Interpretation ID: AIT.jeg

Mr. Daniel H. Fagerstrom
Station Manager - AIT Freight Systems, Inc.
3340-C Greens Road
Suite 350
Houston, TX 77032

Dear Mr. Fagerstrom:

This responds to your inquiry whether a "truck-mounted hydraulic crane 'bundle extractor'" you wish to import is considered a motor vehicle that would have to comply with the applicable Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. You submitted your inquiry on behalf of your client, Hydro-Engineering, Inc.

According to your letter, the unit "comprises a used Peinemann Truck Mounted Bundle Extractor (TMBE) which consists of a hydraulic crane apparatus permanently mounted on a special-order Mercedes diesel truck chassis." The TMBE is used to remove, handle, and replace bundles of heat exchanger and cooling tubes from industrial heat exchangers and cooling towers. The work for which the TMBE is designed is performed in oil refineries, electric power and process chemical plants, or other similar heavy industrial settings. You stated that "(t)ypically the TMBE spends extended periods of time at a single jobsite." You also stated that the intended use of the TMBE is definitely that of off-road applications, and that there are numerous features of its design and construction that make it unsuitable for anything other than sporadic, short-term road travel.

By way of background information, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) interprets and enforces the laws under which the Federal motor vehicle safety standards are promulgated. NHTSA's statute defines the term "motor vehicle" as follows:

"Any vehicle driven or drawn by mechanical power manufactured primarily for use on the public streets, roads, and highways, except any vehicle operated exclusively on a rail or rails."

Whether the agency considers a vehicle such as you describe to be to be a motor vehicle depends on its use. It is the agency's position, for example, that this statutory definition does not encompass mobile construction equipment, such as cranes and scrapers, which use the highway only to move between job sites and which typically spend extended periods of time at a single job site. In such cases, the on-highway use of the vehicle is merely incidental and is not the primary purpose for which the vehicle was manufactured. In contrast are instances where vehicles, such as dump trucks, frequently use the highway going to and from job sites, and stay at a job site for only a limited time. Such vehicles are considered motor vehicles, since the on-highway use is more than "incidental."

Based on the information you provided, it appears that the TMBE is not a "motor vehicle" within the meaning of the statutory definition.

I hope this information is helpful.

Sincerely,
Frank Seales, Jr.
Chief Counsel
ref:VSA
d.6/22/00