ID: nht72-3.23

DATE: 07/28/72

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; Richard B. Dyson; NHTSA

TO: Resources Applications, Designs & Control, Incorporated

TITLE: FMVSS INTERPRETATION

TEXT: This is in response to your letter of July 21, 1972 requesting a determination as to the applicability of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 206, Door Locks and Door Retention Components, to (Illegible Words) equipment manufactured for installation on truck tractors.

An amendment to Standard No. 206 was issued in January 1972 (37 F.R. 284), which stated that the requirements of the Standard are applicable to any side door leading directly into a passenger compartment containing one or more seating accommodations.

From the information and photographs you provided, it appears that although the (Illegible Words) equipment is a passenger compartment, it is designed as a completely separate unit not containing any seating accommodations, and would therefore be exempt from the requirements of Standard No. 206.

It should be noted, however, that is not sleeper berth equipment is installed in such a way that it is (Illegible Word) to the truck cab and can be (Illegible Word) by the driver from within the cab, than any side doors on the sleeper berth equipment would be side door leading into a passenger compartment (the cab) containing seating accommodation and they would have to meet the requirements of the Standard.

For your information, I am enclosing a copy of this (Illegible Words) to Standard No. 206.

ID: nht72-3.24

DATE: 07/25/72

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; Richard B. Dyson; NHTSA

TO: 5-J Manufacturing

TITLE: FMVSS INTERPRETATION

TEXT: This is in response to your letter of June 20, 1972, requesting copies of Department of Transportation requirements regarding the manufacture of small boats, truck camper shells, camping trailers, and boat trailers. The NHTSA does have requirements regarding some of these components. All truck campers are required to conform to Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 205, "Glazing Materials," while those campers designed for mounting on incomplete vehicles (as distinguished from those mounted on pick-up trucks) that are manufactured after September 1, 1972, must conform to Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 206, "Door Locks and Door Retention Components." Camping and boat trailers must conform to Standard No. 108, "Lamps, Reflective Devices, and Associated Equipment." In addition, manufacturers of these products (campers, trailers, etc.) must certify that their products conform to the standards in the manner set forth in the Certification regulations (49 CFR Parts 567, 568). Information on how to obtain copies of NHTSA requirements is enclosed.

We have referred your request for rules and regulations regarding the manufacture of small boats to the United States Coast Guard, and have requested that they respond directly to you.

ID: nht72-3.25

DATE: 06/30/72

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; Richard B. Dyson; NHTSA

TO: Harold Schlintz & Associates

TITLE: FMVSS INTERPRETATION

TEXT: This is in reply to your letter of June 8, 1972, to Robert L. Carter, as to whether Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 206 is applicable to a White "Freightliner" which was manufactured on or about December 1, 1970.

The White Freightliner, as illustrated in the picture you enclosed, is a truck tractor, and is classified as a "truck" under the motor vehicle safety standards. Standard No. 206 became applicable to trucks on January 1, 1972, and would not therefore apply to this truck. No other standards are applicable to the doors or door latches of this vehicle.

The standards do not apply to a vehicle after its first sale to a consumer (a used vehicle), and we exemption from the standards is necessary.

ID: nht72-3.26

DATE: 07/17/72

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; Richard B. Dyson; NHTSA

TO: Mercury Fabricators

TITLE: FMVSS INTERPRETATION

TEXT: This is in reply to your letter of June 20, 1972, in which you ask whether Motor Vehicle Safety Standards Nos. 206 (Door Locks and Door Retention Components) and 302 (Flammability of Interior Materials) apply to aluminum sleeper cabs which you manufacture for what appears to be installation on truck tractors.

Each motor vehicle safety standard is by its terms applicable to specific types of motor vehicles and motor vehicle equipment. Each vehicle or item of equipment to which a standard applies must conform to the standard until its first purchase by a user. Components which are incorporated into vehicles before their first purchase are considered to be part of the vehicle, and as a practical matter must conform to all standards applicable to it.

Standard No. 302 becomes effective September 1, 1972, and applies to trucks, which includes truck tractors. If a sleeper cab you manufacture is incorporated into a truck before its first purchase by a user, then it must conform to the standard. Moreover, the components to which the standard applies (paragraph S4.1) include mattress covers, and if you determine the standard applies under the criteria we have provided, mattress covers which you furnish must conform to the standard. You indicate you have tested the flammability of the cab utilizing a torch. While you may test for conformity to the standard in any way you choose, whether or not your product conforms to the standard will be determined by NHTSA utilizing the test procedures specified in the standard. Manufacturers who utilize procedures different from those in the standard should take care to correlate the results they obtained to those that would be obtained using the standard's procedures.

Standard No. 206 also applies to trucks, and will become effective for all side doors leading to passenger compartments on September 1, 1972. Consequently, if the sleeper cabs you manufacture are incorporated into trucks before their first purchase the sleeper cabs must conform to Standard No. 206

Enclosures

ID: nht72-3.27

DATE: 01/01/72 EST.

