June 12, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27395-27399]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-12313]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[U.S. DOT Docket Number NHTSA-2016-0065]


Reports, Forms, and Recordkeeping Requirements

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

ACTION: Request for comment on the renewal of collection of 
information.

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SUMMARY: Before a Federal agency can collect certain information from 
the public, it must receive approval from the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB). Under procedures established by the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995, before seeking OMB approval, Federal agencies must solicit 
public comment on proposed collections of information, including 
extensions and reinstatement of previously approved collections. This 
document describes a renewal of a collection of information for which 
NHTSA intends to seek OMB approval.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before August 12, 2019.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments using any of the following methods. 
All comments must have the applicable DOT docket number (i.e., NHTSA-
2016-0065) noted conspicuously on them.
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting 
comments.
     Mail: Docket Management Facility, M-30: U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building Ground Floor, 
Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001.
     Hand Delivery or Courier: 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West 
Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001, between 
9 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. 
Telephone: 1-800-647-5527.
     Fax: 202-493-2251.
    Instructions: All submissions must include the agency name and 
docket number for this proposed collection of information. Note that 
all comments received will be posted without change to http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided. 
Please see the Privacy Act heading below.
    Privacy Act: Anyone is able to search the electronic form of all 
comments received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual 
submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf 
of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review DOT's 
complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register published on 
April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477-78) or you may visit http://DocketInfo.dot.gov.
    Docket: For access to comments received, go to http://www.regulations.gov or the street address listed above. Follow the 
online instructions for accessing the dockets.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information, or for 
background documents, contact Stephen Hench, Office of Chief Counsel 
(NCC-0100), Room W41-229, NHTSA, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, 
DC 20590. Telephone: 202-366-2992.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 
before an agency submits a proposed collection of information to OMB 
for approval, it must first publish a document in the Federal Register 
providing a 60-day comment period and otherwise consult with members of 
the public and affected agencies concerning each proposed collection of 
information. OMB has promulgated regulations describing what must be 
included in such a document. Under OMB's regulation, see 5 CFR 
1320.8(d), an agency must ask for public comment on the following:
    (i) Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for 
the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including 
whether the information will have practical utility;
    (ii) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed collection of information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used;
    (iii) how to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and
    (iv) how to minimize the burden of the collection of information on 
those who are to respond, including the use of appropriate automated, 
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic 
submission of responses.
    In compliance with these requirements, NHTSA asks for public 
comments on the following collection of information:
    Title: Defect and Noncompliance Reporting and Notification.
    Type of Request: Renewal of a currently approved information 
collection.
    OMB Control Number: 2127-0004.

[[Page 27396]]

