Interpretation ID: aiam1763
President
Bauer-Wenner Inc.
146 South Westwood Avenue
Toledo
Ohio 43607;
Dear Mr. Brune:#Please forgive the delay in responding to your lette of November 26, 1974, asking several questions on the banding requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 106-74, *Brake Hoses*.#Your first question dealt with the banding responsibilities of fleet owners. S5.2.4 as incorporated in S7.2 of Standard No. 106-74, in its present form, requires each fleet owner who makes up brake hose assemblies for his own use to label each assembly with a band and to file a designation that identifies him as the manufacturer of the assembly with the Office of Standards Enforcement. An amendment of this requirements is under active consideration, and the issue will be dealt with in a forthcoming notice in the Federal Register. #Your remaining question dealt with your responsibilities as a manufacturer of air brake hose assemblies. Each hose assembly which you produce and which is ultimately used in a brake system is an air brake hose assembly within the meaning of Standard No. 106-74. Each of these is therefore subject to the labeling and performance requirements of the standard, including the banding requirement of S7.2. Your responsibility, under Sections 108(a) (1) (A) and 108(b) (2) of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966, as amended (15 U.S.C. Secs. 1397(a) (1) (A) and 1397 (b) (2)), is to 'exercise due care' in ensuring that each assembly which is ultimately used in a brake system conforms to the requirements of the standard. What constitutes due care in a particular situation depends on all relevant facts. For example, if you ask each walk-in customer (or telephone customer) who orders an assembly whether he plans to use it in an air brake system, it would appear that you may refrain from banding those assemblies which you are assured are not destined for air brake systems. For mail-orders, a notice on your invoice, instructing your customers to inform you if the intended use of the assemblies they have ordered, would not fulfill your obligation if the invoices are received after the orders have been filled. The simplest way to meet your responsibilities might be to band all assemblies which consist of hose of a diameter known to be used in air brake system.#Yours truly,Richard B. Dyson,Acting Chief Counsel;