Interpretation ID: aiam0907
Associate Director
Truck Body & Equipment Association
Inc.
5530 Wisconsin Avenue
Suite 1220
Washington
DC 20015;
Dear Mr. Haransky: Thank you for your letter of November 15, 1972, and your kind word about my participation in your convention.; In your letter you asked a question that arose at the convention concerning the responsibility of a tank manufacturer who completes a tank truck for a customer who carries both gasoline an fuel oil. You asked,; >>>'Can a tank manufacturer by simply certifying the GVWR make a uni which will be legal at full load with gasoline, the lighter of the two products, and leave it to the user to ensure that he does not exceed the GVWR when he is carrying a mixed load or fuel oil only?'<<<; On the specific and limited facts that you have given, the answer i that the manufacturer will not be in violation of the Certification regulations. There are two ways in which a manufacturer might find himself liable on slightly different facts, however. If in an way the manufacturer provides information to the purchaser, through owner's manuals, promotional materials, or otherwise, which could reasonably be considered a 'rated cargo load', he will be in violation of S567.5(a)(5) if the GVWR does not reflect that figure. For example, if the vehicle were described explicitly as being capable of carrying 5,000 gallons of fuel oil, we would consider that to be the equivalent of a rating of that volume times the normal density of the oil.; The other possible liability would be for a safety-related defect. Thi would arise in a case where the vehicle was found to be unsafely equipped for carrying the loads that the manufacturer has reason to know would be imposed on it. Such a finding would depend on all the facts of an individual case. Obviously, the best course for the manufacturer, from the standpoint of both safety and the avoidance of liability, is to equip his vehicles fully with equipment that is rated to carry the loads that he believes the vehicles will carry.; Yours truly, Richard B. Dyson, Assistant Chief Counsel