    Affected Public: Businesses or individuals.
    Abstract: This notice requests comment on NHTSA's proposed renewal 
of an approved collection of information, designated as OMB No. 2127-
0004. This collection covers the information collection requirements 
found within various statutory provisions of the Motor Vehicle Safety 
Act of 1966 (Act), 49 U.S.C. 30101, et seq., that address and require 
manufacturer notifications to NHTSA of safety-related defects and 
failures to comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) 
in motor vehicles and motor vehicle equipment, as well as the provision 
of particular information related to the ensuing owner and dealer 
notifications and free remedy campaigns that follow those 
notifications. The sections of the Act imposing these requirements 
include 49 U.S.C. 30118, 30119, 30120, and 30166. Many of these 
requirements are implemented through, and addressed with more 
specificity in, 49 CFR part 573, Defect and Noncompliance 
Responsibility and Reports (Part 573) and 49 CFR 577, Defect and 
Noncompliance Notification (Part 577).
    Pursuant to the Act, motor vehicle and motor vehicle equipment 
manufacturers are obligated to notify, and then provide various 
information and documents to, NHTSA in the event a safety defect or 
noncompliance with FMVSS is identified in products they manufactured. 
See 49 U.S.C. 30118(b) and 49 CFR 573.6. Manufacturers are further 
required to notify owners, purchasers, dealers, and distributors about 
the safety defect or noncompliance. See 49 U.S.C. 30118(b), 30120(a); 
49 CFR 577.7, 577.13. Manufacturers are required to provide to NHTSA 
copies of communications pertaining to recall campaigns that they issue 
to owners, purchasers, dealers, and distributors. See 49 U.S.C. 
30166(f); 49 CFR 573.6(c)(10).
    Manufacturers are also required to file with NHTSA a plan 
explaining how they intend to reimburse owners and purchasers who paid 
to have their products remedied before being notified of the safety 
defect or noncompliance, and explain that plan in the notifications 
they issue to owners and purchasers about the safety defect or 
noncompliance. See 49 U.S.C. 30120(d) and 49 CFR 573.13. Manufacturers 
are further required to keep lists of the respective owners, 
purchasers, dealers, distributors, lessors, and lessees of the products 
determined to be defective or noncompliant and involved in a recall 
campaign, and are required to provide NHTSA with a minimum of six 
quarterly reports reporting on the progress of their recall campaigns. 
See 49 CFR 573.8 and 573.7, respectively.
    The Act and Part 573 also contain numerous information collection 
requirements specific to tire recall and remedy campaigns. These 
requirements relate to the proper disposal of recalled tires, including 
a requirement that the manufacturer conducting the tire recall submit a 
plan and provide specific instructions to certain persons (such as 
dealers and distributors) addressing that disposal, and a requirement 
that those persons report back to the manufacturer certain deviations 
from the plan. See 49 U.S.C. 30120(d) and 49 CFR 573.6(c)(9). The 
regulations also require that manufacturers report to NHTSA intentional 
and knowing sales or leases of defective or noncompliant tires.
    49 U.S.C. 30166(n) and its implementing regulation found at 49 CFR 
573.10 mandate that anyone who knowingly and willfully sells or leases 
for use on a motor vehicle a defective tire or a tire that is not 
compliant with FMVSS, and with actual knowledge that the tire 
manufacturer has notified its dealers of the defect or noncompliance as 
required under the Act, is required to report that sale or lease to 
NHTSA no more than five working days after the person to whom the tire 
was sold or leased takes possession of it.
    Pursuant to its safety authorities, NHTSA is continuing its 
oversight of recalls of unprecedented complexity involving Takata air 
bag inflators.\1\ Under the Coordinated Remedy Program established to 
