Interpretation ID: aiam3219
Box 4091
Wilmington
DE 19807;
Dear Mr. Williams: This responds to your February 12, 1980, letter asking severa questions about the applicability of Federal safety standards to an imported motor vehicle. In general, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration requires all imported motor vehicles to comply with the safety standards in effect on the date of their importation.; In response to your first question, Standard No. 208, *Occupant Cras Protection*, requires each seating position in a passenger car to be equipped with a seat belt assembly as of January 1, 1968. Therefore, the rear bench seat of a 1972 passenger car was required by Federal regulations to have seat belts. If the vehicle to which you refer was imported without seat belts, the importer would have violated the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act.; In your second question, you ask what standards apply to a vehicle tha was used by its manufacturer as a company vehicle and then sold as a used vehicle to an individual. The vehicle would be required to comply with the standards in effect on the date of its manufacture or, in the case of an import, on the date on which it was imported. In a related question, you ask whether some of the safety systems installed in a vehicle can be disconnected. An individual is permitted to disconnect safety systems on his or her own vehicle. However, no repair business, manufacturer, dealer, or distributor may render inoperative any safety device or element of design installed in a motor vehicle in compliance with the safety standards.; Finally, you ask whether a manufacturer may import into the country vehicle that does not comply with the safety standards. The answer to this question is no. An imported vehicle must comply with the safety standards in effect on the date of its importation into this country.; Sincerely, Frank Berndt, Chief Counsel