comply with a Federal motor vehicle safety standard, or to remedy such defect or failure to comply. This part also establishes procedures for holding a hearing on these questions.

§ 557.2 Purpose.

The purpose of this part is to enable the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to identify and respond on a timely basis to petitons for hearings on whether a manufacturer has reasonably met his obligation to notify or remedy, and to establish the procedures for such hearings.

§ 557.3 General.

Any interested person may file with the Administrator a petition requesting him to hold a hearing on

(a) Whether a manufacturer has reasonably met his obligation to notify owners, purchasers, and dealers of a safety-related defect in any motor vehicle or item or replacement equipment manufactured by him;

(b) Whether a manufacturer has reasonably met his obligation to notify owners, purchasers, and dealers of a failure to comply with an applicable Federal motor vehicle safety standard in any motor vehicle or item of replacement equipment manufactured by him;

(c) Whether the manufacturer has reasonably met his obligation to remedy a safety-related defect in any motor vehicle or item of replacement equipment manufactured by him; or

(d) Whether the manufacturer has reasonably met his obligation to remedy a failure to comply with an applicable Federal motor vehicle safety standard in any motor vehicle or item of replacement equipment manufactured by him.

§ 557.4 Requirements for petition.

A petition filed under this part should be addressed and submitted to: Administrator, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, D.C. 20590. Each petition filed under this part must

(a) Be written in the English or Spanish language;

(b) Have, preceding its text, the word "Petition";

(c) Contain a brief statement concerning the alleged failure of a manufacturer to meet reasonably his obligation to notify or remedy;

(d) Contain a brief summary of the data, views, or arguments that the petitioner wishes to present in a hearing on whether or not a manufacturer has reasonably met his obligations to notify or remedy;

(e) Specifically request a hearing.

§ 557.5 Improperly filed petitions.

(a) A petition that is not addressed as specified in § 557.4, but that meets the other requirements of that section, will be treated as a properly filed petition, received as of the time it is discovered and identified.

(b) A document that fails to conform to one or more of the requirements of paragraphs § 557.4(a) (1) through (5) will not be treated as a petition under this part. Such a document will be treated according to the existing correspondence and other procedures of the NHTSA, and any information contained in it will be considered at the discretion of the Administrator.

§ 557.6 Determination whether to hold a public hearing.

(a) The Administrator considers the following factors in determining whether to hold a hearing:

(1) The nature of the Complaint; (2) The seriousness of the alleged breach of obligation to remedy;

(3) The existence of similar complaints;

(4) The ability of the NHTSA to resolve the problem without holding a hearing; and

(5) Other pertinent matters.

(b) If, after considering the above factors, the Administrator determines that a hearing should be held, the petition is granted. If it is determined that a hearing should not be held, the petition is denied. In either case, the petitoner is notified of the grant or denial not more than 60 days after receipt of the petiton by the NHTSA.

(c) If a petition submitted under this part is denied, a FEDERAL REGISTER notice of the denial is issued within 45 days of the denial, setting forth the reasons for it.

(d) The Administrator may conduct a hearing under this part on his own motion.

§ 557.7 Public hearing.

If the Administrator decides that a public hearing under this part is necessary, he issues a notice of public hearing in the FEDERAL REGISTER, to advise interested persons of the time, place, and subject matter of the public hearing and invite their participation. Interested persons may submit their views through oral or written presentation, or both. There is no cross-examination of witnesses. A transcript of the hearing is kept and exhibits may be accepted as part of the transcript. Sections 556 and 557 of title 5, U.S.C., do not apply to hearings held under this part. When appropriate, the Chief Counsel designates a member of his staff to serve as legal officer at the hearing.

§ 557.8 Determination of manufacturer's

obligation.

If the Administrator determines, on the basis of the information presented at a hearing or any other information that is available to him, that the manufacturer has not reasonably met his obligation to notify owners, dealers, and purchasers of a safety-related defect or failure to comply with a Federal motor vehicle safety standard or to remedy such defect or failure to comply, he orders the manufacturer to take specified action to comply with his obligation, consistent with the authority granted the Administrator by the Act.

PART 565-VEHICLE IDENTIFICATION NUMBER-CONTENT REQUIREMENTS

Sec.

565.1 Purpose and scope.

565.2 Application.

565.3 Definitions.

565.4 General requirements.

565.5 Reporting requirements.

AUTHORITY: Secs. 106, 108, 112, 119, 152, Pub. L. 89-563, 80 Stat. 718 (15 U.S.C. 1395, 1397, 1401, 1407, and 1412); delegations of authority at 49 CFR 1.50 and 501.8.

SOURCE: 48 FR 22569, May 19, 1983, unless otherwise noted.

(a) Statutory Definitions: All terms used in this part that are defined in section 102 of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 (15 U.S.C. 1391) are used as defined in the Act.

(b) Motor Vehicle Safety Standard Definitions: Unless otherwise indicated, all terms used in this part that are defined in 49 CFR 571.115 are used as defined therein.

(c) "Body Type" means the general configuration or shape of a vehicle distinguished by such characteristics as the number of doors or windows, cargo-carrying features and the roofline (e.g., sedan, fastback, hatchback).

(d) "Engine Type" means a power source with defined characteristics such as fuel utilized, number of cylinders, displacement, and net brake horsepower. The specific manufacturer and make shall be represented if the engine powers a passenger car or a multipurpose passenger vehicle, truck with a gross vehicle weight rating of 10,000 pounds or less.

or

(e) "Line" means a name which a manufacturer applies to a family of vehicles within a make which have a degree of commonality in construction, such as body, chassis or cab type.

(f) "Make" means a name which a manufacturer applies to a group of vehicles or engines.

(g) "Model" means a name which a manufacturer applies to a family of vehicles of the same type, make, line, series, and body type.

