ID: nht71-2.41

DATE: 05/05/71

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; L. R. Schneider; NHTSA

TO: Jacob P. Billig, Esq.

TITLE: FMVSS INTERPRETATION

TEXT: In response to your letter of April 16, 1971, it is our opinion that the placement of the 2 1/4-inch-wide orange reflex reflector striping material on motor vehicles, in the manner shown in Exhibit A of your letter, would not impair the effectiveness of lamps, reflective devices, and associated equipment required by Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 108, and would not be prohibited by that standard.

ID: nht71-2.42

DATE: 05/05/71

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; Lawrence R. Schneider; NHTSA

TO: Michelin Tire Corporation

TITLE: FMVSR INTERPRETATION

TEXT: This is in reply to your phone call to David Schmeltzer of this office on April 27, 1971 and to confirm that the Tire Identification and Record Keeping regulation, Part 574, as published in the Federal Register January 26, 1971 (36 F.R. 1196) applies only to tires manufactured on or after May 22, 1971. Therefore, vehicles manufactured after that date are only required to have tires with identification numbers if the tires were manufactured after May 22.

ID: nht71-2.43

DATE: 05/06/71

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; Lawrence R. Schneider; NHTSA

TO: The Flxible Company

TITLE: FMVSR INTERPRETATION

TEXT: This is in reply to your letter of April 19, 1971 and to confirm that if you sell buses to a bus fleet owner, with tires, the name and address of the fleet owner and some means which you can identify the type of tires sold with the bus would be a sufficient record.

In the case where the bus owner purchased the tires from someone other than you, it is not your responsibility to maintain the records, but rather the responsibility of the person selling the tires to the bus fleet owner.

ID: nht71-2.44

DATE: 05/06/71

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; Robert L. Carter; NHTSA

TO: Toyo Kogyo Co. Ltd.

TITLE: FMVSS INTERPRETATION

TEXT: This is in reply to your letter of April 6, 1971, requesting an interpretation of section S7 of Standard No. 208, Occupant Crash Protection.

Your question concerns the requirement of S7.1.2 that the intersection of the upper torso belt with the lap belt shall be at least 6 inches from the occupant's front vertical centerline. As we understand your question, you have asked whether this 6-inch distance must be achieved by using an inboard belt segment of fixed length, or whether a manual adjusting device may be used that will permit lengthening of the inboard belt segment when the seat is moved forward.

It is the intent of section S7.1.2 to require an intersection point that cannot be adjusted so that it is less than 6 inches from a 50th percentile male occupant's centerline. We are considering a possible amendment to the standard to clarify this intent.

Please advise us if further explanation is needed.

ID: nht71-2.45

DATE: 05/06/71

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; Lawrence R. Schneider; NHTSA

TO: Blue Bird Body Company

TITLE: FMVSR INTERPRETATION

TEXT: This is in reply to your letter of April 22, 1971, to Mr. Carter concerning section 574.10 of Part 574 - Tire Identification and Record Keeping, as it applies to tires on a chassis for which you sell and mount the body.

In cases where the chassis are manufactured and sold with tires by the chassis manufacturer or chassis dealer, it would be permissible for the manufacturer of the chassis to maintain the record of tires on the chassis, and the name of the user of the chassis, and notify the users in the event a defect notification is required.

ID: nht71-2.46

DATE: 05/10/71

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; Lawrence R. Schneider; NHTSA

TO: Westinghouse Air Brake Company

TITLE: FMVSR INTERPRETATION

TEXT: This is in reply to your letter of April 30 inquiring whether construction equipment is considered a "motor vehicle" under the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966, and hence whether 49 CFR Part 574 Tire Identification and Recordkeeping would apply to Westinghouse as a manufacturer of motor vehicles.

As a general rule, construction equipment is considered "manufactured primarily for use on the public streets, roads, and highways" and hence a "motor vehicle" as that term is defined by section 102(3) of the Act. Thus the Tire Identification regulations would apply to Westinghouse, even though many items of construction equipment do not fall into any defined category of motor vehicles to which the Federal motor vehicle safety standards themselves apply.

ID: nht71-2.47

DATE: 05/10/71

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; Lawrence R. Schneider; NHTSA

TO: Fleming; Robinson & Bradshaw

TITLE: FMVSR INTERPRETATION

TEXT: This is in response to your letter of April 14, 1971, concerning the Tire Identification and Record Keeping Regulation. The answers given you by Mr. David Schmeltzer in your telephone conversation are, for the most part, correct. This letter is to confirm those answers where appropriate and reply to the unanswered questions you raised.

