Interpretation ID: nht74-5.44

DATE: 08/01/74

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; Frank Berndt; NHTSA

TO: Lieberman; Tratras & Markowitz

TITLE: FMVSR INTERPRETATION

TEXT: This is in reply to your letter of July 16, 1974, forwarding to us a second sample defect notification letter regarding the failure of certain trailers manufactured by Bill's Trailer Manufacturing Company to conform to Standard No. 108.

Your notification letter still fails to conform to applicable requirements (49 CFR Part 577, copy enclosed for your further reference). Particularly, Part 577 requires a specific opening statement, which you have omitted, and a specific second statement, which you have altered. We refer you to the regulation regarding the opening statement. With respect to the second, it must state, following the regulatory format, that the manufacturer, Bill's Trailer Manufacturing Company, has determined that a safety related defect exists. We also prefer, in the case of a defect resulting from a noncompliance, that, in addition to describing the equipment that is missing and that will be installed (as you have done), the notification include a statement that the defect results from the failure to conform to Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 108. This information could come at the end of the second sentence of your first paragraph, which we assume will be rewritten to conform to this letter. In other respects your letter does conform to Part 577.

For your information, any future defect reports should be sent to the Office of Defects Investigation rather than to this office.

NHTSA has discontinued its mailing list concerning new regulations. I enclose a copy of an information sheet on how to obtain our standards and other regulations.