SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Under the PRA (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), a Federal agency must receive approval from the OMB before it collects certain information from the public and a person is not required to respond to a collection of information by a Federal agency unless the collection displays a valid OMB control number. In compliance with these requirements, this notice announces that the following information collection request will be submitted OMB.

Title:49 CFR part 595, subpart B, Retrofit Air Bag Switches.

OMB Control Number: 2127-0588.

Form Number(s): HS Forms 603 and 2035.

Type of Request: Reinstatement with modification of a previously approved information collection.^[1]

Type of Review Requested: Regular.

Requested Expiration Date of Approval: Three years from date of approval.

Summary of the Collection of Information: This information collection is associated with the process of obtaining authorization for the installation of retrofit air bag switches. The modifications to the previously approved information collection include accounting for the installation return form that the air bags switch installers must return to NHTSA, updating the estimated number of requests per year, accounting for printing costs, and allowing electronic submission of the request form.

Description of the Need for the Information and Proposed Use of the Information: The completed retrofit air bag switch request form serves a variety of purposes. First, it seeks to ensure that the vehicle owner has read the agency's air bag information brochure. Second, the request form includes a list of the eligibility criteria for a retrofit on-off switch with a check box next to each justification, and the applicant must select which justification they are requesting an air bag switch under as part of completing the request form. Third, by requiring that the vehicle owner initial a statement about the safety consequences of turning off an air bag, the form seeks to ensure that the authorization is made with full knowledge of those consequences. Fourth, by requiring the owners to certify the accuracy of the information provided on the form and to acknowledge the applicability of 18 U.S.C. 1001, the form will increase the likelihood of accurate certifications.

The submission of the completed air bag switch installation forms by the dealers and repair businesses to NHTSA, as required by the regulation, will serve several agency purposes. First, they will aid the agency in monitoring the number of air bag switch installations performed. They also will enable the agency to determine whether the dealers and repair businesses are complying with the terms of the exemption, including the requirement that dealers and repair businesses only perform approved retrofit air bag switch installations. Finally, the submission of the completed installation forms to the agency will provide a record of which vehicles have an installed retrofit air bag switch.

60-Day Notice: A Federal Register notice with a 60-day comment period soliciting public comments on this information collection was published on July 22, 2025 (90 FR 34578). No comments were received.

Affected Public: Private individuals, motor vehicle dealers, and repair businesses.

Estimated Number of Respondents: 300.

Frequency: Once.

Estimated Total Annual Burden: NHTSA estimates that the time to complete the air bag switch request form is 0.5 hour and the time to complete the switch installation return form is 0.1 hour. Based on the previously approved information collection, on average we receive 150 air bag switch request forms annually.^[2] We are assuming that ( printed page 45875) everyone who submits a switch request form would be approved and would have a switch installed. This means that we would expect 150 installation return forms to be filled out. Therefore, the total estimated burden hours for this collection of information is 90 hours.

To calculate the labor cost associated with filling out the forms associated with this information collection NHTSA used the median wage estimate for all occupations for the respondents that would be filling out the forms. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) estimates that this median hourly wage is $23.80 in 2024 dollars.^[3] We did not attribute a labor cost for the burden associated with filling out the installation return forms because the form is completed during the air bag switch installation. Therefore, NHTSA estimates the total labor cost associated with the 90 burden hours to be $1,785.00 annually.

Estimated Total Annual Burden Cost: In order to provide the agency with the information requested the respondents must mail, fax, or email the forms. In the previously approved information collection email submission was not an option and some respondents used fax to avoid mail delays. We believe that with this information collection respondents largely will opt to use the email submission option. NHTSA estimates there will be no additional costs to respondents that choose to submit the forms electronically. Therefore, assuming all the respondents will mail the forms to NHTSA will be a conservative cost burden estimate (overestimate). Using the above estimates of the number of forms submitted (300 annually), the estimated cost of printing and mailing the forms first-class by individuals ($1.53 per form), yields a cost burden to the respondents of $459.00 annually.

Public Comments Invited: You are asked to comment on any aspects of this information collection, including (a) 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; (b) 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; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, 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.

Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. Chapter 35, as amended; 49 CFR 1.49; and DOT Order 1351.29A.

91 FR 45874