## Facts

- The Department of Transportation, acting through NHTSA, issued Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 117 governing retreaded pneumatic passenger tires.
- FMVSS No. 117 included a permanent labeling requirement (S6.3.2) for retreaded passenger tires, requiring specified information to be molded into or on one sidewall.
- The required molded information included tire size, maximum permissible inflation pressure and load, actual number of plies or ply rating, whether the tire was tubeless or tube-type, and whether it was bias/belted or radial.
- A trade association representing tire dealers and retreaders petitioned for direct review, challenging S6.3.2’s permanent molding requirement.
- The governing statute required safety standards to be “practicable” and to “meet the need for motor vehicle safety,” and separately directed permanent labeling standards for actual number of plies and maximum permissible load.
- The challengers presented evidence that permanent molding would impose substantial operational and economic burdens on retreaders, including equipment costs and production impacts.
- The agency relied substantially on its technical judgment and did not provide supporting data adequate to address objections on feasibility and safety justification for the full set of molded disclosures.

## Issues

1. Whether S6.3.2’s permanent molding requirements were “practicable” and sufficiently related to motor vehicle safety under the governing statute.
2. Whether the agency’s adoption of S6.3.2 was arbitrary or capricious under APA § 706(2)(A) due to an inadequate administrative record.
3. Whether statutory provisions independently required permanent labeling for actual number of plies and maximum permissible load, even if broader labeling requirements lacked adequate support.

## Decision

- The court applied APA § 706(2)(A) review to the promulgation of the safety standard.
- The court vacated the portions of S6.3.2 requiring permanent molding of tire size, maximum inflation pressure, ply rating (as distinct from actual number of plies), tubeless/tube-type designation, and bias/belted or radial construction designation.
- The court upheld the permanent labeling requirements for actual number of plies and maximum permissible load because the statute specifically required permanent labeling standards for those characteristics.
- The remedy preserved the statutorily compelled elements while setting aside discretionary components that lacked adequate record support.

## Legal Principles

- Informal rulemaking is subject to APA § 706(2)(A); an agency must provide a record-based, rational basis for concluding that a rule satisfies statutory criteria.
- Statutory requirements that safety standards be “practicable” and “meet the need for motor vehicle safety” operate as enforceable limits; an agency must address serious feasibility objections and explain the safety relationship.
- Deference to agency technical judgment does not substitute for reasoned decisionmaking supported by the administrative record, particularly when regulated parties present substantial evidence of cost and operational burdens.
- When a statute mandates particular regulatory outcomes, courts may sustain those required components while severing unsupported, discretionary additions.

## Conclusion

The court set aside most of the retread-tire permanent labeling rule because the record did not adequately show practicability or a concrete safety connection, but it left in place permanent labeling for actual number of plies and maximum permissible load because Congress expressly required those disclosures.


Nat'l Tire Dealers & Retreaders Ass'n, Inc. v. Brinegar, 491 F.2d 31 (D.C. Cir. 1974)