Interpretation ID: Supreme_intl

Ms. Melissa A. Burt
Foley & Lardner, LLP
3000 K Street, NW, Suite 500
Washington, DC 20007-5143

Dear Ms. Burt:

This responds to your letter on behalf of your client, Supreme International Limited (Supreme). Supreme manufactures a Truck Mount Feed Processor, which is a livestock feed mixer mounted on a truck. You ask if the product is a "motor vehicle" subject to regulation by this agency. As explained below, our answer is yes.

You state that the Truck Mount Feed Processor is sold exclusively through farm equipment dealers and is not advertised for on-road use. You state that most of these vehicles never leave a farm after retail purchase, and that the vehicles travel on public roads on rare occasions for the purpose of transiting between farm locations or to obtain grain from a commodity barn. However, you also state that purchasers of these vehicles can obtain a certificate of title to permit registration and licensing under State motor vehicle laws.

Chapter 301 of Title 49 of the U.S. Code ("the Safety Act") authorizes the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to establish Federal motor vehicle safety standards (FMVSSs) applicable to new motor vehicles. Section 30102(a)(6) of that chapter defines "motor vehicle" as:

[A] vehicle driven or drawn by mechanical power and manufactured primarily for use on the public streets, roads, and highways, but does not include a vehicle operated only on a rail line.

We have issued a number of letters addressing this language. We have stated that vehicles equipped with tracks, agricultural equipment, and other vehicles incapable of highway travel are not motor vehicles. We have also determined that certain vehicles designed and sold solely for off-road use (e.g. , airport runway vehicles and underground mining vehicles) are not motor vehicles, even if they may be operationally capable of

highway travel. Also, vehicles are not motor vehicles if they were designed to be used primarily at off-road job sites and, although capable of being operated on public roads from one job site to another, their on-road use is only incidental to the primary purpose for which they were manufactured (e.g. , mobile cranes).

We would consider the feed mixer to be a "motor vehicle" for the purposes of our FMVSSs and regulations. The Truck Mount Feed Processors on-road use would be more than incidental. An incomplete motor vehicle (i.e. , a chassis cab) is used in its manufacture and, as you state, Supreme completes the vehicle in accordance with the incomplete vehicle document supplied by the chassis-cab manufacturer and can certify the vehicle as complying with the FMVSSs. No part of the manufacturing process alters the chassis cab such that its final configuration is limited to off-road use. You state that the vehicles may travel on public roads when traveling between farm locations or to obtain grain from a commodity barn. You also state that purchasers of these vehicles can obtain a certificate of title to permit registration and licensing as motor vehicles under State laws. Given these factors, we conclude that the vehicles are motor vehicles for purposes of the Safety Act.

If you have any additional questions, please contact Mr. Chris Calamita of my staff at (202) 366-2992.

Sincerely,

Jacqueline Glassman
Chief Counsel

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d.1/12/05