Interpretation ID: aiam4137
President
Friendship Over Water
Inc.
8F-6
No. 9
San-Min Road
Taipei
Taiwan
REPUBLIC OF CHINA;
Dear Mr. Chien: This responds to your letter seeking information about our requirement applicable to 'hub covers and wheel covers'. The only applicable requirement for those items is set forth in Standard No. 211, *Wheel Nuts, Wheel Discs, and Hub Caps* (49 CFR S571.211, copy enclosed). That standard specifies that wheel nuts, hub caps, and wheel discs for use on passenger cars and multipurpose passenger vehicles shall *not* incorporate winged projections. Hub covers and wheel covers that you manufacture for use on vehicles other than passenger cars and multipurpose passenger vehicles are not subject to any standards issued by this agency.; However, as a manufacturer of hub caps and wheel covers, you incu statutory responsibilities under the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 1381 *et seq*., 'the Safety Act'), even for those hub caps and wheel covers not subject to Standard No. 211. If either your company or this agency determines that some of your wheel covers subject to Standard No. 211 do not comply with that standard *or* determines that any of your wheel covers contain a defect related to motor vehicle safety, you would be required to notify your distributors, dealers, and purchasers of the noncompliance or defect and remedy the noncompliance or defect. In the case of wheel covers, section 154(a)(2)(B) of the Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 1414(a)(2)(B)) requires that, if there is a determination of a noncompliance or defect, the manufacturer must notify distributors, dealers, and purchasers of the noncompliance or defect and must either:; >>>1. repair the wheel cover so that the defect or noncompliance i removed, or; 2. replace the wheel cover with an identical or reasonably equivalen wheel cover that does not have a defect or noncompliance.<<<; Whichever of these options is chosen, the manufacturer of the whee covers must bear the full expense of the recall campaign and cannot charge the purchaser for the remedy if the wheel cover was first purchased less than 8 years before the notification campaign began.; We have several regulations relating to defect and noncomplianc notification and remedy campaigns. Those regulations are identified in the enclosed information sheet for new manufacturers of motor vehicle equipment. That sheet also gives you a broad overview of our statutory and regulatory requirements applicable to manufacturers.; You also asked about obtaining necessary 'approvals' before sellin these products in the United States. For those items subject to Standard No. 211, NHTSA does not use a certification process similar to the European countries, in which the manufacturer delivers the products to be certified to a governmental entity and that entity tests the products to determine if they can be certified as complying with the applicable standards. Instead, in the United States the manufacturer of the product must certify that its products comply with all applicable safety standards. The manufacturer's certification need not be based on actual tests, the only requirement is that the manufacturer exercise due care in making the certification. Once you have determined that your wheel covers comply with Standard No. 211, section 114 of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 1403) requires you to furnish to each of your distributors and dealers at the time of delivery of the wheel covers a certification that those wheel covers conform to all applicable Federal motor vehicle safety standards. That section further provides that your certification 'may be in the form of a label or tag on such item or on the outside of a container in which such item is delivered.'; You also asked how you apply for the approval of the SAE, AAMVA, an CHP. The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) is a private group that issues recommended practices for the design and performance of motor vehicles and motor vehicle equipment. You are not required by the Vehicle Safety Act to obtain the approval of SAE prior to marketing your products in the United States.; You may obtain information about the SAE standards by contacting tha group at the following address: Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc., 400 Commonwealth Drive, Warrendale, PA 15096, USA. The group may be contacted by telephone at (412) 776-4841.; Various States may also have requirements concerning wheel covers However, section 103(d) of the Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 1392(d)) provides that '(w)henever a Federal motor vehicle safety standard established under this title is in effect, no State or political subdivision of a State shall have any authority to establish, or to continue in effect, with respect to any motor vehicle or item of motor vehicle equipment, any safety standard applicable to the same aspect of performance of such vehicle or item of equipment which is not identical to the Federal standard. Nothing in this section shall be construed as preventing any State from enforcing any safety standard which is identical to a Federal safety standard.' Thus, any non-identical State safety standard covering the same aspect of performance as Standard No. 211 would be preempted by the provisions of the Safety Act, making it legally unenforceable.; States do have authority to enforce identical standards related to th same aspect of performance as Standard No. 211, and some may exercise that authority. To learn more about this issue, you should contact the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, 1201 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 910, Washington, D.C. 20036, USA. Their telephone number is (202) 296-1955. The Department of California Highway Patrol may be contacted at the following address: Enforcement Services Division, P.O. Box 898, Sacramento, CA 95804, USA. Their telephone number is (916) 445-1865.; For your information, I am enclosing copies of two procedural rule that apply to all parties subject to the standards and regulations of this agency. The first is 49 CFR Part 566, *Manufacturer Identification*. This requires each manufacturer of motor vehicle equipment subject to one of our safety standards to submit its name, address, and a brief description of the items of motor vehicle equipment it manufactures to this agency within 30 days of the date the motor vehicle equipment is imported into the United States.; The other regulation is 49 CFR Part 551, *Procedural Rules*. Thi regulation requires all manufacturers of motor vehicle equipment headquartered outside of the United States to designate a permanent resident of the United States as the manufacturer's agent for service of process in this county. Part 551 specifies that the designation of agent must contain the following six items of information:; 1. A certification that the designation is valid in form and binding o the manufacturer under the laws, corporate by-laws, or other requirements governing the making of the designation at the time and place where it is made,; 2. The full legal name, principal place of business and mailing addres of the manufacturer,; 3. Marks, trade names, or other designation of origin of any of th manufacturer's products which do not bear its name,; 4. A statement that the designation shall remain in effect unti withdrawn or replaced by the manufacturer.; 5. A declaration of acceptance duly signed by the agent appointed which may be an individual, a firm or a U.S. corporation, and; 6. The full legal name and address of the designated agent. This designation must be received by this agency before your whee covers are imported into the United States.; If you need further information or a clarification of our regulations please feel free to contact me.; Sincerely, Erika Z. Jones, Chief Counsel