Interpretation ID: aiam1340
Wilkinson
Carmody & Peatross
Seventeenth Floor Beck Building
Shreveport
LA 71166;
Dear Mr. Caverlee: This is in reply to your letter of November 8, 1973, requestin information on the applicability of NHTSA safety standards and regulations to a company which manufactures for its own use special truck bodies and transfers truck bodies from one chassis-cab to another.; Truck bodies are items of motor vehicle equipment under the Nationa Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act and NHTSA regulations and are presently not subject to safety standards or regulations except insofar as they become part of a completed vehicle (49 CFR S 568.3). In such cases the installer of the truck body is considered a manufacturer of the vehicle, and if he is its final-stage manufacturer, he will be responsible for the conformity and certification of conformity of the vehicle (49 CFR Parts 567, 568, 15 U.S.C. 1403) to all applicable safety standards.; The NHTSA applies this rule even when the vehicle is complete (manufactured) by a company (or person) for its own use. This is because the use of these vehicles involves their introduction or delivery for introduction in interstate commerce, and is thus within 15 U.S.C. SS 1397(a)(1), 1398, and 1399. Use restricted to one State does not remove a vehicle from these requirements. However, a subsequent sale by the user-manufacturer does fall within section 1397(b)(1) as long as the manufacturer's use has been *bona fide*.; The agency has taken the position that the standards and regulation apply when the installation of truck bodies and other completive measures are undertaken with new chassis. When the installation or transfer of a truck body (including a new truck body) is to a used chassis, the NHTSA considers the vehicle to be a used vehicle under section 1397(b)(1) and the standards and regulations do not apply.; Yours truly, Richard B. Dyson, Assistant Chief Counsel