[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 127 (Wednesday, July 1, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39675-39676]
[FR Doc No: 2020-14212]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[Docket No. NHTSA-2019-0022; Notice 2]

Volkswagen Group of America, Inc., Grant of Petition for Decision
of Inconsequential Noncompliance

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

ACTION: Grant of petition.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen), has determined
that certain MY 2017-2019 Audi A3 motor vehicles do not comply with
Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 101, Controls and
Displays. Volkswagen filed a noncompliance report dated February 18,
2019, and later amended it on September 13, 2019. Volkswagen
subsequently petitioned NHTSA on February 20, 2019, for a decision that
the subject noncompliance is inconsequential as it relates to motor
vehicle safety. This document announces the grant of Volkswagen's
petition.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Neil Dold, Office of Vehicle Safety
Compliance, NHTSA, telephone<PHONE_NUMBER>, facsimile<PHONE_NUMBER>.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    I. Overview: Volkswagen has determined that certain MY 2017-2019
Audi A3 motor vehicles do not comply with paragraph S5.2.1 of FMVSS No.
101, Controls and Displays (49 CFR 571.101). Volkswagen filed a
noncompliance report dated February 18, 2019, and later amended it on
September 13, 2019, pursuant to 49 CFR part 573, Defect and
Noncompliance Responsibility and Reports. Volkswagen subsequently
petitioned NHTSA on February 20, 2019, for an exemption from the
notification and remedy requirements of 49 U.S.C. Chapter 301 on the
basis that this noncompliance is inconsequential as it relates to motor
vehicle safety, pursuant to 40 U.S.C. 30118 and 49 U.S.C. 30120,
Exemption for Inconsequential Defect or Noncompliance.
    Notice of receipt of Volkswagen's petition was published with a 30-
day public comment period, on October 8, 2019, in the Federal Register
(84 FR 53821). No comments were received. To view the petition and all
supporting documents log onto the Federal Docket Management System
(FDMS) website at https://www.regulations.gov/. Then follow the online
search instructions to locate docket number ``NHTSA-2019-0022.''
    II. Vehicles Involved: Approximately 18,379 MY 2017-2019 Audi A3
sedan, Cabriolet, RS3, and e-Tron motor vehicles, manufactured between
July 7, 2016, and January 7, 2019, are potentially involved.
    III. Noncompliance: Volkswagen explains that the noncompliance is
that the subject vehicles are equipped with speedometers that only
display the vehicle's speed in units of either miles-per-hour (mph) or
kilometers-per-hour (km/h) and therefore do not meet the requirements
set forth in paragraph S5.2.1 and Table 1, Column 3 of FMVSS No. 101.
    IV. Rule Requirements: Paragraphs S5.2.1 and Table 1, Column 3 of
FMVSS No. 101 provides that each passenger car, multipurpose passenger
vehicle, truck and bus that is fitted with a control, a telltale, or an
indicator listed in Table 1 or Table 2 of FMVSS No. 101 must meet the
requirements for the location, identification, color, and illumination
of that control, telltale or indicator.
    Each control, telltale and indicator that is listed in column 1 of
Table 1 or Table 2 must be identified by the symbol specified for it in
column 2 or the word or abbreviation specified for it in column 3 of
Table 1 or Table 2. Specifically, the speedometer must only allow the
speed to be displayed in miles per hour (MPH) or km/h and MPH.
    V. Summary of Volkswagen's Petition: The following views and
arguments presented in this section, ``V. Summary of Volkswagen's
Petition,'' are the views and arguments provided by Volkswagen. They do
not reflect the views of the Agency.
    Volkswagen described the subject noncompliance and stated that the
noncompliance is inconsequential as it relates to motor vehicle safety.
Volkswagen submitted the following views and arguments in support of
the petition:
    1. All affected Audi A3 vehicles are initially delivered for first-
sale in the U.S. market in a compliant state (speed displayed in miles-
per-hour). Only through driver interaction, within the settings menu,
can the speedometer display be changed from mph to km/h.

