Interpretation ID: 1982-2.33

DATE: 08/10/82

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; Z. Taylor Vinson; NHTSA

TO: Memorandum to interpretation file

TITLE: FMVSR INTERPRETATION

TEXT: On August 4, 1982, Mike Segraves of Trailmobile presented the hypothetical to me of whether a remanufactured trailer could be purchased by the remanufacturer before modification and leased to its former owner after modification without it being considered newly manufactured for purpose of compliance with the Federal motor vehicle safety standards.

He found a contradiction between 49 CFR @ 571.7(f) and the preamble establishing it. Subsection (f)(2) imposes the restriction that the remanufactured trailer is "an existing trailer" which "is owned or leased by the user of the reassembled vehicle." Yet the preamble (41 FR 27073, July 1, 1976) states that the restriction "would require that the owner or lessor of the existing trailer also be the owner or lessor of the rebuilt trailer". I found no interpretation letters on the point.

Subsection (f)(2) was adopted verbatim from the proposal (40 FR 58154, December 15, 1975). It appears to have originated from a petition by Monon Trailer Company suggesting, in the words of the preamble "that the rebuilt trailer be sold only to the owner of the trailer from which it was rebuilt". NHTSA agreed, believing that "the requirement that the trailer be sold to the original owner under its original identity would be included to prevent large-scale evasion of the standard by parties who might attempt to recycle old, unreliable equipment that would normally be junked".

Upon close examination, I see no conflict. I believe that 571.7(f)(2) and the preamble language mean simply that in order for the trailer to qualify for the exclusion, it must be either owned by or leased by the same person both before and after manufacture. A "lessor" is an "owner" but a "lessor" cannot be the "user"; thus, the word "leased" refers to a lessee rather than a lessor. The preamble clarifies that the "owner or lessor" of the existing trailer must be the owner or lessor of the rebuilt trailer. But "owner" as "vendor" is outside the exclusion, and sale of the trailer after remanufacture is prohibited. But sale before remanufacture is not precluded. Trailmobile as "owner", independent of its status as remanufacturer, remains the "owner" after its property is reconstructed, and as "lessor" may enter into a lease with the former owner or any other party without bringing the trailer under the umbrella of the new vehicle standards.

After consulting with Roger Tilton I so advised Mr. Segraves.