Interpretation ID: 18402.wkm
Mr. Thomas W. Allison
Transportation Manager
Re-Tech Division
Enviroquip Systems, Inc.
341 King Street
Myerstown, PA 17067
Dear Mr. Allison:
This responds to your letter to Walter Myers of my staff, presented at a meeting with Mr. Myers and others on July 21, 1998, and your telephone conversation with Mr. Myers on September 23, 1998.
You stated that Enviroquip Systems, Inc. manufactures portable recycling equipment with 5th wheels and pintle hooks for transporting. You enclosed with your letter brochures and other drawings depicting 6 models of trommels and 1 picking station that your company produces. You asked whether they would be excluded from the antilock brake system (ABS) requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (Standard) No. 121, Air brake systems. You stated that you believe that your equipment may be excluded from the ABS requirements of the standard by virtue of their being over-width and with 2-axle configuration. Your belief is correct.
Each of the items of equipment that you inquired about was designed to be utilized at off-road job sites and, although each is equipped with two short track axles that make them capable of being towed over the public roads from one job site to another, you stated that most of these items are towed to the job site and remain there for the life of the equipment. In addition, the smallest of the group in terms of width, the Landscaper II Portable Trommel, is 8 feet, 11 inches (107 inches) wide. Finally, all materials to be screened are removed from the trommels for transporting, so that only the items of equipment themselves are transported.
Chapter 301 of Title 49, U.S. Code (U.S.C.) (Safety Act) authorizes the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to establish Federal motor vehicle safety standards applicable to new motor vehicles and new items of motor vehicle equipment. The Safety Act 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.
49 U.S.C. 30102(6).
Based on the depictions of your trommels and picking station and other information you provided, it appears that they are not motor vehicles within the statutory definition quoted above. The pictures and drawings that you submitted, as well as your verbal descriptions, show that the items are designed to be primarily used at off-road job sites for extended periods of time, but may occasionally be transported on-road from one job site to another. In such cases, the on-road transport of these items is merely incidental and not the primary purpose for which the products were manufactured. This contrasts with instances in which vehicles such as dump trucks frequently use the public roads going to and from off-road job sites, but stay there for only a limited time. Such vehicles are considered motor vehicles for purposes of the Safety Act, since their on-road use is more than just "incidental."
Assuming that your equipment items are not motor vehicles, they are not subject to the Federal motor vehicle safety standards. Moreover, subsection S3 of Standard No. 121 excludes from the standard's applicability:
(a) Any trailer that has a width of more than 102.36 inches with extendable equipment in the fully retracted position and is equipped with two short track axles in a line across the width of the trailer.
and
(f) Any trailer that has an unloaded vehicle weight which is not less than 95 percent of its GVWR.
It appears from your brochures and drawings that your trommels and picking station would also meet one or both these exclusions. Therefore, even if your equipment were considered motor vehicles, they would nevertheless be excluded from the ABS requirements under these provisions.
I hope this information is helpful to you. Should you have any further questions or need additional information, feel free to contact Mr. Myers at this address or at (202) 366-2992, or by fax at (202) 366-3820.
Sincerely,
Frank Seales, Jr.
Chief Counsel
ref:121
d.12/1/98