address this major issue, and the associated Coordinated Remedy Order 
as amended on December 9, 2016 (the ``ACRO''), manufacturers issue 
supplemental owner communications utilizing non-traditional means.\2\ 
In this notice, NHTSA both addresses comments,\3\ and seeks further 
comment, on its estimates of the supplemental recall communications 
associated with the Takata recalls.
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    \1\ See generally ``Takata Recall Spotlight,'' https://www.nhtsa.gov/equipment/takata-recall-spotlight.
    \2\ See generally ``Notice of Coordinated Remedy Program 
Proceeding for the Replacement of Certain Takata Air Bag Inflator,'' 
available at https://www.regulations.gov/docket?D=NHTSA-2015-0055.
    \3\ NHTSA previously published a 30-day notice for this 
collection on December 22, 2017 (82 FR 60789) on which OMB received 
comment.
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    Estimated Burden: NHTSA previously estimated an annual burden of 
36,070 hours associated with this collection (of which 456 hours was 
contemplated for conducting supplemental recall communications under 
administrative order to achieve completion of the Takata recalls), 
$155,450,329 (of which $27,836,329 is contemplated for conducting 
supplemental recall communications under administrative order to 
achieve completion of the Takata recalls), and 274 respondents per year 
(19 vehicle manufacturers conducting supplemental recall communications 
under administrative order to achieve completion of the Takata 
recalls).\4\ Our prior estimates of the burden hours and cost 
associated with the requirements currently covered by this information 
collection require adjustment as follows.
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    \4\ See 82 FR 60789, 60790 (December 22, 2017).
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    Based on current information, we estimate 249 distinct 
manufacturers filing an average of 988 Part 573 Safety Recall Reports 
each year. This is a change from our previous estimate of 963 Part 573 
Safety Recall Reports filed by 274 manufacturers each year. In 
addition, with reference to the metric associated with NHTSA's Vehicle 
Identification Number (VIN) Look-up Tool regulation, see 49 CFR 573.15, 
we continue to estimate it takes the 17 major passenger-vehicle 
manufacturers (those that produce more than 25,000 vehicles annually) 
additional burden hours to complete these Reports to NHTSA, as explored 
in more detail below. See 82 FR 60789 (December 22, 2017). Between 2015 
and 2018, the major passenger-vehicle manufacturers conducted an 
average of 316 recalls annually.
    We continue to estimate that maintenance of the required owner, 
purchaser, dealer, and distributors lists requires 8 hours a year per 
manufacturer. We also continue to estimate it takes a major passenger-
vehicle manufacturer 40 hours to complete each notification report to 
NHTSA, and it takes all other manufacturers 4 hours. Accordingly, we 
estimate the annual burden hours related to the reporting to NHTSA of a 
safety defect or noncompliance for the 17 major passenger vehicle-
manufacturers to be 12,640 hours annually (316 notices x 40 hours/
report), and that all other manufacturers require a total of 2,688 
hours annually (672 notices x 4 hours/report) to file their notices. 
Thus, the estimated annual burden hours related to the reporting to 
NHTSA of a safety defect or noncompliance is 17,320 hours (12,640 hours 
+ 2,688 hours) + (249 MFRs x 8 hours to maintain purchaser lists).\5\
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    \5\ For more information about how we derived these and certain 
other estimates, please see 81 FR 70269 (October 11, 2016).
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    We continue to estimate that an additional 40 hours will be needed 
to account for major passenger-vehicle manufacturers adding details to 
Part 573

