Interpretation ID: nht76-4.20

DATE: 02/12/76

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; F. Berndt; NHTSA

TO: General Teamsters Local 959 - Alaska

TITLE: FMVSS INTERPRETATION

TEXT: This responds to your January 29, 1976, questions whether an owner-operator of a vehicle manufactured to comply with Standard No. 121, Air Brake Systems, may legally disconnect portions of the brake system after a vehicle is delivered, or specify that the vehicle be delivered without certain portions of the brake system installed. Your members are asking about the antilock portion of the brake systems installed to meet the "no lockup" provisions of the standard (S5.3.1).

Two provisions of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act (15 U.S.C. @ 1381 et seq.) are involved. Section 108(a)(1)(A) prohibits the sale of any vehicle unless it complies with all applicable safety standards that were in effect on the date of the vehicle's manufacture. This means that a member cannot purchase a newly-constructed tractor with portions of the brake system disconnected, if those portions are installed in compliance with the standard. The antilock portions of the system are, as far as I know, installed in compliance with the standard and therefore cannot be disconnected prior to sale.

Section 108(a)(2)(A) with which you are familiar prohibits, with one exception, knowing disconnection of the antilock system by manufacturers, distributors, dealers, or repair businesses. Thus, there is no prohibition on disconnection by an owner-operator of his own vehicle's system under the Traffic Safety Act. However, other State of Federal statutes, or the regulations of the Bureau of Motor Carrier Safety may prohibit disconnection. In any case, the NHTSA urges that you not disconnect safety devices without consultation with the vehicle manufacturer with regard to the safest configuration of the vehicle.

SINCERELY

General Teamsters Local 959 State of Alaska

January 29, 1976

Frank A. Berndt, Acting Chief Counsel U. S. Department of Transportation National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Several of our members have obtained copies of your letter of September 29, 1975 to Mr. Joseph L. Casson, concerning Standard Number 121 and Section 108 (a) (2)(A) of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act. In that letter, you stated that manufacturers of air braked buses that conform to Standard Number 121 may instruct the owners of his products to disconnect the anti-lock system used to meet the Standard. For the period necessary to correct a safety-related defect in the system that may make its operation hazardous.

Several members of Local 959 either operate tractors or are in the process of obtaining newly built tractors. They have requested that I contact you to obtain your opinion on if they may disconnect the anti-lock system in the existing tractors, or not have an anti-lock system placed on their tractors which are presently being constructed. They are of the opinion that no anti-lock system currently on the market is safe. In other words, they wish to disconnect or not have placed on the newly constructed tractors any anti-lock system until the safety-related defects in the anti-lock system are corrected. If the anti-lock systems were disconnected, the defect report requirement of 49 CFR Part 573 and the defect notification requirements of 49 CFR Part 577 would be complied with.

Thanking you in advance for your attention to my request,

James A. Witt, General Counsel

CC: BILL SHANNON -- COPPER FREIGHT LINES