579.26—Reporting requirements for manufacturers of tires.
For each reporting period, a manufacturer (including a brand name owner) who has manufactured for sale, sold, offered for sale, introduced or delivered for introduction in interstate commerce, or imported tires in the United States shall submit the information described in this section. For purposes of this section, an importer of motor vehicles for resale is deemed to be the manufacturer of the tires on and in the vehicle at the time of its importation if the manufacturer of the tires is not required to report under this section. For paragraphs (a) and (c) of this section, the manufacturer shall submit information separately with respect to each tire line, size, SKU, plant where manufactured, and model year of tire manufactured during the reporting period and the four calendar years prior to the reporting period, including tire lines no longer in production. For each group of tires with the same SKU, plant where manufactured, and year for which the volume produced or imported is less than 15,000, or are deep tread, winter-type snow tires, space-saver or temporary use spare tires, tires with nominal rim diameters of 12 inches or less, or are not passenger car tires, light truck tires, or motorcycle tires, the manufacturer need only report information on incidents involving a death or injury, as specified in paragraph (b) of this section. For purposes of this section, the two-character DOT alphanumeric code for production plants located in the United States assigned by NHTSA in accordance with §§ 574.5(a) and 574.6(b) of this chapter may be used to identify “plant where manufactured.” If the production plant is located outside the United States, the full plant name must be provided.
(a) Production information.
Information that states the manufacturer's name, the quarterly reporting period, the tire line, the tire size, the tire type code, the SKU, the plant where manufactured, whether the tire is approved for use as original equipment on a motor vehicle, if so, the make, model, and model year of each vehicle for which it is approved, the production year, the cumulative warranty production, and the cumulative total production through the end of the reporting period. If the manufacturer knows that a particular group of tires is not used as original equipment on a motor vehicle, it shall state “N” in the appropriate field, and if the manufacturer is not certain, it shall state “U” in that field.
(b) Information on incidents involving death or injury.
For all tires manufactured during a production year covered by the reporting period and the four production years prior to the earliest production year in the reporting period:
(1)
A report on each incident involving one or more deaths or injuries occurring in the United States that is identified in a claim against and received by the manufacturer or in a notice received by the manufacturer which notice alleges or proves that the death or injury was caused by a possible defect in the manufacturer's tire, together with each incident involving one or more deaths occurring in a foreign country that is identified in a claim against and received by the manufacturer involving the manufacturer's tire, if that tire is identical or substantially similar to a tire that the manufacturer has offered for sale in the United States. The report shall be submitted as a report on tires and organized such that incidents are reported alphabetically by tire line, within each tire line by tire size, and within each tire size chronologically by production year.
(2)
For each such incident described in paragraph (b)(1) of this section, the manufacturer shall separately report the tire line, size, and production year of the tire, the TIN, the incident date, the number of deaths, the number of injuries for incidents occurring in the United States, the State or foreign country where the incident occurred, the make, model, and model year of the vehicle on which the tire was installed, and each component of the tire that allegedly contributed to the incident, coded as follows: 71 tread, 72 sidewall, 73 bead, 98 where a component not covered by categories 71 through 73 is specified in the claim or notice, and 99 where no component of the tire is specified in the claim or notice. If an incident involves more than one such code, each shall be reported separately in the report.
(c) Numbers of property damage claims and warranty adjustments.
Separate reports on the numbers of those property damage claims and warranty adjustments which involve the components that are specified in codes 71 through 73, and 98, in paragraph (b)(2) of this section. Each such report shall state, separately by each such code, the numbers of such property damage claims and warranty adjustments, respectively, that involve the components indicated by the code. If an underlying property damage claim or warranty adjustment involves more than one such code, each shall be reported separately in the report with no limit on the number of codes to be included. No reporting is necessary if the system or component involved is not specified in such codes, or if the TIN is not specified in any property damage claim.
(d) Common green tire reporting.
With each quarterly report, each manufacturer of tires shall provide NHTSA with a list of common green tires. For each specific common green tire grouping, the list shall provide all relevant tire lines, tire type codes, SKU numbers, brand names, and brand name owners.
[67 FR 45873, July 10, 2002, as amended at 68 FR 18143, Apr. 15, 2003; 68 FR 35144, June 11, 2003]