[[Page 27397]]

Safety Recall Reports relating to the intended schedule for notifying 
its dealers and distributors, and tailoring its notifications to 
dealers and distributors in accordance with the requirements of 49 CFR 
577.13. An additional 2 hours will be needed to account for this 
obligation in other manufacturers' Safety Recall Reports. This burden 
is estimated at 13,984 hours annually (672 notices x 2 hours/
notification) + (316 notices x 40 hours/notification).
    49 U.S.C. 30166(f) requires manufacturers to provide to the Agency 
copies of all communications regarding defects and noncompliances sent 
to owners, purchasers, and dealerships. Manufacturers must index these 
communications by the year, make, and model of the vehicle as well as 
provide a concise summary of the subject of the communication. We 
continue to estimate this burden requires 3 hours for each vehicle 
recall for the 17 major passenger-vehicle manufacturers, and 30 minutes 
for all other manufacturers for each vehicle recall. This totals an 
estimated 1,284 hours annually (316 recalls x 3 hours for the 17 major 
passenger-vehicle manufacturers) + (672 recalls x .5 for all other 
manufacturers).
    In the event a manufacturer supplied the defective or noncompliant 
product to independent dealers through independent distributors, that 
manufacturer is required to include in its notifications to those 
distributors an instruction that the distributors are then to provide 
copies of the manufacturer's notification of the defect or 
noncompliance to all known distributors or retail outlets further down 
the distribution chain within five working days. See 49 CFR 
577.7(c)(2)(iv). As a practical matter, this requirement would only 
apply to equipment manufacturers, since vehicle manufacturers generally 
sell and lease vehicles through a dealer network, and not through 
independent distributors. We believe our previous estimate of 87 
equipment recalls per year needs to be adjusted to 91 equipment recalls 
per year to better reflect recent data. We have estimated the burden 
associated with these notifications (identifying retail outlets, making 
copies of the manufacturer's notice, and mailing) to be 5 hours per 
recall campaign. Assuming an average of 3 distributors per equipment 
item, which is a liberal estimate given that many equipment 
manufacturers do not use independent distributors, the total number of 
burden hours associated with this third-party notification requirement 
is approximately 1,365 hours per year (91 recalls x 3 distributors x 5 
hours).
    As for the burden linked with a manufacturer's preparation of and 
notification concerning its reimbursement for pre-notification 
remedies, we continue to estimate that the preparation of a 
reimbursement plan takes approximately 4 hours annually. We also 
continue to estimate that an additional 1.5 hours per year is spent by 
the 17 major passenger-vehicle manufacturers adapting the plan to 
particular defect and noncompliance notifications to NHTSA and adding 
tailored language about the plan to a particular safety recall's owner 
notification letters, while an additional .5 hours per year is spent on 
this task by all other manufacturers. And we continue to estimate that 
an additional 12 hours annually is spent disseminating plan 
information, for a total of 4,794 annual burden hours ((249 MFRs x 4 
hours to prepare plan) + (316 recalls x 1.5 hours tailoring plan for 
each recall) + (672 recalls x .5 hours) + (249 MFRs x 12 hours to 
disseminate plan information)).
    The Safety Act and 49 CFR part 573 also contain numerous 
information collection requirements specific to tire recall and remedy 
campaigns, as well as a statutory and regulatory reporting requirement 
that anyone who knowingly and intentionally sells or leases a defective 
or noncompliant tire notify NHTSA of that activity.
    Manufacturers are required to include specific information related 
to tire disposal in the notifications they provide NHTSA concerning 
identification of a safety defect or noncompliance with FMVSS in their 
tires, as well as in the notifications they issue to their dealers or 
other tire outlets participating in the recall campaign. See 49 CFR 
573.6(c)(9). We believe our previous estimate of 12 tire recalls per 
year needs to be adjusted to 11 tire recalls per year to better reflect 
recent data. We continue to estimate that the inclusion of this 
additional information will require an additional two hours of effort 
beyond the subtotal above associated with non-tire recall campaigns. 
This additional effort consists of one hour for the NHTSA notification 
and one hour for the dealer notification for a total of 22 burden hours 
(11 tire recalls a year x 2 hours per recall).
    Manufacturer-owned or controlled dealers are required to notify the 
manufacturer and provide certain information should they deviate from 
the manufacturer's disposal plan. Consistent with our previous 
analysis, we continue to ascribe zero burden hours to this requirement 
since to date no such reports have been provided, and our original 
expectation that dealers would comply with manufacturers' plans has 
proven accurate.
    Accordingly, we estimate 22 burden hours a year will be spent 
complying with the tire recall campaign requirements found in 49 CFR 
573.6(c)(9).
    The agency continues to estimate 1 burden hour annually will be 
spent preparing and submitting reports of a defective or noncompliant 
tire being intentionally sold or leased under 49 U.S.C. 30166(n) and 
its implementing regulation at 49 CFR 573.10.
    We continue to expect that nine vehicle manufacturers, who did not 
operate VIN-based recalls lookup systems prior to August 2013, incur 
certain recurring burdens on an annual basis. We continue to estimate 
that 100 burden hours will be spent on system and database 
administrator support. These 100 burden hours include: Backup data 
management and monitoring; database management, updates, and log 
management; and data transfer, archiving, quality assurance, and 
cleanup procedures. We continue to estimate another 100 burden hours 
will be incurred on web/application developer support. These burdens 
include: Operating system and security patch management; application/
web server management; and application server system and log files 
management. We continue to estimate these burdens will total 1,800 
hours each year (9 MFRs x 200 hours). We also continue to estimate the 
recurring costs of these burden hours will be $30,000 per 
manufacturer.\6\ Furthermore, we continue to estimate that the total 
cost to the industry from these recurring expenses will total $270,000, 
on an annual basis (9 MFRs x $30,000).
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    \6\ $8,000 (for data center hosting for the physical server) + 
$12,000 (for system and database administrator support) + $10,000 
(for web/application developer support) = $30,000.
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    Changes to 49 CFR part 573 in 2013 required 27 manufacturers to 
update each recalled vehicle's repair status no less than every 7 days, 
for 15 years from the date the VIN is known to be included in the 
recall. This ongoing requirement to update the status of a VIN for 15 
years continues to add a recurring burden on top of the one-time burden 
to implement and operate these online search tools. We continue to 
estimate that 8 affected motorcycle manufacturers will make recalled 
VINs available for an average of 2 recalls each year and 19 affected 
passenger-vehicle manufacturers will make recalled VINs available for 
an average of 8 recalls each year. We believe it will take no more

