Interpretation ID: 3199o

This is in reply to your letters of July 12, and September 2, 1988. In accordance with your request for confidentiality on the basis that your letter of July 12 contains confidential business information, your name, your company's name and address, and the name of the product concerned will be deleted from copies of this interpretation that are made publicly available.

Your company wishes to install a leveling device that will lower the height of a motor vehicle to facilitate entry. It can be activated only when the parking brake is applied and the vehicle is at rest. Normal vehicle height is restored by driver activation of a control when the ignition is in the "on" position. Should the operator attempt to drive away without activation of the control, release of the parking brake or registration of motion by a speed sensor ensures that normal vehicle height is restored within approximately l5 seconds. You state that the vehicle will conform to all applicable Federal motor vehicle safety standards "when the vehicle is in its configuration for operation on public roads..., meeting all the requirements relevant to height (i.e., lighting device mounting heights, rear view mirror fields of view, non passenger car CAFE" categorization, and the like). You believe that incorporation of the height adjuster feature should not be considered when determining compliance with either the Federal motor vehicle safety standards, or the vehicle's classification for fuel economy purposes, except for mounting height requirements for lighting equipment designed to be used while the vehicle is stationary (such as parking lamps and hazard warning signal lamps). You ask for our concurrence in this interpretation.

Your interpretation is acceptable to us. Provision of the feature described would not invalidate the certification of your company that the vehicle complies with all applicable Federal motor safety standards. We note that the adjustment in height is not automatic, but at the discretion of the vehicle operator. Further, the height adjuster is designed so that if it depresses vehicle height while a vehicle is being operated, it would do so only temporarily, i.e., not more than 15 seconds. Similarly, the height adjuster would not lead to a change in the classification of your vehicle for purposes of the fuel economy standards. Although 49 CFR 523.5 clearly indicates that measurement of angles and clearances for automobiles capable of off-highway operation is to be made when a vehicle is at rest, and your vehicle apparently would not have the requisite angles and clearances when the height adjuster is activated, it would have those angle and clearance when the adjuster is not activated. Further, activation of this feature is discretionary and its effects on the vehicle in motion are, as already noted, very brief. Thus, the vehicle would have the requisite clearance almost all of the time while it is being operated.

Sincerely,

Erika Z. Jones Chief Counsel

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