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Interpretation ID: colonial_ice

    Mr. Edward Gordos
    President
    Colonial Ice Inc.
    2323 Greenville Road
    Cortland, OH 44410


    Dear Mr. Gordos:

    This is in response to your letter of August 12, 2002 to Coleman Sachs of my staff, concerning a problem that you have recently encountered with one of your delivery trucks.As described in your letter, the Ohio State Patrol issued the driver of this vehicle a citation for operating the vehicle without a commercial drivers license (CDL).The patrolman who issued the citation informed the driver that he concluded that a CDL was required based on information derived from the vehicle identification number (VIN) assigned to the truck. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration requires a CDL if the vehicle has a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) that exceeds 26,000 pounds.

    You identify the vehicle as a 1994 International 4900 series single axle truck that you purchased in May 2000 from Hoffman Trailer Company in Louisville, Kentucky. In making this purchase, you state that you selected a used cab and chassis and a used refrigerated body to be mounted on this cab and chassis.After noting that the cab and chassis had a GVWR of 29,000 pounds, you informed Hoffman Trailer Company that you needed a truck that could be operated without a CDL. The company informed you that the vehicle would be modified so that a CDL would not be required.

    When you picked up the vehicle after the agreed work had been performed, you were given a copy of a work order invoice from Uhl Truck Sales in Louisville, Kentucky, showing that springs had been removed from the vehicle to bring it under the CDL threshold. In addition, a label was affixed inside the vehicle, on the cab wall above the drivers seat, identifying Uhl Truck Sales as the vehicles manufacturer. Enclosed with your letter was a separate sheet setting forth the contents of this label. From the information on this sheet, the label has the same language and format prescribed in NHTSAs regulations at 49 CFR 567.5(c) for the certification label that a final stage manufacturer is required to affix to a vehicle manufactured in two or more stages. The label also identified the vehicle as having a GVWR of 26,000 pounds.

    After receiving the citation from the Ohio State Patrol, you contacted Hoffman Trailer Company, which referred you to Uhl Truck Sales.You state that you were informed by Mr. Pete Dalton, the service manager of Uhl Truck Sales, that his dealership had "derated the rear axle to 16,000 pounds by removing springs on that axle." Mr. Dalton assured you that the modifications to the vehicle and the relabeling were lawful, as they had been performed by his dealership on hundreds of vehicles. Mr. Dalton disregarded your requests to contact this office for guidance on this matter. You have consequently asked us to advise you in writing whether your vehicle is still subject to the CDL requirements.If it is still subject to the CDL requirements, you have asked whether any means are available for recertifying the vehicle so that it would no longer be subject to those requirements.

    Because the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, and not NHTSA, administers the CDL program, we are not in a position to advise you whether your vehicle is subject to the CDL requirements.All we can inform you of is the GVWR that we would recognize for the purpose of our own regulations.

    NHTSA has long taken the position that the only parties who can assign or modify a vehicles GVWR are the original manufacturer, a final stage manufacturer, or an alterer. The term "final-stage manufacturer" is defined in the agencys regulations at 49 CFR 568.3 as "a person who performs such manufacturing operations on an incomplete vehicle that it becomes a completed vehicle." Even though it attached the refrigerated body to the cab and chassis of your delivery truck, Uhl Truck Sales cannot be regarded as the vehicles final stage manufacturer. That is because the cab and chassis were used at the time these manufacturing operations were performed.

    For the same reason, Uhl Truck Sales cannot be considered an "alterer" with respect to the modifications it performed on your vehicle. The vehicle certification regulations at 49 CFR 567.7 describe an "alterer," as

      a person who alters a vehicle that has been previously certified . . . other than by the addition, substitution, or removal of readily attachable components such as mirrors or tire and rim assemblies, or minor finishing operations such as painting, or who alters the vehicle in such manner that its stated weight ratings are no longer valid, before the first purchase of the vehicle in good faith for purposes other than resale . . . (emphasis added).

    Consistent with this description, a person who makes modifications to a used vehicle (i.e., a vehicle that has already been purchased for purposes other than resale) does not qualify as an "alterer," as that term is used in NHTSAs regulations.

    NHTSA has stated in past interpretation letters that when a used vehicle is modified in such a manner that the originally assigned GVWR is inappropriate for the vehicle as modified, the modifier can affix an informational label to the vehicle, identifying its appropriate loaded weight. See, e.g., letter to James Barber dated April 2, 1997. The agency has noted, however, that it would not recognize the loaded weight specified by the modifier as the vehicles GVWR. That is because the modifier would not be in a position to assign the vehicle a new GVWR since he would not qualify as an original or final stage manufacturer or as a vehicle alterer. Id.

    Consistent with these interpretations, NHTSA would not regard the value specified by Uhl Truck Sales on the label it affixed to your vehicle as the vehicles GVWR. The agency would instead recognize the 29,000 pound GVWR assigned by the vehicles original manufacturer. Because the originally assigned GVWR remains with the vehicle throughout its service life, no means are available for "recertifying" the vehicle with a lower GVWR.

    We are furnishing a copy of this letter to Hoffman Trailer Company and to Uhl Truck Sales so that they are apprised of our views on the issue you have raised.If you have any further questions regarding the vehicle certification regulations, feel free to contact Mr. Sachs at 202-366-5238.

    Sincerely,

    Jacqueline Glassman
    Chief Counsel

    cc: Hoffman Trailer Company, Inc.
    Uhl Truck Sales

    ref:567
    d.9/23/02