Interpretation ID: 19596.ogm
Mr. Lance Tunick
Vehicle Services Consulting
P.O. Box 23078
Santa Fe, NM 87502-3078
Re: Seating Positions
Dear Mr. Tunick:
This is in response to your letter requesting information about seating positions. Specifically, you ask several questions regarding a pair of side-facing folding rear seats that appear in photographs enclosed with your letter. The photographs depict what appears to be a sport utility vehicle or a van with bucket seats for the driver and a front seat passenger, forward folding rear split-bench seats for rear seat passengers, and side-facing folding seats in the cargo compartment. The side-facing seats appear to be anchored to the top of each wheelwell with hinges so that when folded, they partially obscure the rearmost set of side windows. When in use, the seat is supported by legs that unfold when it is deployed.
Your letter asks several questions regarding the side-facing rear seats. First, you ask if the side-facing folding seats are "folding jump seats" as that term is used in 49 CFR 571.3. You then ask if the seats would be considered by the agency to be folding jump seats for the purposes of 49 CFR 571.3, and if the seats, and any belts installed with the seats, would have to meet Standard Nos. 207, 208, or 210. (You recognize that any belts incorporated into the vehicle would have to meet Standard No. 209.) If it is the agency's view that the side-facing folding seats in the vehicle are not folding jump seats but are designated seating positions as set forth in 49 CFR 571.3, you ask if Type 1 seat belts can be installed at these seating positions and whether S4.3.2 of Standard No. 207 or an equivalent would apply. Lastly, you ask, regardless of whether the side-facing folding seats are "jump seats" or "designated seating positions," if the seats could be installed as an aftermarket option (after the vehicle is sold at retail) by a repair shop or dealer without having to comply with Standards Nos. 207, 208 or 210?
The term "designated seating position" is defined at 49 CFR 571.3 as:
any plan view location capable of accommodating a person at least as large as a 5th percentile adult female, if the overall seat configuration and design is such that the position is likely to be used as a seating position while the vehicle is in motion, except for auxiliary seating accommodations such as temporary or folding jump seats. Any bench or split-bench seat in a passenger car, truck or multipurpose passenger vehicle with a GVWR less than 10,000 pounds, having greater than 50 inches of hip room (measured in accordance with SAE Standard J1100(a)) shall have not less than three designated seating positions, unless the seat design or vehicle design is such that the center position cannot be used for seating.
Although your letter did not include any drawings of the vehicle or the seats, it appears from the accompanying photographs that the seats in question are large enough to accommodate a 5th percentile female. Accordingly, unless these seats are auxiliary seating positions or folding jump seats within the meaning of Section 571.3, they are designated seating positions.
The terms "auxiliary seating," "temporary jump seat" and "folding jump seat" are not defined in the agency's regulations. In an April 28, 1971 letter to Mr. Keitaro Nakajima of Toyota Motor Company, the agency indicated its view that "folding jump seat" as used in Section 571.3 applied "solely to the type of seat that is used from time to time in such vehicles as taxi cabs and limousines to accommodate, for short periods of time, an excess number of passengers." Examination of the photographs depicting the side-facing folding seats in the vehicle that is the subject of your letter indicates that these seats fit within that definition.
Your letter then asks if the side-facing folding seats would have to comply with Standard No. 207, Seating systems, and Standard No. 208, Occupant crash protection. You also ask, if belts were installed for these seats, if the anchorages would have to comply with Standard No. 210, Seat belt assembly anchorages.
Standard No. 207 establishes performance requirements for seats and their attachments to a vehicle. S4.2 of Standard No. 207 provides that each occupant seat shall withstand certain forces when tested in accordance with the procedures of S5. Occupant seat is defined in S3 of Standard No. 207 as "a seat that provides at least one designated seating position." As noted above, the side-facing folding seats depicted in the vehicle in the photographs attached to your letter do not provide a designated seating position. They are not, therefore, occupant seats as defined in S3 of Standard No. 207 and are not subject to the performance requirements of the Standard. Similarly, the seat belt requirements of Standard No. 208 apply only to designated seating positions as that term is defined in Section 571.3. In addition, S4.1.1 of Standard No. 210 provides that seat belt anchorages shall be installed for each designated seating position for which a seat belt assembly is required by Standard No. 208. As the side-facing jump seats described in your letter are not designated seating positions for the purposes of Standard No. 208, seat belt anchorages are not required for these seats by Standard No. 210.
Lastly, you ask if the side-facing folding seats could be sold as an after-market option, after the vehicle's first sale at retail, and installed by a dealer or auto repair facility.
After a vehicle's first purchase for purposes other than resale (i.e., the first retail sale of the vehicle) the only provision in Federal law that affects a vehicle's continuing compliance with an applicable safety standard is set forth in 49 U.S.C. 301222(b)). That section provides that:
A manufacturer, distributor, dealer, or motor vehicle repair business may not knowingly make inoperative any part of a device or element of design installed on or in a motor vehicle or motor vehicle equipment in compliance with an applicable motor vehicle safety standard.
Any violation of this "make inoperative" prohibition would subject the violator to a potential civil penalty. However, since Standard Nos. 207, 208, and 210 do not apply to these seats, their installation would not affect the vehicle's compliance with Standard Nos. 207, 208 and 210.
We note, however, that this agency strongly advises that all occupants of light vehicles be properly restrained. Therefore, we would strongly recommend that seat belts be provided for any seating accommodation in a light vehicle (one with a gross vehicle weight rating of less than 10,000 pounds) that is likely to be used while the vehicle is in motion. Similarly, we would advise that crashworthiness performance equivalent to that specified by these standards also be provided to occupants of these vehicles.
I hope that this is responsive to your inquiry. If you have any further questions, please contact Otto Matheke of my staff at (202) 366-5263.
Sincerely,
Frank Seales, Jr.
Chief Counsel
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d.3/7/2000