Interpretation ID: aiam2852
Esq.
Robert W. Green
Esq.
Messrs. Arent
Fox
Kintner
Plotkin & Kahn
1815 H Street
N.W.
Washington
DC 20006;
Dear Messrs. Henneberger and Green: This is in reply to your letter of June 9, 1978, on behalf of you client, Jacobs Manufacturing Company ('Jacobs' herein).; Jacobs manufactures a diesel engine retarder system which 'produce significant deceleration of a large truck so equipped.' Jacobs believes that some means should be provided to warn following vehicles when a retarder is in use. It proposes to connect the retarder activation switch to the hazard warning system when a retarder is installed either as original equipment or as an aftermarket accessory. You have asked whether installation of the system would violate either 49 CFR 571.108, Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 108, or 15 U.S.C. 1397(a) (2) (A), section 108(a) (2) (A) of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act.; Paragraph S4.1.3 of Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 108 prohibits th installation of any device as original equipment that would impair the effectiveness of lighting equipment required by the standard. Paragraph S4.1.1 and Table I require trucks whose overall width is 80 inches or greater to be equipped with a hazard warning flasher system. The Jacobs device may not be installed if it would impair the effectiveness of the required hazard warning flasher system. The intended use of the Jacobs device is that it act as a warning of a decelerating vehicle in the roadway which may present a potential hazard. As such it augments the hazard warning system and, in our view, would tend to enhance rather than impair its effectiveness. Therefore, it may be installed as original equipment without violating S4.1.3. We have no provisions that would either permit or preclude its sale as an aftermarket device, and whether it is permissible as such is a matter to be determined by the laws of the States in which the truck is registered and operated, as well as those administered by the Bureau of Motor Carrier Safety, Federal Highway Administration.; Section 108(a) (2) (A) of the Act prohibits a manufacturer, amon others, from rendering inoperative, in whole or in part, any device installed in accordance with a Federal motor vehicle safety standard. Nothing in your letter indicates that the Jacobs device will affect the hazard warning signal flasher's ability to function at times when the Jacobs device is in operation, and therefore, it does not appear that its installation violates section 108(a) (2) (A).; Sincerely, Joseph J. Levin, Jr., Chief Counsel