Interpretation ID: aiam3210
Esq.
115 South Oklahoma
Mangum
OK 73554;
Dear Mr. Stumbaugh: Please accept my apologies for our delay in responding to your lette of September 17, 1979. You asked whether your client would be required to submit to this agency's inspection or gain its approval before installing a device which connects the gas cap of an automobile to the horn wires and switches so that the horn blows continuously when the gas cap is removed by a potential thief.; Your client would not be required to obtain an inspection of hi product by this agency or to obtain an approval of his product. However, he would be required to comply with other requirements should he begin to manufacture or install his device.; Part 566 of Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations (copy enclosed requires every person who begins the manufacture of motor vehicles or motor vehicle equipment to submit certain information about his business to this agency not later than thirty days after he begins to manufacture. The information consists primarily of the name and address of the manufacturer and a description of the types of motor vehicles or motor vehicle equipment to be produced.; The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act, as amended 1974 (the Act) authorizes the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to issue motor vehicle safety standards applicable either to entire vehicles or to equipment for installation in vehicles. Safety Standard No. 301-75, *Fuel System Integrity*, (copy enclosed) is a vehicle standard which applies to certain vehicles, including passenger cars, that use fuel with a boiling point above 32 degrees F. The standard applies to completed vehicles instead of fuel tanks or other fuel system components and thus is inapplicable to the manufacture of your client's device.; Despite the inapplicability of Safety Standard No. 301-75 to it manufacture, your client's device must be designed and manufactured for safety. Since use of your client's product involves attaching electrical wires to the gas cap, we are particularly concerned that it be built in a way which will prevent any electrical spark from coming into contact with gasoline in the fuel tank, filler pipe or in other fuel system components or with gasoline fumes. As a manufacturer of gas cap anti-theft devices, your client would be subject to the defects responsibility provisions of the Act (section 151 et seq., copy enclosed). Upon discovery of a safety-related defect by the NHTSA Administrator or your client himself, your client would be required to notify the vehicle owners, purchasers, and dealers and remedy the defect.; If your client installed one of his devices in a new vehicle, i.e., vehicle which has not yet been purchased in good faith for purposes other than resale, he would be a vehicle alterer under the NHTSA regulations. As an alterer, he would be required by 49 CFR 567.7 to affix an additional label to the vehicle stating that, as altered, the vehicle conforms to all applicable Federal motor vehicle safety standards--including Safety Standard No. 301-75. Should a noncompliance or safety-related defect be discovered in a (sic) such a vehicle, as a result of the modification, your client would be required to notify vehicle owners, purchasers, and dealers and to remedy the defect.; If your client installed one of his devices in a used passenge vehicle, he would not be required to attach an alterer's label. However, section 108(a)(2)(A) of the Act would apply. Section 108(a)(2)(A) provides in relevant part that:; >>>No manufacturer, distributor, dealer, or motor vehicle repai business shall knowingly render inoperative, in whole or in part, any device or element of design installed on or in a motor vehicle or item or motor vehicle equipment in compliance with a Federal motor vehicle safety standard. . .<<<; Thus, if your client added one of his devices to a used passenge vehicle manufactured in compliance with Safety Standard No. 301-75 and other standards, and in the process knowingly rendered inoperative the compliance of the fuel system or another system, he would be in violation of section 108(a)(2)(A).; I hope that you will find this information helpful. If you have furthe questions please feel free to contact Ms. Debra Weiner of my staff at 202-426-2992.; Sincerely, Frank Berndt, Chief Counsel