Interpretation ID: aiam4020
Associate Director
Pupil Transportation Service
Virginia Department of Education
P.O. Box 6Q
Richmond
VA 23216-2060;
Dear Mr. Bynum: Thank you for your July 31, 1985 letter to Administrator Stee concerning the applicability of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No.221, *School Bus Body Joint Strength,* to your school buses. Your letter has been referred to my office for reply. We regret the delay in responding to your inquiry.; In a telephone call with Ms. Hom of my staff, you explained tha Virginia wants to purchase new school buses for deaf and blind school children and plans to equip those buses with bathrooms. The bathrooms will be installed by a commercial shop after the State receives the vehicles from a dealer. You explained that the joints of the body panels enclosing the passenger compartment would comply with FMVSS No. 221. However, you asked us whether the panels covering the inside of the bathroom, comprising a 'Formica-type' material, must comply with the standard. As explained below, the answer is no.; Our safety standards and regulations are not applicable t modifications of motor vehicles after the first purchase of those vehicles for purposes other than resale, with one exception. Section 108(a)(2)(A) of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act provides, in part:; >>>No manufacturer, distributor, dealer, or motor vehicle repai business shall knowingly render inoperative...any device or element of design installed on or in a motor vehicle or item of motor vehicle equipment in compliance with an applicable Federal motor vehicle safety standard...<<<; In your situation, section 108(a)(2)(A) requires the commercia business adding the bathroom to ensure that any device or element of design which was installed in compliance with Federal safety standards continues to comply with those standards after the work has been completed. For example, the installation of the bathroom compartment must not render inoperative the compliance of the school bus seats with FMVSS No. 222, *School Bus Passenger Seating and Crash Protection,* or the emergency exits with FMVSS No. 217, *Bus Window Retention and Release.* However, the joints of the panels would not have to comply with Standard No. 221 since the panels are being placed in a used vehicle. The agency does, however, urge persons making modifications to follow voluntarily our safety standards.; We would note that this agency has a set of different requirements tha would apply if the bathroom were added to a new school bus before its sale to you. In that situation, the person who installs the bathroom would be an alterer under our regulations, and required to certify that the vehicle, as altered, complies with all applicable Federal safety standards, including FMVSS No. 221. (49 CFR Part 567.7); Please contact this office if you have further questions. Sincerely, Erika Z. Jones, Chief Counsel