Interpretation ID: aiam3550
Director
Bureau of Traffic Safety Operations
Department of Transportation
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Harrisburg
PA 17123;
Dear Mr. Pachuta: This is in reply to your letter of March 8, 1982, asking the curren status of three-wheeled motor vehicles under the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.; As you know from my letter of November 24, 1976, to HM Vehicles, a cop of which you enclosed, three-wheeled motor vehicles are classified as 'motorcycles' under the standards. Obviously the configuration of a three-wheeled enclosed vehicle differs greatly from that of the two-wheeled machine that comes to mind when the word 'motorcycle' is mentioned. As my 1976 letter indicates, the agency was seeking a more realistic regulatory scheme for three- wheeled vehicles, for obviously our motorcycle standards were written with two-wheeled vehicles in mind. But because three- wheeled vehicles did not comprise a significant part of the market, the agency decided that its priorities in motor vehicle safety lay elsewhere, no change in the definition of 'motorcycle' was ever adopted, and it still encompasses three-wheeled vehicles.; You have also asked whether a three-wheeled vehicle can be registere and inspected as a passenger car. Under the preemption provisions of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 1392(d)), Pennsylvania is bound to treat three-wheeled vehicles as 'motorcycles' in those areas that are covered by Federal safety standards that apply to motorcycles. Further, it may apply its own motorcycle standards in areas not covered by Federal standards. This means, for example, that Pennsylvania could not require a three-wheeled vehicle to have two headlamps since one is adequate under our Safety Standard 108. On the other hand, Pennsylvania could require a backup lamp device since Standard No. 108 contains no such requirement for motorcycles. Thus, it would seem that Pennsylvania should register and inspect these vehicles as motorcycles to the extent possible.; PAGE 2 WAS INADVERTENTLY MISSING FROM ORIGINAL