The numbered paragraphs correspond to the numbered questions in your letter.

1. The regulation speaks of a three year retention period for the information required by section 574.7(a) and the same three year period would be considered an appropriate length of time to retain the records required by section 574.7(c).

2. The regulation specifies that each manufacturer or brand name owner shall record and maintain the records required by the regulation. Therefore, the regulation allows anyone to maintain those records but the legal responsibility may not be shifted. Thus, a brand name owner may have the manufacturer maintain the required records, but he remains legally responsible for their maintenance.

3. Under the regulation, the distributors and dealers are required to submit the required information to the brand name owner, or the tire manufacturer, whoever has the legal responsibility of maintaining the records or to the manufacturer's designee. In other words, the person responsible for maintaining the records is the person who should receive the records unless he designates someone else to receive them.

4. The tire manufacturer is required to furnish a means of recording the required information to distributors and dealers, but not to brand name owners. However, this does not preclude the possibility of an arrangement whereby the tire manufacturer supplies the brand name owner the means for recording the required information.

5. The records required by Part 574 need not be kept for reclassified tires. However, Standard No. 109, the passenger car tire standard, sets forth requirements for maintaining records for reclassified tires.

6. Under the regulation, the brand name owner has no obligation to supply information to the tire manufacturer.

7. Your understanding that brand name owners are not responsible for keeping records of reclassified tires under Standard No. 109 is correct.

8. Tires which are manufactured for off public road use are not considered to be items of motor vehicle equipment under either the Act or the regulation.

9. The repurchasing obligations for the manufacturer or brand name owner for tires in the hands of dealers and distributors in the event of a defect notification, are contained in Section III of the Act. There are no repurchasing obligations under the Act which relate to the first purchaser for purposes other than resale of the tire involved in the defect notification.

10. Because the legal responsibility for defect notifications rests with the brand name owner, as well as the tire manufacturer (Section 113(f) of the Act) the requirements of Section 113(d) also apply to the brand name owner. We consider copies of notices received from either the manufacturer or the brand name owner as fulfilling the requirements of Section 113(d). It has been our practice to notify both the manufacturer and brand name owner in the event of a defect described as a result of our investigation.

11. The brand name owner will be required to give a defect notification when he receives information that a defect has been determined whether that information comes from the manufacturer or from the Administrator or from his own knowledge.

12. The certification regulations are satisfied, in the case of tires, by the symbol "DOT" embossed on the sidewall of the tire. This is the manufacturer's certification that the tire complies with the tire standard.

13. At this point in time, there are no regulations requiring performance of technical data to be furnished with new or retreaded tires. However, at any time, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has the authority to require such information pursuant to Section 112(d) of the Act.

ID: nht71-2.48

DATE: 05/12/71

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; L. R. Schneider; NHTSA

TO: Mercedes-Benz of North America, Inc.

TITLE: FMVSS INTERPRETATION

TEXT: This is in reply to your letter of May 3 asking for confirmation of your understanding with Mr. Vinson of my staff that the "optical horn" lighting feature is not prohibited by paragraph S4.6(b) of Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 108.

Paragraph S4.6(b) which states in part that "means may be provided to flash headlamps . . . for signaling purposes" allows the use of an automatic device for headlamp flashing, and it follows that a non-automatic system, such as the "optical horn" incorporates, is also permissible.

ID: nht71-2.49

DATE: 05/12/71

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; Lawrence R. Schneider; NHTSA

TO: Distributers Association

TITLE: FMVSR INTERPRETATION

TEXT: This is in response to your letter of May 4, 1971, in which you asked several interpretive questions concerning the recent issuance of regulations on Vehicles Manufactured in Two or More Stages (49 CFR Part 568) and corresponding amendments to the Certification Regulations (36 F.R. 7054, April 14, 1971; corrected 36 F.R. 7855, April 27, 1971). I will rephrase your questions slightly in order to answer them.

1. If a person delivers an incomplete vehicle to a truck body assembler for completion, but insists that the vehicle not contain all the lighting required by Standard No. 108, may the assembler carry out the person's wishes as an "intermediate manufacturer" under the regulations? Would identification, clearance, and sidemarker lamps required by Standard 108 be considered "readily attachable accessories" under the regulations, so that the assembler would necessarily be considered a final-stage manufacturer?