[[Page 27398]]

than 1 hour, and potentially less with automated systems, to update the 
VIN status of vehicles that have been remedied under the manufacturer's 
remedy program. We continue to estimate this will require 8,736 burden 
hours per year (1 hour x 2 recalls x 52 weeks x 8 MFRs + 1 hour x 8 
recalls x 52 weeks x 19 MFRs) to support the requirement to update the 
recalls completion status of each VIN in a recall at least weekly for 
15 years.
    As the number of Part 573 Recall Reports has increased in recent 
years, so has the number of quarterly reports that track the completion 
of safety recalls. Our previous estimate of 4,498 quarterly reports 
received annually is now revised upwards to 5,512 quarter reports 
received annually. We continue to estimate it takes manufacturers 1 
hour to gather the pertinent information for each quarterly report, and 
10 additional hours for the 17 major passenger-vehicle manufacturers to 
submit electronic reports. We therefore now estimate that the quarterly 
reporting burden pursuant to Part 573 totals 5,682 hours ((5,512 
quarterly reports x 1 hour/report) + (17 MFRs x 10 hours for electronic 
submission)).
    We continue to estimate a small burden of 2 hours annually in order 
to set up a manufacturer's online recalls portal account with the 
pertinent contact information and maintaining/updating their account 
information as needed. We estimate this will require a total of 498 
hours annually (2 hours x 249 MFRs).
    We continue to estimate that 20 percent of Part 573 reports will 
involve a change or addition regarding recall components, and that at 
two hours per amended report, this totals 396 burden hours per year 
(988 recalls x .20 = 193 recalls; 198 x 2 = 396 hours).
    As to the requirement that manufacturers notify NHTSA in the event 
of a bankruptcy, we expect this notification to take an estimated 2 
hours to draft and submit to NHTSA. We continue to estimate that only 
10 manufacturers might submit such a notice to NHTSA each year, so we 
calculate the total burden at 20 hours (10 MFRs x 2 hours).
    We continue to estimate that it takes the 17 major passenger-
vehicle manufacturers an average of 11 hours to draft their 
notification letters, submit them to NHTSA for review, and then 
finalize them for mailing to their affected owners and purchasers. We 
also continue to estimate it takes 8 hours for all other manufacturers 
to perform this task. Accordingly, we estimate that the 49 CFR part 577 
requirements result in 8,852 burden hours annually (11 hours per recall 
x 316 recalls per year) + (8 hours per recall x 672 recalls per year).
    The burden estimate associated with the regulation that requires 
interim owner notifications within 60 days of filing a Part 573 Safety 
Recall Report must be revised upward. We previously calculated that 
about 12 percent of past recalls require an interim notification 
mailing, but recent trends show that 13 percent of recalls require an 
interim owner notification mailing. We continue to estimate the 
preparation of an interim notification can take up to 10 hours. We 
therefore estimate that 1,250 burden hours are associated with the 60-
day interim notification requirement (963 recalls x .13 = 125 recalls; 
125 recalls times 10 hours per recall = 1,250 hours).
    As for costs associated with notifying owners and purchasers of 
recalls, to reflect an increase in postage rates, we are revising our 
estimate of the cost of first-class mail notification to $1.53 per 
notification, on average. This cost estimate includes the costs of 
printing and mailing, as well as the costs vehicle manufacturers may 
pay to third-party vendors to acquire the names and addresses of the 
current registered owners from state and territory departments of motor 
vehicles. In reviewing recent recall figures, we determined that an 
estimated 51.4 million letters are mailed yearly totaling $78,642,000 
($1.53 per letter x 51,400,000 letters). The requirement in 49 CFR part 
577 for a manufacturer to notify their affected customers within 60 
days would add an additional $10,223,460 (51,400,000 letters x .13 
requiring interim owner notifications = 6,682,000 letters; 6,682,000 x 
$1.53 = $10,023,000). In total, we estimate that the current 49 CFR 
part 577 requirements cost manufacturers a total of $88,865,460 
annually ($78,642,000 for owner notification letters + $10,223,460 for 
interim notification letters = $88,865,460).
    As discussed above, to address the scope and complexity of the 
Takata recalls, NHTSA issued the ACRO, which requires affected vehicle 
manufacturers to conduct supplemental owner notification efforts in 
coordination with NHTSA and the Independent Monitor of Takata. On 
December 23, 2016, the Monitor, in consultation with NHTSA, issued 
Coordinated Communications Recommendations for vehicle owner outreach 
(``CCRs''), which includes a recommendation that vehicle manufacturers 
provide at least one form of consumer outreach per month for vehicles 
in a launched recall campaign (i.e., a recall where parts are 
available) until the vehicle is remedied (unless otherwise accounted 
for as scrapped, stolen, exported, or otherwise unreachable under 
certain procedures in the ACRO). See CCRs ] 1(b); ACRO ]] 45-46. The 
Monitor also recommended that manufacturers utilize at least three non-
traditional means of communication (e.g., postcards; email; telephone 
calls; text message; social media) as part of their overall outreach 
strategy. See CCRs ] 1(a). And the Monitor recommended including 
certain content in these communications, including certain safety-risk 
information. See id. ] 2. If a vehicle manufacturer does not wish to 
follow the Monitor's recommendations, the ACRO permits the manufacturer 
to propose an alternative communication strategy to NHTSA and the 
Monitor.
    Two comments were submitted after the previous publication of the 
30-day notice and request for comment on the renewal of this 
information collection. See NHTSA Docket 2016-0065. One commenter 
submitted only a general comment with no reference to the substance of 
the notice. The other comment, filed by the Alliance of Automobile 
Manufacturers and the Association of Global Automakers (hereinafter 
``A&G''), responded to several facets of the notice.
    In brief summary, A&G commented that it believes the investigatory 
exception to the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) does not apply to the 
Takata Coordinated Remedy Order--characterizing any relevant 
investigation as one against Takata, not the affected automakers--and 
that NHTSA should therefore account for additional cost burdens under 
the ACRO beyond the monthly outreach recommended under the CCRs. See 
Comments at 3-4. A&G further commented that it believes NHTSA should 
supplement the record with the following: additional cost-burden 
analysis, because NHTSA's estimate ``underappreciates'' what the ACRO 
contemplates; a Part B submission to account for Independent Monitor-
conducted surveys and other activities; and additional data on the 
``practical utility'' of supplemental non-traditional outreach. See 
Comments at 4-6. A&G also commented that it disagrees with NHTSA's 
discounting of its cost estimates based on recent vehicle manufacturer 
settlement agreements in multi-district litigation proceedings because 
the ACRO predates MDL settlement obligations ``and would have existed 
in the absence of the litigation settlements.'' Comments at 7.
    NHTSA has carefully considered these comments and recognizes the 
challenges involved in the Takata recalls, particularly with respect to

