Interpretation ID: aiam0020
Arent
Fox Kinter
Plotkin & Kahan
1100 Federal Bar Building
1815 'H' Street
NW
Washington D.C. 20006;
Dear Mr. Kinter:#This is in response to your letter of April 7, 1967 in behalf of the Motor Equipment Manufacturers Association (MEMA) regarding the application of the Initial Motor Vehicle Safety Standard to original equipment and replacement parts.#I am pleased to have this opportunity to answer the questions which have been raised by the MEMA members and outlines in your letter. Before doing so, however, I would like to briefly discuss and clarify the effect of the actions taken March 29, 1967, by the National Traffic Safety Bureau, regarding Standard Nos. 111 and 206.#In your letter you have quoted certain language from the preamble to the amendments of Standards Nos. 111 to 206, and interpreted such language to mean that original equipment manufactured on or after January 1, 1968, and replacement parts for vehicles manufactured on or after that date, fall within the regulations of these two Standards. I must advise that this interpretation in not correct. These standards as now amended no longer apply to equipment, but only to the vehicles specified in the standard when such vehicles are completed by the vehicle manufacturer on or after January 1, 1968.#It should be noted that where, as in the case of amended Standard Nos. 111 and 206, the paragraph designated 'S.2' and entitled, 'Application,' refers only to vehicles and not to vehicle equipment, the person responsible for compliance is the vehicle manufacturer. This is true notwithstanding the fact that identifiable equipment may be referred to and made the subject of control in some other paragraph of the standard. For example, Standard No. 107, in paragraph S4, refers to the 'horn ring and hub of steering wheel assembly, 'and prohibits a specular gloss of the surface of such equipment from exceeding a specified brightness. The vehicle manufacturer is solely responsible for compliance with this requirement.#There are now sixteen of the twenty initial standards which require compliance only by the vehicle manufacturer. However, Standard Nos. 106,205,209 and 211 each refer to *equipment* for use in specified motor vehicles in the application paragraph. Compliance and certification is required by both equipment manufacturer and vehicle manufacturer with regard to these four standards.#I will now direct myself to your specific questions which I will quote and follow with a brief answer.#(1) Do all the Initial Standards require *compliance and certification* by parts manufactured as to *replacement parts* for vehicles manufactured *after* January 1, 1968?#Answer: No, only Standard Nos. 106,205,209 and 211. #(2) Which of the Initial Standards, if any, apply to *replacement parts* produced on or after January 1, 1968, for vehicles manufactured *prior* to that date?#Answer: Standard Nos. 106,205,209 and 211. #(3) With respect to question 2, is a certification required of the affected equipment manufacturers in such cases?#Answer: Yes. #(4) With respect to question 1-3, are the compliance and certification requirements any different where the replacement parts involved are *identical* to the original equipment for vehicles produced on or after January 1, 1968?#Answer: No. #(5)Do the Initial Standards require manufacturers of *original equipment* produced on or after January 1, 1968, to certify their products?#Answer: The requirement for certification of motor vehicle equipment found in section 114 of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act, provides in the pertinent part that:#>>>'Every manufacturer or distributor of ... motor vehicle equipment shall furnish to the *distributer or dealer* at the time of delivery of such ... equipment ... the certification that each such ... item of motor vehicle equipment conforms to all applicable Federal motor vehicle safety standards ...'(emphasis supplied).<<