The assembler would be permitted under the regulations to put a truck body on an incomplete vehicle, without all the required lighting, and consider himself an intermediate manufacturer. As you suggest, he would be obliged to specify, in the document furnished with the vehicle according to Part 568, that the vehicle does not conform to the standards, and describe the remaining work necessary to make it conform. The lamp assemblies you mention would not necessarily be considered "readily attachable accessories"; in general this agency will leave the determination of such categorical questions up to the parties directly concerned, as long as they act consistently with the regulations.

2. We interpret the new regulation to mean that every vehicle which is sold to the first purchaser for use must be certified. Will this do away with the truck dealer selling an incomplete vehicle direct to the user without a body or other structure on it?

Every completed vehicle must be certified. But an incomplete vehicle is not certified under our regulations, and there is certainly no restriction on the sale of an incomplete vehicle "direct to the user" or to anyone else, except for the requirement for the standards information document. One of the main purposes of the new regulation is to remove artificial restrictions on the production and marketing of incomplete vehicles.

3. If an incomplete vehicle may be sold direct to the user without a final Certification, does this mean that there is no need to certify the vehicle further--even if the vehicle is completed after the sale?

To the contrary -- each manufacturer of a vehicle (or a final-stage manufacturer in the case of multistage vehicles) must affix a certification label in accordance with 49 CFR Part 567; this includes persons who manufacture or complete the manufacture of vehicles for their own use. The label contains information concerning weight ratings, date of manufacture, and identity of manufacturers that is important for enforcement purposes regardless of how the vehicle is marketed.

4. At what point after the sale of a vehicle to the first user does the vehicle become classified as "Used", and therefore not subject to the provisions of the Safety Standards or the Certification requirements?

The answer is, "immediately after sale of a vehicle to a user", but a couple of distinctions should be noted in this connection. Section 108(b)(1) of the Act predicates the cutoff of standards application on the "first purchase of [the motor vehicle or motor vehicle equipment] in good faith for purposes other than resale." Thus, there must be a bona fide sale, and the standards continue to apply to a vehicle where a person has manufactured or completed the manufacture of it for his own use, until after he sells the vehicle to another person. Also, the "vehicle" in question is the completed vehicle, and the above does not apply in any way to incomplete vehicles.

5. What recourse, other than to refuse to do the work, does the final-stage manufacturer have if the customer or user of the vehicle (1) no longer has the document provided by the incomplete vehicle manufacturer or (2) does not wish to have the work done in accordance with the provisions of the existing Safety Standards or the Certification requirements? If under (1) above the document is not available from the user of the vehicle, is it reasonable for the final-stage manufacturer to assume that all work has been done in conformance with the Safety Standards and that he "has no reason to know" otherwise for the purpose of the final certification (if required)?

If the incomplete vehicle furnished to the final-stage manufacturer does not contain the information document, as it should under the multistage vehicle regulation, then the final-stage manufacturer should contain a copy of the document from the incomplete vehicle manufacturer. The document does much more than assure "that all work has been done in conformance with the Safety Standards"; most importantly, it describes what must be done by subsequent manufacturers to conform with the standards, and may in the future contain required consumer information.

6. Was the vehicle identification number inadvertently omitted from the requirements for the Certification label for multistage vehicles?

The need for a vehicle identification number on multistage vehicles was not apparent when the regulation was promulgated. Since that time several interested parties have suggested that the VIN would be useful for identification of information documents that go with particular vehicles, and for other purposes related to identification of the vehicles in communications with the manufacturer. This agency is considering the possibility of adding such a requirement to Part 567.

ID: nht71-2.5

DATE: 02/11/71

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; Roger H. Compton; NHTSA

TO: Midway Products Company

TITLE: FMVSR INTERPRETATION

TEXT: This is in reply to your letter of January 27, 1971, to this Administration requesting an interpretation on Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 108 as it applies to your motorcycle carriers.

Your Model T-400-1 and T-400-2 carriers confom to the definition of "Trailer" as contained in the Federal Motor Vechile Safety Standards, and must, therefore, comply with the requirements of Standard No. 108 as applicable to trailers less than 80 inches in overall width. This Administration has no authority to provide exemption from these requirements.

Your comments on the special design and functional features of your vehicles are of interest to us and will be considered in future rule making actions. In the meantime, of course, you have the right to petition for an amendment of the definition of a trailer or of Standard No. 108 it you feel these provisions impose requirements which are not reasonable, practicable, or appropriate for the types of vehicles you manufacture, pursuant to 49 CFR 533.31.