Interpretation ID: nht93-4.12

DATE: May 28, 1993

FROM: John Womack -- Acting Chief Counsel, U.S. Department of Transportation, NHTSA

TO: Steve Reeder -- President & General Manager, Trails West Manufacturing

TITLE: None

ATTACHMT: Attached to letter dated 4-21-93 from Steve Reeder to Taylor Vinson (OCC 8601)

TEXT: This responds to your letter of April 21, 1993, to Taylor Vinson of this Office, in which you ask questions about the applicability of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 108 to the livestock trailers that you manufacture.

The trailer box is 78 inches wide, but the overall vehicle width exceeds 80 inches when the fenders are added. You have asked whether such trailers must be equipped with lamps required of vehicles whose overall width is 80 inches or more (clearance and identification lamps) as they will be installed on the trailer box. In an interpretation published in 1976 which remains valid today, the agency stated that "overall width" refers to "the nominal design dimension of the widest part of the vehicle . . . exclusive of flexible fender extensions, and mud flaps . . . ." The trailers you manufacture do not appear to be equipped with "flexible fender extensions", according to the literature that you supplied, and therefore the fenders would be included in determining the overall width. Accordingly, they would be required to be equipped with clearance and identification lamps. Although the clearance lamps will be located on the box, they should be placed, as nearly as possible, to indicate the overall width of the vehicle and as near the top as practicable, as Table II of Standard No. 108 requires. Thus, to answer your second question, side marker lamps would be located as required by Table II rather than Table IV.

In determining whether the overall length of the trailer is 30 feet or more for purposes of installation of intermediate side marker lamps and reflectors, you ask whether "the gooseneck or 5th wheel portion of the trailer which extends over the tow vehicle" should be included. The agency has not adopted a definition of "overall length." However, with respect to a trailer that is less than 6 feet in overall length, paragraph S5.1.1.15 requires that "the trailer tongue" be included in the measurement. Therefore we believe that the calculation of overall length for longer trailers should also include the trailer tongue or equivalent connector to the towing vehicle.

You have also asked if "front clearance lights (would) be required where the gooseneck or 5th wheel portion of the trailer extends over the tow vehicle." The answer is yes. Table II of Standard No. 108 requires that amber clearance lamps be located "on the front" and as near the top as practicable, which we interpret to be the foremost, highest part of the trailer.

Your final question relates to regulations for "safety chains" for your products. We are unaware of any Federal requirements that apply to this item of equipment. States may have adopted specifications such as VESC Regulation V5, or SAE Recommended Practice J697 MAY88, which would apply to vehicles operated within their borders. However, we are unable to advise you on State laws, and suggest that you contact, for an opinion, the American Association of

Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA), 4600 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, Va. 22203.