The change between the display settings must be done intentionally and
cannot be accomplished inadvertently.
    2. In the affected 2017-2019 MY Audi A3 vehicles, the two
speedometer scales are noticeably different. Were the previous driver
to have changed the display, a subsequent driver would be able to tell
at a glance that the scale is not in mph.
    3. The indicated vehicle speed in km/h is 1.6 times greater than
the speed in mph [in terms of numeric value displayed by the
speedometer--1km/h is approximately 0.62 MPH]. Audi purports that if
the vehicle operator changes the display to indicate km/h and later has
not changed the display back to mph, the vehicle operator will clearly
recognize that the vehicle is moving at a lower speed than intended and
adjust their vehicle speed to match road and traffic conditions. Notice
of the speed differential advises the vehicle operator to perform the
necessary steps to adjust the speedometer back to mph (at the next
appropriate opportunity).
    4. The 2017-2019 MY Audi A3 Owner Manual contains information and
instructions for changing the units displayed, via the Infotainment
system, using the MMI Settings menu. Therefore, if a vehicle operator
needs to change the display to indicate mph, instructions are
available.
    5. As of January 08, 2019, production has been corrected, vehicles
withheld at the factory have been corrected and unsold units will be
corrected prior to sale. The correction for these vehicles is a
software fix that permits display of the speed in mph or in both mph
and km/h simultaneously.
    6. Additionally, Volkswagen is not aware of any field or customer
complaints related to this condition, nor has it been made aware of any
accidents or injuries that have occurred as a result of this issue.
    Volkswagen concluded that the subject noncompliance is
inconsequential as it relates to motor vehicle safety, and that its
petition to be exempted from providing notification of the
noncompliance, as required by 49 U.S.C. 30118, and a remedy for the
noncompliance, as required by 49 U.S.C. 30120, should be granted.
    VI. NHTSA's Analysis: NHTSA has reviewed Volkswagen's petition that
the subject noncompliance is inconsequential to motor vehicle safety.
Volkswagen explains the Audi A3/RS3 vehicles are initially delivered
for first-sale in the U.S. market compliant with FMVSS No. 101 with the
speedometer display factory-set to mph. The subject vehicles are
noncompliant because the driver can select an alternative speedometer
display in the menu setting of the ``virtual cockpit.''
    Specifically, in Audi A3/RS3 vehicles equipped with a ``virtual
cockpit,'' if the driver selects the alternative speedometer display in
the settings menu, the speedometer displays only km/h without
simultaneously indicating mph, as required by FMVSS No. 101. The
purpose of FMVSS No. 101 is to reduce safety hazards caused by the
diversion of the driver's attention from the driving task when using
controls, telltales, and indicators.
    Volkswagen further explains that all vehicles display mph from
factory settings and cannot be changed inadvertently. Additionally,
when displaying km/h, the scale of the speedometer is different so it
would be visibly apparent to the driver that the units of measure are
different. NHTSA agrees with Volkswagen that it is unlikely that the
switch from mph to km/h could be done inadvertently because specific
interactions with the menu-driven vehicle settings are required by the
operator to make the change. We believe that if an operator were to
make this change it would be done intentionally and with some
understanding of the implications and would not cause any impact to
vehicle safety. Also, if an operator were unaware that a speedometer
had been changed to display speed in km/h, they would be likely to
travel at a slower speed rather than faster speed that might impact
safety because the indicated numeric value of the speed in km/h would
be 1.6 times greater than the numeric value of the speed in mph. For
example, a driver attempting to match a speed limit of 40mph using a
speedometer reading ``40'' in km/h would be traveling approximately
25mph and have an opportunity to safely detect the difference between
their speedometer reading and the speed of nearby traffic. Furthermore,
we believe that the majority of the owners of these vehicles will
continue to operate them using the factory-set display (with the speed
identified in mph) and never attempt to change to the metric units.
    VII. NHTSA's Decision: In consideration of the foregoing, NHTSA
finds that Volkswagen has met its burden of persuasion that the subject
FMVSS No. 101 noncompliance is inconsequential to motor vehicle safety.
Accordingly, Volkswagen's petition is hereby granted and Volkswagen is
exempted from the obligation to provide notification of and free remedy
for, the subject noncompliance in the affected vehicles under 49 U.S.C.
30118 and 30120.
    NHTSA notes that the statutory provisions (49 U.S.C. 30118(d) and
30120(h)) that permit manufacturers to file petitions for a
determination of inconsequentiality allow NHTSA to exempt manufacturers
only from the duties found in sections 30118 and 30120, respectively,
to notify owners, purchasers, and dealers of a defect or noncompliance
and to remedy the defect or noncompliance. Therefore, this decision
only applies to the subject vehicles that Volkswagen no longer
controlled at the time it determined that the noncompliance existed.
However, the granting of this petition does not relieve vehicle
distributors and dealers of the prohibitions on the sale, offer for
sale, or introduction or delivery for introduction into interstate
commerce of the noncompliant vehicles under their control after
Volkswagen notified them that the subject noncompliance existed.

(Authority: 49 U.S.C. 30118, 30120: delegations of authority at 49
CFR 1.95 and 501.8)

Otto G. Matheke III,
Director, Office of Vehicle Safety Compliance.
[FR Doc. 2020-14212 Filed 6-30-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P