Interpretation ID: nht72-4.37

DATE: 06/15/72

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; Richard B. Dyson; NHTSA

TO: Dealers Truck Equipment Co. Inc.

TITLE: FMVSR INTERPRETATION

TEXT: This is in reply to your letter of April 17, 1972, inquiring as to your responsibilities for the Certification of two types of vehicles you manufacture. In the first, you mount a winch behind the cab of the truck. The vehicles are then delivered to the Louisiana Highway Department who complete them by adding a fifth wheel and a tail roller. In this set of circumstances, we would consider you to be an "intermediate manufacturer", subject to the requirements of section 568.5 of the "Vehicles Manufactured in Two or More Stages" regulations, a copy of which is enclosed.

The second operation you perform is mounting front winches on pick-up trucks. The NHTSA has taken the position that manufacturers such as you who merely add equipment to already completed vehicles may retain that vehicle's certification and need not (Illegible Word). However, if you cause the vehicle not to conform to any motor vehicle safety standard, you will be in violation of Section 108(a)(1) of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 1397(a)(1)) and may be subject to civil penalties.