(a) All certification vehicles and other vehicles tested to meet the requirements of part 86 of this chapter (other than those chosen under the durability-demonstration provisions in § 86.1829 of this chapter), are considered to have met the requirements of this section.
(b) Any vehicle not meeting the provisions of paragraph (a) of this section must be judged acceptable by the Administrator under this section in order for the test results to be reviewed for use in subpart C or F of this part. The Administrator will judge the acceptability of a fuel economy data vehicle on the basis of the information supplied by the manufacturer under § 600.006(b). The criteria to be met are:
(1) A fuel economy data vehicle may have accumulated not more than 10,000 miles. A vehicle will be considered to have met this requirement if the engine and drivetrain have accumulated 10,000 or fewer miles. The Administrator may specify a different maximum value for electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, and fuel cell vehicles that allows for the necessary operation for properly evaluating and characterizing those vehicles under this part. The components installed for a fuel economy test are not required to be the ones with which the mileage was accumulated, e.g., axles, transmission types, and tire sizes may be changed. The Administrator will determine if vehicle/engine component changes are acceptable.
(2) A vehicle may be tested in different vehicle configurations by change of vehicle components, as specified in paragraph (b)(1) of this section, or by testing in different inertia weight classes. Also, a single vehicle may be tested under different test conditions, i.e., test weight and/or road load horsepower, to generate fuel economy data representing various situations within a vehicle configuration. For purposes of this part, data generated by a single vehicle tested in various test conditions will be treated as if the data were generated by the testing of multiple vehicles.
(3) The mileage on a fuel economy data vehicle must be, to the extent possible, accumulated according to § 86.1831 of this chapter.
(4) Each fuel economy data vehicle must meet the same exhaust emission standards as certification vehicles of the respective engine-system combination during the test in which the city fuel economy test results are generated. This may be demonstrated using one of the following methods:
(i) The deterioration factors established for the respective engine-system combination per § 86.1841 of this chapter as applicable will be used; or
(ii) The fuel economy data vehicle will be equipped with aged emission control components according to the provisions of § 86.1823 of this chapter.
(5) The calibration information submitted under § 600.006(b) must be representative of the vehicle configuration for which the fuel economy, CO2 emissions, and carbon-related exhaust emissions data were submitted.
(6) Any vehicle tested for fuel economy, CO2 emissions, or carbon-related exhaust emissions purposes must be representative of a vehicle which the manufacturer intends to produce under the provisions of a certificate of conformity.
(7) For vehicles imported under § 85.1509 or § 85.1511(b)(2), (b)(4), (c)(1), (c)(2) or (d) of this chapter (when applicable), only the following requirements must be met:
(i) For vehicles imported under § 85.1509 of this chapter, a highway fuel economy value must be generated contemporaneously with the emission tests used for purposes of demonstrating compliance with § 85.1509 of this chapter. No modifications or adjustments should be made to the vehicles between the highway fuel economy, FTP, US06, SC03 and Cold temperature FTP tests.
(ii) For vehicles imported under § 85.1509 or § 85.1511(b)(2), (b)(4), (c)(1), or (c)(2) of this chapter (when applicable) with over 10,000 miles, the equation in § 600.006(g)(3) shall be used as though only 10,000 miles had been accumulated.
(iii) Any required fuel economy testing must take place after any safety modifications are completed for each vehicle as required by regulations of the Department of Transportation.
(iv) Every vehicle imported under § 85.1509 or § 85.1511(b)(2), (b)(4), (c)(1), or (c)(2) of this chapter (when applicable) must be considered a separate type for the purposes of calculating a fuel economy label for a manufacturer's average fuel economy.
(c) If, based on review of the information submitted under § 600.006(b), the Administrator determines that a fuel economy data vehicle meets the requirements of this section, the fuel economy data vehicle will be judged to be acceptable and fuel economy and carbon-related exhaust emissions data from that fuel economy data vehicle will be reviewed pursuant to § 600.008.
(d) If, based on the review of the information submitted under § 600.006(b), the Administrator determines that a fuel economy data vehicle does not meet the requirements of this section, the Administrator will reject that fuel economy data vehicle and inform the manufacturer of the rejection in writing.
(e) If, based on a review of the emission data for a fuel economy data vehicle, submitted under § 600.006(b), or emission data generated by a vehicle tested under § 600.008(e), the Administrator finds an indication of non-compliance with section 202 of the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. 1857 et seq. of the regulation thereunder, he may take such investigative actions as are appropriate to determine to what extent emission non-compliance actually exists.
(1) The Administrator may, under the provisions of § 86.1830 of this chapter, request the manufacturer to submit production vehicles of the configuration(s) specified by the Administrator for testing to determine to what extent emission noncompliance of a production vehicle configuration or of a group of production vehicle configurations may actually exist.
(2) If the Administrator determines, as a result of his investigation, that substantial emission non-compliance is exhibited by a production vehicle configuration or group of production vehicle configurations, he may proceed with respect to the vehicle configuration(s) as provided under section 206 or 207, as applicable, of the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. 1857 et seq.
(f) All vehicles used to generate fuel economy and carbon-related exhaust emissions data, and for which emission standards apply, must be covered by a certificate of conformity under part 86 of this chapter before:
(1) The data may be used in the calculation of any approved general or specific label value, or
(2) The data will be used in any calculations under subpart F, except that vehicles imported under §§ 85.1509 and 85.1511 of this chapter need not be covered by a certificate of conformity.
[71 FR 77930, Dec. 27, 2006, as amended at 75 FR 25703, May 7, 2010. Redesignated and amended at 76 FR 39524, 39529, July 6, 2011]