Interpretation ID: aiam4105
Director
U.S. Engineering Office
Alfa Romeo
Inc.
250 Sylvan Avenue
Englewood Cliffs
NJ 07632;
Dear Mr. Black: This responds to your letter to Mr. Barry Felrice, our Associat Administrator for Rulemaking, requesting an interpretation of Part 541, *Federal Motor Vehicle Theft Prevention Standard*. Specifically, you stated that Alfa Romeo plans to label its front and rear bumpers in the following locations. The front bumper would have a label attached to the bumper assembly in the area where it would not be visible if a front license plate was attached to the bumper. The rear bumper would have a label attached to the rear bumper in an area that will be covered by a plastic snap-in molding. This molding must be removed to remove the rear bumper from the vehicle. You asked whether these planned locations would satisfy the requirement of S541.5(d)(1)(iii) that the labels be 'visible without further disassembly once the part has been removed from the vehicle.' It is NHTSA's opinion that the locations specified for marking bumpers in your letter would satisfy the requirement of S541.5(d)(1)(iii).; Your planned location for labeling the front bumpers is in an are where those labels will be visible at the time the cars arrive at the dealer and will remain visible unless and until a front license plate is installed on the car. NHTSA must thus determine whether the possible need to remove a front license plate would result in labels in this location failing to satisfy the requirement that labels be placed so that they will be 'visible without further disassembly once the part has been removed from the vehicle.' It appears not to be necessary to remove the front license plate in order to remove the front bumper from your vehicles. Hence, one might conclude that such location would not satisfy this requirement.; However, the intent underlying this requirement was clearly set fort in the rulemaking proceeding that established Part 541. The preamble to the notice of proposed rulemaking contained the following sentence: 'Both commenters agreed, however, that NHTSA's regulations should ensure that investigators will not have to conduct any *additional* dismantling (over and above what chop shops, parts dealers, or thieves have ordinarily done) to locate the identifier on parts removed from a vehicle.' (Emphasis in original) 50 FR 19731, May 10, 1985. NHTSA believes that license plates are routinely removed from front bumpers by legitimate parts dealers prior to reselling the bumper. Law enforcement groups have assured us that license plates are removed from stolen bumpers, so that the stolen part cannot be traced to its rightful owner. In these circumstances, the agency has no reason to believe that labels for front bumpers that are covered by the front license plate will require investigators to conduct additional dismantling of the front bumpers. Accordingly, we conclude that labels on front bumpers that are clearly visible when the front license plate is removed satisfy the requirement that those labels be 'visible without further disassembly once the part has been removed from the vehicle.'; With respect to the rear bumpers, the situation is simpler. Accordin to your letter, the plastic molding covering the labels *must* be removed to remove the bumper from the vehicle. Thus, the label would be visible without further disassembly once the bumper has been removed from the vehicle. As such, it would satisfy the requirement of S541.5(d)(1)(iii).; If you have any further questions or need more information on thi subject, please do not hesitate to contact me.; Sincerely, Erika Z. Jones, Chief Counsel