(h) "Model Year" means the year used to designate a discrete vehicle model irrespective of the calendar year in which the vehicle was actually produced, so long as the actual period is less than two calendar years.

(i) "Plant of manufacture" means the plant where the manufacturer affixes the VIN.

(j) "Series" means a name which a manufacturer applies to a subdivision of a "line" denoting price, size or weight identification, and which is utilized by the manufacturer for marketing purposes.

(k) "Type" means a class of vehicle distinguished by common traits, including design and purpose. Passenger cars, multipurpose passenger vehicles, trucks, buses, trailers, incomplete vehicles, and motorcycles are separate types.

§ 565.4 General requirements.

The VIN shall consist of four sections of characters which shall be grouped accordingly:

(a) The first section shall consist of three characters which occupy positions one through three (1-3) in the VIN. This section shall uniquely identify the manufacturer, make and type of the motor vehicle if its manufacturer produces 500 or more motor vehicles of its type annually. If the manufacturer produces less than 500 motor vehicles of its type annually, those three characters along with the third, fourth and fifth characters of the fourth section shall uniquely identify the manufacturer, make and type of the motor vehicle. These characters are assigned in accordance with § 565.5(c) of this part.

(b) The second section shall consist of five characters which occupy positions four through eight (4-8) in the VIN. This section shall uniquely identify the attributes of the vehicle as specified in Table I. For passenger cars, and for multipurpose passenger vehicles and trucks with a gross vehicle weight rating of 10,000 pounds or less, the first and second characters shall be alphabetic and the third and

fourth characters shall be numeric. The fifth character may be either alphabetic or numeric. The characters utilized and their placement within the section may be determined by the manufacturer, but the specified attributes must be decipherable with information supplied by the manufacturer in accordance with § 565.5(d) of this part. In submitting the required information to the NHTSA relating to gross vehicle weight rating, the designations in Table II shall be utilized. The use of these designations within the VIN itself is not required.

TABLE I-TYPE OF VEHICLE AND INFORMATION DECIPHERABLE Passenger car: Line, series, body type, engine type,1 and restraint system type. Multi-purpose passenger vehicle: Line, series, body type, engine type,' gross vehicle weight rating.

Truck: Model or line, series, chassis, cab type, engine type,' brake system and gross vehicle weight rating.

Bus: Model or line, series, body type, engine type,' and brake system.

Trailer, including trailer kit: Type of trailer, series, body type, length, and axle configuration.'

Motorcycle: Type of motorcycle, line, engine type,1 and net brake horsepower.1 Incomplete vehicle: Model or line, series, cab type, engine type,' and brake system.

33-182 0-84---10

(c) The third section shall consist of one character which occupies position nine (9) in type VIN. This section shall be the check digit whose purpose is to provide a means for verifying the accuracy of any VIN transcription. After all other characters in VIN have been determined by the manufacturer, the check digit shall be calculated by carrying out the mathematical computation specified in paragraphs (c) (1) through (4) of this section.

(1) Assign to each number in the VIN its actual mathematical value and assign to each letter the value specified for it in Table III.

(2) Multiply the assigned value for each character in the VIN by the position weight factor specified in Table IV.

(2) The second character of the fourth section shall represent the plant of manufacture.

(3) The third through the eighth characters of the fourth section shall represent the number sequentially assigned by the manufacturer in the production process if the manufacturer produces 500 or more vehicles of its type annually. If the manufacturer produces less than 500 motor vehicles of its type annually, the third, fourth, and fifth characters of the fourth section, combined with the three characters of the first section, shall uniquely identify the manufacturer, make and type of the motor vehicle and the sixth, seventh, and eighth characters of the fourth section shall represent the number sequentially assigned by the manufacturer in the production process.

§ 565.5 Reporting requirements.

(a) Information collection requirements contained in this regulation have been approved by the Office of Management and Budget under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (Pub. L. 96-511) and have been assigned OMB Control Number 2127-0051.

(b) Manufacturers of motor vehicles subject to this regulation shall submit, either directly or through an agent, the unique identifier for each make and type of vehicle it manufactures at least 60 days before affixing the first VIN using the identifier. Manufacturers whose unique identifier appears in the fourth section of the VIN shall also submit the three characters of

the first section which constitutes a part of their identifier.

(c) The NHTSA has contracted with the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) to coordinate the assignment of manufacturer identifiers. Manufacturer identifiers will be supplied by SAE at no charge. All requests for assignments of manufacturer identifiers should be forwarded directly to: Society of Automotive Engineers, 400 Commonwealth Avenue, Warrendale, Pennsylvania 15096, Attention: WMI Coordinator. Any requests for identifiers submitted to NHTSA will be forwarded to SAE. Manufacturers may request a specific identifier or may request only assignment of an identifier(s). SAE will review requests for specific identifiers to determine that they do not conflict with an identifier already assigned or block of identifiers already reserved. SAE will confirm the assignments in writing to the requester. Once confirmed by SAE, the identifier need not be resubmitted to the NHTSA.

(d) Manufacturers of motor vehicles subject to the requirements of this regulation shall submit to the NHTSA the information necessary to decipher the characters contained in its VIN's. Amendments to this information shall be submitted to the agency for VIN'S containing an amended coding. The agency will not routinely provide written approvals of these submissions, but will contact the manufacturer should any corrections to these submissions be necessary.

(e) The information required under paragraph (d) of this section shall be submitted at least 60 days prior to offering for sale the first vehicle identified by a VIN containing that information, or if information concerning vehicle characteristics sufficient to specify the VIN Code is unavailable to the manufacturer by that date, then within one week after that information first becomes available. The information shall be addressed to: Administrator, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 400 Seventh Street, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20590, Attention: VIN Coordinator.