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Interpretation ID: 23329ogm



    Mr. Gary Rudnik
    Practical Innovations
    1900 Edmunds
    Brush, CO 80723



    Dear Mr. Rudnik:


    This is in response to your letter requesting NHTSA "approval" of a new product being introduced by your company. As described in the informational materials included with your letter, the product is a brake controller designed to supply and modulate electric power supplied to trailer brakes. This "EZ Brakes" device is plugged into the tow vehicle wiring harness through a standard trailer connector and activates the electric brakes of the trailer when the tow vehicle's brake lights illuminate as a result of the brake pedal being depressed.

    I am pleased to have this opportunity to explain our regulations to you.The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) does not provide approvals of motor vehicles or motor vehicle equipment. Under the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act ("Safety Act"), it is the responsibility of the manufacturer to ensure that its vehicles or equipment comply with applicable standards issued by this agency. A manufacturer then certifies that its vehicles or equipment comply with applicable standards.

    NHTSA has issued several standards applicable to brake systems: Standard No. 105, Hydraulic Brake Systems; Standard No. 121, Air Brake Systems; and Standard No. 135, Passenger Car Brake Systems. Standard No. 105 specifies requirements for hydraulic service brake and associated parking brake systems, and applies to new passenger cars, multipurpose passenger vehicles, trucks, and buses equipped with hydraulic brake systems. Standard No. 121 establishes performance and equipment requirements for braking systems on vehicles equipped with air brake systems, and applies to almost all new trucks, buses, and trailers equipped with air brake systems. Standard No. 135 specifies requirements for hydraulic service brake and associated parking brake systems for new passenger cars built after September 1, 2000 and for new multipurpose passenger vehicles, trucks and buses with a gross vehicle weight rating of 3,500 kilograms (7,716 pounds) or less built after September 1, 2002. Of these three standards, Standard No. 121 is the only standard that applies to trailers.

    Standard No. 121 (49 CFR 571.121) specifies performance requirements for trucks, buses and trailers equipped with air brake systems. The purpose of the standard is to insure safe braking performance of vehicles under normal and emergency conditions. We note, however, that Standard No. 121 only applies to vehicles with air brake systems. An air brake system is defined in S4 of the Standard as follows:

        Air brake system means a system that uses air as a medium for transmitting pressure or force from the driver control to the service brake, including an air-over-hydraulic brake subsystem, but does not include a system that uses compressed air or vacuum only to assist the driver in applying muscular force to hydraulic or mechanical components.

    The device described in your letter appears to use electricity to actuate or control the brakes of a trailer. While the driver may have the ability to activate the electric brake controller through depressing the tow vehicle brake pedal with enough force to activate the tow vehicle brake lights, air is not used as a medium for transmitting pressure or force from the driver control to the service brake on the trailer. Accordingly, the system you describe is not, under Standard No. 121, an air brake system and is not subject to the requirements of that Standard.

    Even though your product is not regulated by Standard No. 121, as an accessory or an addition to a motor vehicle, it is "motor vehicle equipment" as we define it (49 U.S.C. 30102(a)(7)(B)). This means that, if either you or we determine that it contains a safety-related defect, you, as its manufacturer, must notify and remedy the defect as required by 49 U.S.C. 30118-30120.

    I hope this information is helpful. If you have any further questions about NHTSA's safety standards, please feel free to contact Otto Matheke of my staff at this address or by telephone at (202) 366-2992.

    Sincerely,

    John Womack
    Acting Chief Counsel

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    d.10/22/01