Interpretation ID: aiam2196
III
Miller Spreader Company
Youngstown
Ohio 44512;
Dear Mr. James: This is in response to your letter of January 1, 1976, to Regiona Office V of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), concerning whether your company's spreader product must comply with the requirements of Federal motor vehicle Safety standards and regulations, particularly Standard No. 119, *New Pneumatic Tires*.; The NHTSA issues safety standards and regulations for 'motor vehicles. Section 102(3) of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act defines a motor vehicle as a vehicle 'manufactured primarily for use on the public streets, roads, and highways.' Thus, a motor vehicle is a vehicle which the manufacturer expects will use public highways as part of its intended function. The primary function of some vehicles is of a mobile, work-performing nature, and, as such, their manufacturer contemplates a primary use of the highway. Mobil cranes, rigs, and towed equipment such as chippers and pull-type street sweepers that travel at a normal highway speed are examples in this area. These motor vehicles qualify as trucks or trailers. As such they are subject to the Federal motor vehicle safety standards and regulations. On the basis of the information you have sent us your company's towed paver appears to be in this category of vehicles, and would therefore be considered a 'motor vehicle.'; There are some vehicles which are excepted from the motor vehicl classification despite their use on the highway. Highway maintenance and construction equipment, lane stripers, *self-propelled* asphalt pavers, and other vehicles whose maximum speed does not exceed 20 mph and whose abnormal configuration distinguishes them from the traffic flow are not considered motor vehicles. Your company's paver would not appear to qualify in this category of vehicles since, as a towed paver, it would travel at a speed greater than 20 mph, at least when moving between job sites. Consequently, your product must comply with the requirements of the Federal standards and regulations. Standard No. 119 does not directly impose any duty on you, because it applies to tires rather than vehicles. However, the NHTSA has recently issued Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 120, *Tire Selection and Rims for Vehicles Other Than Passenger Cars* (copy enclosed). This standard does require, effective September 1, 1976, that your vehicles be equipped with tires that conform to Standard No. 119 and are of sufficient load rating.; Please contact us if we can be of any further assistance. Yours truly, Richard B. Dyson, Assistant Chief Counsel