Interpretation ID: aiam4635
USA One Denso Road Battle Creek
MI 49015;
"Dear Ms. Christensen: This is in reply to your letter to the agenc asking if there are any Federal regulations concerning the type of data about your products that you should retain, and for what length of time. If there are no data retention requirements, you ask for recommended guidelines. Your company manufactures and supplies component parts to US and Japanese car makers. I regret the delay in responding to your letter. The Department of Transportation has no regulations of the nature you mention. However, as a manufacturer of motor vehicle equipment, your company comes under the jurisdiction of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act which this agency administers. In the absence of knowledge about the kind of equipment your company manufactures, our guidelines will necessarily be general. Your letter indicates that your company provides components for use as original equipment in motor vehicles. As a general rule, all items of motor vehicle equipment must be free of defects relating to motor vehicle safety. If a vehicle manufactured with your products is determined by its manufacturer to incorporate a safety related defect that is attributable to your component, the vehicle manufacturer must notify the agency and purchasers of the vehicles affected, and remedy the defect. Your company must also notify the agency, and, if the component has been used in the vehicles of more than one manufacturer, you must notify those manufacturers also. If you have manufactured these components as replacement equipment, then the notification and remedy responsibility falls squarely upon your company. The Act requires that the defect be remedied without charge for a period of 8 years after manufacture. This suggests that you should retain manufacturing, production, and sales records for at least 8 years. Some components must also comply with an applicable Federal motor vehicle safety standard, and be so certified by its manufacturer, whether it is used as original or replacement equipment. Notification and remedy is also required if a noncompliance is determined to exist, with remedy at no cost to a purchaser for the 8-year period. We do not know whether your products are directly covered by a Federal motor vehicle safety standard, and would be pleased to answer any further questions you may have. I have enclosed an information sheet for new manufacturers of motor vehicles and motor vehicle equipment. For a fuller understanding of the responsibilities of equipment manufacturers, you should consult the regulations of this agency at Title 49 Code of Federal Regulations Part V (available from your local office of the U.S. Government Printing Office as 'Title 49 Code of Regulations Parts 400 to 999'). Sincerely, Stephen P. Wood Acting Chief Counsel Enclosure";