Interpretation ID: nht95-3.92

TYPE: INTERPRETATION-NHTSA

DATE: August 17, 1995

FROM: Signature Illegible; John Womack -- Acting Chief Counsel, NHTSA

TO: James V. Woodsmall, Esquire -- Warrick & Boyn

TITLE: NONE

ATTACHMT: JULY 31, 1995 LETTER FROM JAMES WOODSMALL TO COLEMAN SACHS NOT AVAILABLE

TEXT: Dear Mr. Woodsmall:

This is in response to your letter of July 31, 1995 to Coleman Sachs of my staff, requesting an interpretation of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA's) requirements for affixing a certification label to motor vehicles, as found i n 49 CFR Part 567. Your letter states that you have made this request on behalf of a client who converts completed pickup trucks into larger trucks or sport utility vehicles. In this process of this conversion, your client removes the door-latch post o n which the original manufacturer's certification label is permanently affixed. As your letter states, it is not possible for this label to be removed without being completely destroyed.

Although not stated in your letter, in a prior telephone conversation with Mr. Sachs, you stated that the vehicles converted by your client have yet to be sold to their first retail purchaser. Given this circumstance, your client qualifies as a vehicle alterer. The certification requirements for vehicle alterers are stated in 49 CFR 567.7. That section provides that "[a] person who alters a vehicle that has previously been certified . . . shall allow the original certification label to remain on the vehicle, and shall affix to the vehicle an additional label of the type and in the manner and form described in @ 567.4 . . ."

As the conversions performed by your client entail the removal of the door latch post, it is clear that he cannot comply with the requirement that the original certification label be left on the vehicle. You have proposed as a solution to this problem t hat in addition to the alterer's label required by 49 CFR 567.7, your client be allowed to affix a copy of the original certification label to the vehicle. The copy would state that it is a replacement label affixed by your client because the original w as destroyed in the conversion process. This solution is acceptable to NHTSA, provided that the replacement label includes the explanatory text that you have proposed. In addition, we recommend that your client preserve the original label so that it ma y be furnished to the vehicle purchaser.

If you have any further questions regarding this matter, feel free to contact Mr. Sachs at the above address, or by telephone at (202) 366-5238.