Interpretation ID: 1983-3.9

TYPE: INTERPRETATION-NHTSA

DATE: 09/26/83

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; Frank Berndt; NHTSA

TO: Flyer Industries Limited -- Moni Marcus, Chief Engineer

TITLE: FMVSS INTERPRETATION

ATTACHMT: 4/5/83 letter from Frank Berndt to Flyer Industries Limited

TEXT:

Moni Marcus, P.Eng. Chief Engineer Flyer Industries Limited 64 Hoka Street Box 245 Transcona P.O. Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada R2C 3T4

Dear Mr. Marcus:

This responds to your letter to Mr. Kratzke of my staff, asking for a clarification of the requirements of Standard No. 217, Bus Window Retention and Release (49 CFR S 571.217). You stated that your company's transit bus models use eight large windows as emergency exits to satisfy the emergency exit requirements of Standard No. 217, and that the entrance and exit doors are not classified as emergency doors. Accordingly, you stated that the entrance and exit doors do not "have to be tested for Standard No. 217 requirements." This is not wholly correct.

Standard No. 217 sets forth two basic requirements. These are (1) window retention requirements, which must be met by all windows in a new bus, except for the windshield, and (2) requirements applicable to emergency exits. As I pointed out in a letter to Mr. Moss, of your staff, the window retention requirements apply to all front door glazing which exceeds 8 inches in diameter, and this agency does test such glazing for compliance with the standard. Hence, while you may be correct in asserting that a door not designated as an emergency door would not be tested for compliance with the emergency exit requirements, you are incorrect if you are asserting that the glazing on such a door would not be tested for compliance with the window retention requirements.

Your letter went on to state that, although your entrance and exit doors are not classified as emergency exits, most local transit authorities have requested you to add a decal instructing people how to open the doors in case of an emergency. You then stated your opinion that the addition of these decals would not change the status of the doors to emergency exits, so the doors would not be required to meet the Standard No. 217 push force requirements applicable to emergency doors. This conclusion is incorrect.

Standard No. 217 specifies minimum criteria for emergency exits which must be met by all new buses, and your letter states that your transit bus models do not need to count the entrance and exit doors on the buses to satisfy these criteria. Thus, absent other factors, those doors would not be required to comply with the portions of the standard applicable to emergency doors. However, affixing a decal, such as the one enclosed with your letter, in the area of those doors is labeling the door as an emergency exit. It is reasonable for riders of the bus to assume that a door which is labeled by the manufacturer with instructions in case of an emergency and which is intended by the local transit authority to be used as an exit in case of an emergency is in fact a door which can be used as an emergency exit. Given the likelihood of the use of the door as an emergency exit when it is so labeled, it is important that the door comply with the requirements applicable to emergency doors in Standard No. 217, and this agency has uniformly required this of all doors labeled with instructions for use in case of an emergency.

For your information, I have enclosed a copy of a letter reaching this same conclusion which was sent to another manufacturer. Contrary to the understanding expressed in your letter, this agency has never sent a letter to a manufacturer stating that doors labeled with emergency instructions were not subject to the requirements of Standard No. 217 applicable to emergency doors.

Should you need any further information or have further questions on this subject, please contact Mr. Kratzke at this address or at (202) 426-2992.

Sincerely,

Frank Berndt Chief Counsel

Enclosure

August 12, 1983

Dear Mr. Krazke:

Re: Clarification of FMVSS - 217

As per our discussion on the phone, Flyer's transit bus models 900, 901 and 902 are equipped with 8 large windows and 3 fixed ones. The eight large windows are classified as emergency exits and they satisfy the FMVSS - 217 requirement of:

51 seats x 67 = 3,417 square inches (minimum) Therefore, the entrance and exit doors are not classified as emergency exits and do not have to be tested for FMVSS - 217 requirements.

Both emergency exit windows and fixed windows were tested in 1980, and approved by your department - see Report No. 217-OYS (copy attached).

The question remaining is that most transit authorities have been requesting that bus manufacturers add a decal instructing people how to open the doors in case of an emergency. (Copy of decal drawings attached). In our view, the decals do not change the status of the doors to an emergency door status and, therefore, they are still not required to meet FMVSS - 217 push forces.

My understanding is that this interpretation has been given to other bus manufacturers before and we at Flyer would like to have a similar clarification from your office to straighten the records out specifically in regard to the letter marked NOA-30 and sent to Mr. Bill Moss, Flyer's test engineer by Mr. Frank Berndt (copy attached).

Your assistance on the phone was greatly appreciated and I hope to hear from you soon.

Yours truly,

Moni Marcus, P.Eng. Chief Engineer FLYER INDUSTRIES LIMITED

Enclosure (4//5/83 letter from Frank Berndt to Flyer Industries Limited Omitted here.)