Interpretation ID: nht93-4.34

DATE: June 15, 1993

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

TO: Edward F. Conway, Jr. -- Assistant General Counsel, Recreation Vehicle Industry Association

TITLE: None

ATTACHMT: Attached to letter dated 5-19-93 from Edward F. Conway, Jr. to John Womack.

TEXT: We have received your letter of May 19, 1993, asking for an interpretation of Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 108.

You are concerned with an opinion that the agency expressed when it published the rule requiring center highmounted stoplamps (CHMSLs) on trucks whose overall width is less than 80 inches and whose GVWR is 10,000 pounds or less that are manufactured on and after September 1, 1993 (56 FR 16015). NHTSA pointed out that installation of an aftermarket slide-in camper by a manufacturer, dealer, distributor, or motor vehicle repair business might "render inoperative" the CHMSL within the meaning of the prohibition of 15 U.S.C. 1397(a)(2)(A) if it obscured the original equipment CHMSL.

You have apprised us that a number of your manufacturer members produce slide-in campers that are more than 80 inches wide that obscure CHMSLs. When these campers are installed on trucks that are 80 inches or less in overall width, you argue that "(a) CHMSL is NOT required on that pickup truck because its overall width is now MORE THAN 80 inches". You ask that we concur in your conclusions that these campers may lawfully be installed by a person other than a vehicle owner, and that these campers themselves are not required to be equipped with a CHMSL.

We are pleased to inform you that we concur with your conclusions under the conditions to be discussed. Virtually all modifications of vehicles in use by persons other than the owner are subject to the "render inoperative" prohibition. Over the years, we have informed prospective modifiers that we do not interpret the prohibition to require continued compliance to all Federal motor vehicle safety standards (FMVSS) that originally applied to the vehicle to be modified if the modifications contemplated will result in a change in the applicability of the original FMVSS. For example, if a 1990 passenger car is changed from a closed car to an open one, it need no longer meet all FMVSS that applied to closed vehicles manufactured in 1990. However, at the end of the modification process, it must meet all FMVSS that applied to convertibles in that year.

In our opinion, the same principle applies in the fact situation you have outlined. A pickup truck with an overall width of 80 inches or more is not required to have a CHMSL, but it is required to be equipped with clearance and identification lamps. The descriptive literature that you enclosed on "hardside" and "folding" campers shows that each camper is equipped with clearance and identification lamps, so that the lighting equipment requirements for wide trucks will be met when the campers are installed. Therefore, if a camper whose overall width is 80 inches or more is equipped with clearance and identification lamps, it is not required to be equipped with a CHMSL, and its

installation by a person other than the vehicle owner will not be a violation of 15 U.S.C. 1397(a)(2)(A) even if the CHMSL on the pickup carrying the camper is obscured.