Interpretation ID: aiam3110
Law Clerk
Clanahan
Tanner
Downing and Knowlton
718 Seventeenth Street
19th Floor
Denver
CO 80202;
Dear Mr. Reeves: This is in response to your letter of July 24 and your telephon conversation with Ms. Debra Weiner of my office in which you inquired about the Federal law applicable to the manufacture and use of auxiliary fuel tanks. You indicated that your client will be in the business of manufacturing auxiliary fuel tanks for use in passenger vehicles and on farm equipment. Most of the tanks will apparently be designed for mounting on the vehicles without connection to the vehicle fuel system, although some will be built with some connections.; Below is a discussion of questions numbered 1 and 6 in your letter, a well as a general discussion of the law applicable to the installation of both types of auxiliary tanks. Following is a brief discussion of the questions numbered 2-5 in your letter.; The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act, as amended 1974 (the Act) authorizes the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to issue Federal motor vehicle safety standards applicable either to entire motor vehicles or to equipment for installation in motor vehicles. Agricultural equipment is not encompassed by the term 'motor vehicle' because Congress clearly did not intend that such equipment be within the coverage of the Act. Therefore, none of the Federal motor vehicle safety standards are applicable to farm equipment and the rest of this letter will be concerned only with passenger vehicles.; Safety Standard No. 301-75, *Fuel System Integrity*, is a vehicl 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 rather than to fuel tanks or other fuel system components and thus is inapplicable to the manufacture of auxiliary fuel tanks.; Despite the inapplicability of Safety Standard No. 301-75 to thei manufacture, auxiliary fuel tanks of either type you have mentioned must be designed and manufactured for safety. As a manufacturer of auxiliary fuel tanks, your client would be subject to the defects responsibility provisions of the Act (section 151 *et seq*). Upon discovery of a safety-related defect by the Secretary of Transportation, the NHTSA Administrator, or the manufacturer himself, your client, as a manufacturer, would be required to notify vehicle owners, purchasers, and dealers and remedy the defect.; A person who installs an auxiliary fuel tank in a new vehicle prior t its first purchase in good faith for purposes other than resale would be a vehicle alterer under NHTSA regulations if that person modified the vehicle during the installation. As an alterer, your client 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 such a vehicle, as a result of the modification, your client would be responsible for notifying vehicle owners and remedying the noncompliance or defect.; If your client connects auxiliary gasoline tanks to used passenge vehicles, he or she 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 part, any device or element of design installed on or in a motor vehicle or item of motor vehicle equipment in compliance with an applicable Federal motor vehicle safety standard. . .<<<; Thus, if your client added an auxiliary tank of either type mentione in your letter to a used passenger vehicle manufactured in accordance with Safety Standard No. 301- 75 and other standards, and in the process knowingly rendered inoperative the compliance of the fuel system or other systems, he or she would have violated section 108(a)(2)(A).; For example, if your client mounted a tank on the exterior of vehicle, without connection to the fuel system, and one of the mounting bolts caused the existing fuel system to leak in an amount in excess of that permitted by Safety Standard no. 301-75, he would be in violation of section 108(a)(2)(A). Depending upon the way in which he attached the tank to the vehicle or to its fuel system your client could also violate sections 108(a)(2)(A) with respect to other safety standards including, but not limited to, the Bumper Standard (49 CFR 581), and Standard No. 108, *Lamps, Reflective Devices, and Associated Equipment*.; >>>Questions 2, 3, and 4.<<< According to the Federal Highway Administration which administers th Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, they apply only to motor carriers and not to passenger vehicles that are not involved in interstate commerce. If you have further questions you might wish to contact the Federal Highway Administration directly.; >>>Question 5. Do 49 C.F.R. 171 *et seq*. which regulate th transportation of certain hazardous materials apply to the private carrying of such materials on passenger vehicles or farm equipment?<<<; These regulations are administered by the Research and Special Program Administration, which informs me that the Federal regulations applying to hazardous materials concern the transportation of hazardous materials in commerce. Thus far, the regulations have not been applied to the private carrying of hazardous materials, such as gasoline, in a passenger vehicle or farm machine. If you have further questions you might wish to contact the Research and Special Programs Administration.; In conclusion, please note that, in general, the National Highwa Traffic Safety Administration discourages the use of auxiliary fuel tanks of any kind because of the grave dangers of fire and explosion posed by their improper manufacture or installation. In the near future this agency will be making a press release warning consumers of these hazards and discouraging them from using auxiliary fuel tanks.; I hope that you will find this response helpful and that you have no been inconvenienced by our delay in sending it to you.; Sincerely, Frank Berndt, Chief Counsel