Autoliv Ogden Technical Center — Hazardous Materials Safety Interpretation

Page 1U.S. Department of Transportation 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE Wash1ngton. DC 20590 Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration OCT 0 3 2012 Mr. Dave Madsen Chair, Supplier Regulatory Workgroup North American Automotive Hazardous Materials Action Committee Autoliv Ogden Technical Center 3350 Airport Road Ogden, UT, USA 84405 Reference No. 12-0133 Dear Mr. Madsen: This is in response to your June 14, 2012 letter requesting clarification of the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR Parts 171-180) applicable to inner packagings of air bag inflators, air bag modules, seat-belt pretensioners, and other hazardous materials. Specifically, you ask if these inner packagings when placed in outer packagings are required to be secured so they do not shift or move, or if the HMR permits the inner packagings to shift or move in a manner that does not reduce the structural integrity of the completed package. You state it is your understanding that§§ 173.24a(a)(3) and 173 .166( e), (e)( 4 ), and (e)( 4 )(iii) permit inner packagings of hazardous materials and other devices or dunnage to move or shift in a limited manner within an outer package of a combination packaging provided no damage occurs that would reduce the package's overall structural integrity. Your understanding is not correct. Air bag inflators, air bag modules, seat-belt pretensioners and dunnage, which can include other equipment, must be secured within the outer packaging to prevent their movement during transportation. Section 173.166(e) requires airbags to be placed in "rigid outer packagings that meet the general packaging requirements of 49 CFR Part 173," which are prescribed in Subpart Band include § 173.24a(a)(3), "and the packaging specification and performance requirements of 49 CFR Part 178 ... at the Packing Group III performance level" if these packagings meet specific additional requirements prescribed in § 173.166( e). Some of these additional requirements are that packagings for these devices "must be designed and constructed to prevent movement of the articles and [their] inadvertent operation" (see § 173 .166( e)), and that internal dunnage placed in these packagings "must be sufficient to prevent shifting of the devices within the container" (see§ 173.166(e)(4)(iii)). The general packaging provisions in §173.24a(a)(3) require that inner packagings of combination packagings must be packed, secured, and cushioned within an outer packaging in a manner that prevents their breakage or leakage under conditions normally#

Page 2incident to transportation. Although the HMR does not define the phrase "conditions normally incident in transportation," PHMSA has interpreted it, through various rulemakings and letters of clarification, to mean a package used for the shipment of hazardous materials that is made, filled, and closed so that under normal transportation conditions there will be no identifiable release of a hazardous material from the package and its effectiveness will not be substantially reduced. While this can be interpreted as possibly permitting some movement of inner packagings within an outer packaging of a combination package provided no identifiable release of hazardous material or reduction in package effectiveness, § 173 .166( e)( 4) does not permit this movement when transporting air bag inflators, air bag modules, seat-belt pretensioners to prevent their possible actuation. Furthermores, any additional hazardous materials or non-hazardous materials placed within the packagings you described must not be capable of reacting dangerously with the air bag devices or each other, and the inner and outer packagings used must conform to the relevant packaging and hazard communication requirements of the HMR for each hazardous material they contain (see§§ 171.2(e), 173.24(e)(4) and 173.24a(c)). I hope this satisfies your request. Sincerely, ~-7r//~~-···· T. Glenn Foster Chief, Regulatory Review and Reinvention Branch Standards and Rulemaking Division 2#

Page 32012 Char!es Betts Director., Standards & US DOT •" PHh;JSi\ East - 2 Floor 200 New .Jersev Ave. SE DC 20590 Re: an actir:trl·orientecl blorth .American Autornottve hazardous materials and of within Takata and Tf~\N -all manufacturers of air cla rifi cat ion or rnovement of hazan::ious There are several different references to eithPr Two of these references are listed celot.v. or movement within the 49 And .. § 1 prevent movemsnt of#

Page 4a or devices when \Ve beiieve the DOrs intent iS to ens~m; that the to the that no vvou!d be reduced, vVe thank you in advance for vour assistance in this matter. If you need amlit[onal information you can contact rne at ) 612-5665 or e-mail at to your vHitten response, 2#

Page 5NAAHAC Member Companies American Honda Motor Co., Inc. Autoliv ASP, Inc. BMW of North America Chrysler Corp. LLC I Mopar Delphi Automotive systems, LLC Ford Motor Company General Motors Company General Motors Parts & Service Honda of America Manufacturing Key Safety Systems Mercedes Benz USA Mobis Parts America, LLC Nissan North America, Inc. TK Holdings I Takata Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., Inc. TRW Automotive, Occupant Safety Systems Volkswagen Group of America 3#