Interpretation ID: nht72-5.33

DATE: 12/22/72

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; Richard B. Dyson; NHTSA

TO: Crawford and Company Insurance Adjusters

TITLE: FMVSR INTERPRETATION

TEXT: This is in reply to your letter of September 19, 1972, concerning an accident involving a 1972 International tractor which you maintain was not certified by its manufacturer as complying with applicable Federal standards. You state that the accident may have been due to "insufficient gross vehicle weight".

The Certifications regulations (49 CFR Parts 567, 558) do require final-stage manufacturers to certify the conformity of vehicles they complete, by affixing to them a label containing information specified in the regulations. In the case of vehicles manufactured on or after January 1, 1972, the regulations require that such information include a gross vehicle weight rating, and a gross axle weight rating for each axle. These ratings are set by the manufacturer based on definitional criteria found in the regulations (@ 563.3, 49 CFR @ 571.3). Your definition of a "final-stage" manufacturer, "anyone who installs a component that is not readily attachable", is correct only if the component installation is to an incomplete vehicle.

Your letter has been forwarded to our Office of Standards Enforcement, who will conduct whatever investigation is appropriate to determine whether violations of NHTSA regulations have occurred. Such an investigation does not include ascertaining the cause of any accident, or whether a particular vehicle may have been overloaded. It concerns only whether the respective manufacturers have complied with NHTSA regulations applicable to them.

If you wish to know the results of this investigation when it is completed, you may write our Office of Standards Enforcement, NHTSA, or call Mr. George Shifflett of that office at (202) 426-1693.