[[Page 27399]]

estimating per-VIN outreach costs-- populations change and, with those 
changes, the methods necessary and appropriate to engage those 
populations also change. See Comments at 4. Before modifying the 
approach to its estimates, NHTSA would benefit of from the 
consideration of any additional information that may be available, and 
would invite further public comment on such estimates. The Agency also 
recognizes and appreciates A&G's additional comments and concerns as 
described above, and similarly invites further public comment on the 
issues A&G identifies.
    To account for the progression of the recalls since its last 
notice, NHTSA is revising its previous estimates associated with this 
part of the collection. NHTSA continues to estimate a yearly average of 
19 manufacturers will be issuing monthly supplemental communications 
over the next three years pursuant to the ACRO and the CCRs. 
Manufacturers may satisfy the CCRs through third-party vendors (which 
have been utilized by many manufacturers), in-house strategies, or some 
combination thereof. NHTSA estimates the cost for supplemental 
communications at $2.00 per VIN per month.
    The volume of outreach required by the ACRO and the CCRs (and the 
costs associated with that outreach) is a function of the number of 
unrepaired vehicles that are in a launched campaign and are not 
otherwise accounted for as scrapped, stolen, exported, or otherwise 
unreachable. The schedule in Paragraph 35 of the ACRO delineates the 
expected remedy completion rate, by quarter, of vehicles in a launched 
remedy campaign.
    Utilizing these variables, we now estimate an initial annualized 
cost over the next three years of $203,776,494 per year, with an 
annualized discount of $86,724,071 to account for outreach conducted 
pursuant to the MDL settlement agreements by six vehicle manufacturers, 
for a net annualized cost of $117,052,423. NHTSA continues to estimate 
that manufacturers will take an average of 2 hours each month drafting 
or customizing supplemental recall communications utilizing non-
traditional means, submitting them to NHTSA for review, and finalizing 
them to send to affected owners and purchasers. NHTSA therefore 
estimates that 456 burden hours annually are associated with issuing 
these supplemental recall communications: 12 months x 2 hours per month 
x 19 manufacturers = 456 hours.
    Because of the forgoing burden estimates, we are revising the 
burden estimate associated with this collection. The 49 CFR part 573 
and 49 CFR part 577 requirements found in today's notice will require 
64,510 hours each year. Additionally, manufacturers impacted by 49 CFR 
part 573 and 49 CFR part 577 requirements will incur a recurring annual 
cost estimated at $89,135,460 total. The burden estimate in this 
collection contemplated for conducting supplemental recall 
communications under administrative order to achieve completion of the 
Takata recalls is 456 hours each year. Additionally, that 
administrative order contemplates impacted manufacturers incurring an 
annual cost estimated at $117,052,423. Therefore, in total, we estimate 
the burden associated with this collection to be 64,966 hours each 
year, with a recurring annual cost estimated at $204,175,423. NHTSA 
welcomes further comment and data on these estimates.

Estimated Number of Respondents--

    NHTSA estimates that there will be approximately 249 manufacturers 
per year filing defect or noncompliance reports and completing the 
other information collection responsibilities associated with those 
filings. NHTSA estimates there will be an average of 19 manufacturers 
each year conducting supplemental nontraditional monthly outreach 
pursuant to administrative order in an enforcement action associated 
with the Takata recall.

Jeffrey Mark Giuseppe,
Associate Administrator for Enforcement.
[FR Doc. 2019-12313 Filed 6-11-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4910-59-P


