Interpretation ID: aiam2236
Executive Vice President
NAFDEM
5530 Wisconsin Avenue
N.W.
Washington
DC 20015;
Dear Mr. Greiner: This is in response to your letter of January 26, 1976, concernin procedures for the certification of trucks on which your member companies mount tanks for the transportation of food and dairy products. The letter requested our review of six procedures agreed to by your members for compliance with the Federal certification requirements. The procedures are restated below along with our comments.; >>>1. 'Member companies agree to assume the responsibility fo notification and instruction of customers to select a truck chassis with a loaded and axle capacity rating equal to or exceeding the total weight of the completed truck chassis, i.e., chassis, tank, and payload, in order to comply with Federal safety standards.'<<<; We encourage this practice. Please note, however, that the custome himself has no duty under the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966, as amended ('the Act'), the Federal motor vehicle safety standards, or applicable regulations, to select a chassis with sufficient load ratings. The duty is your member companies', when presented with chassis of insufficient load ratings, to refrain from mounting tanks.; >>>2. 'Member companies agree to assume the responsibility fo notification and instruction of a customer when his new vehicle is received to obtain an incomplete vehicle certification supplied by the truck manufacturer, and to retain this certification in the truck cab until his tank is mounted as a complete unit.'<<<; Assuming that by 'incomplete vehicle certification supplied by th truck manufacturer' you mean the document referred to in S 568.4 of 49 CFR Part 568, *Vehicles Manufactured in Two or More Stages*, we encourage this practice as well. Please note once again, however, that the customer has no duty under applicable law to obtain or retain this document. Provision of the document is the duty of the chassis manufacturer. While your members are free to require of their customers the obtaining and retention of the document, this would be a solely contractual requirement.; >>>3. 'In the event that the customer has the chassis altered by a intermediate party such as lengthening the frame, adding an axle, or changing tire size and/or specifications, member companies agree to advise the customer of his responsibility for obtaining from the intermediate shop a certificate stating the new gross vehicle weight rating and new gross axle weight rating, and that the vehicle complies with all Federal motor vehicle safety standards.'<<<; This does not correctly state the applicable law, for the reason discussed in no. 2 above. Pursuant to S 568.5, it is the duty of the intermediate manufacturer to pass on the incomplete vehicle document. The customer's duty is a matter of private contract. Further, the incomplete vehicle document need not certify that the chassis complies with all Federal motor vehicle safety standards. It must simply provide the statements and information set out in S 568.4(a), with such addendum as may be necessary.; >>>4. 'The member company, as a transportation tank manufacturer, a the time of mounting the customer's tank on the new truck chassis at his plant, will be responsible to certify through the preparation of a completed vehicle certification that the unit complies with requirements set forth by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.'<<<; That is correct. >>>5. 'When a new truck chassis is received at a member company's plan for mounting with no or improper 'incomplete vehicle certification' documents, the vehicle will be certified for 'no load' carrying capacity.'<<<; This practice is improper. A vehicle may not be certified for 'no load carrying capacity. S 567.5 of 49 CFR Part 567, *Certification*, requires that Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) and Gross Axle Weight Ratings (GAWR's) be stated. S 567.5(a)(5) explicitly provides that the GVWR:; >>>shall not be less than the sum of the unloaded vehicle weight, rate cargo load, and 150 pounds times the vehicle's designated seating capacity...<<<; Further, where your member company mounts a tank that is designed t carry a particular commodity, the rated cargo load on which he bases the ratings should not be less than what he can reasonably expect the user to consider a 'full load' of that commodity. The incomplete vehicle document is designed to protect the final stage manufacturer in his certification of the completed vehicle.; >>>6. 'When the gross vehicle weight ratings or gross vehicle axl ratings are less than the required rating for the capacity of the tank, the member company will state the limited carrying capacity to meet Federal standards on the certification document.'<<<; For the reasons discussed in no. 5 above, this practice is no necessarily proper. In particular, if it is reasonable to expect that the user will load the vehicle to its full volumetric capacity despite your member company's specification on the certification plate of a 'limited carrying capacity', then the vehicle would probably be considered to contain a safety-related defect, subject to the notification and remedy provisions of the Act.; If you have any further questions, please feel free to write. Yours truly, Richard B. Dyson, Assistant Chief Counsel