Interpretation ID: aiam2690
Manager RV Sales
Indiana Mills and Manufacturing
Inc.
120 W. Main Street
Carmel
IN 46032;
Dear Mr. Locke: This is in response to your letter of October 4, 1977, to Mr. Franci Armstrong of our Office of Standards Enforcement, in which you asked whether our regulations require seat belts in fifth wheel vehicles.; Our seat belt requirements are specified in Federal Motor Vehicl Safety Standard No. 208 (49 CFR 571.208), which applies to passenger cars, multipurpose passenger vehicles, trucks and buses. I am assuming that by fifth wheel vehicle you mean a towed vehicle attached to the towing vehicle by means of a fifth wheel. If I am correct in this assumption, these vehicles would be classified as trailers, which are not subject to Standard No. 208. There would therefore be no Federal requirement for seat belts in these vehicles.; Sincerely, Joseph J. Levin, Jr., Chief Counsel