FROM: Richard B. Dyson; NHTSA

TO: Brockway Motor Trucks

TITLE: FMVSS INTERPRETATION

TEXT: This is in reply to your letter of September 12, 1972, regarding the application of S4.3 of Standard No. 207, Seating Systems, to an auxiliary folding seat installed in Brockway trucks.

As shown in your drawings and photographs, the seat faces forward and has a hinge at the rear of the lower cushion. An upward force at the front of the lower cushion will move the cushion upward and rearward until it presses against the seat back.

The intent of S4.3 is to reduce the forces acting on an occupant in an accident by preventing the seat or seat back from folding onto him. It does not appear from the material you have submitted that any motion of the lower seat cushion will impose such additional forces on an occupant. The folding action is therefore not of the type contemplated by the standard and no restaining device would be required for this seat.

ID: nht72-3.28

DATE: 06/15/72

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; Richard B. Dyson; NHTSA

TO: Wayne Transportation Division

TITLE: FMVSS INTERPRETATION

TEXT: This is in reply to your letter of June 1, 1972, in which you asked whether a bus passenger seat to which you plan to attach seat belts would be required to conform to Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 207, Seating Systems, and No. 210, Seat Belt Anchorages.

The seat would not be required to conform to either standard. Each expressly exempts bus passenger seats from compliance with its requirements. It is our opinion that if a manufacturer provides a safety device which the applicable standards do not require him to provide, he is not bound to conform to the performance requirements of those standards.

Even though no standard is presently applicable, the agency is considering rulemaking action that will establish a standard for bus seating and we strongly urge you to provide the safest possible installation.

ID: nht72-3.29

DATE: 03/23/72

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; Robert L. Carter; NHTSA

TO: Universal Oil Products Company

TITLE: FMVSS INTERPRETATION

TEXT: This is in reply to your letter of March 3, 1972, in which you asked several questions concerning the effects of Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 207 on a type of center console seat manufactured by your company.

Before answering your specific questions about the standard, I want to clear up what seems to be a misconception in your letter about the obligations created by the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act. The Act (Illegible Word) us authority to issue safety standards and provides, in Section 108(a), that no person shall

manufacture for sale, sell, offer for sale, or introduce or deliver for introduction in interstate commerce . . . any motor vehicle or item of motor vehicle equipment manufactured on or after the date any applicable Federal motor vehicle safety standard takes effect. . . unless it is in conformity with such standard.

A dealer or distributor of a vehicle manufactured after the effective date of an applicable standard is thus obligated to maintain the vehicle in conformity with the standard, even though he might be in the "after-market" according to your terminology.

To answer your specific questions:

1. A seat installed on or after January 1, 1972, on a truck manufactured before January 1, 1972, will not have to conform to the standard. A truck manufactured before January 1, 1972, would not have had to conform on the date of its manufacture. Since the standard applies only to the vehicle and not to the equipment separately, the date of the vehicle's manufacture is controlling.

2 and 3. A seat installed on a truck manufactured on or after January 1, 1972, will have to conform to the standard, except that a person who has purchased a truck for his own use and not for resale may have a seat installed after purchase even though the seat does not conform. The standard does not regulate seats as a separate item of equipment and therefore does not expressly prohibit their sale and installation in this fashion.

ID: nht72-3.3

DATE: 02/04/72

FROM: CHARLES A. BAKER FOR E.T. DRIVER -- NHTSA

TO: Enterprise Sky Park

TITLE: FMVSS INTERPRETATION

TEXT: This is in reply to your letter of January 20, 1972, regarding standards for retreaded automobile and truck tires.

Federal motor vehicle safety standards do not apply to aircraft or aircraft equipment.

Standard No. 117 entitled "Retreaded Pneumatic Tires - Passenger Cars," does not apply to the retreading of aircraft tires and does not supersede Advisory Circular 43.13-1. A copy of the standard is enclosed.

We do not have a safety standard for retreaded truck tires at this time.

ID: nht72-3.30

DATE: 09/08/72

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; Richard B. Dyson; NHTSA

TO: Auto Top, Inc.

TITLE: FMVSS INTERPRETATION

TEXT: This is in reply to your letter of August 25, 1972, concerning the application of section S4.3 of Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 207 to a folding dinette seat manufactured by your company for use in recreational vehicles.

The seat you describe has a back that folds flat to make a bed. A seat back that travels through such a large arc does not fall within the limited exceptions provided in S4.3 for a "back that is adjustable only for the comfort of its occupants," and it must therefore be equipped with a restraining device conforming to S4.3. The quoted language applies to the type of seat whose back is adjustable through a few degrees of arc to provide a variety of riding positions for persons of different sizes and postures. A seat back that folds to the point where it no longer restrains the longitudinal motion of the occupant is required to have a device that prevents it from assuming that position accidentally.

ID: nht72-3.31

DATE: 11/27/72

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; Richard B. Dyson; NHTSA

TO: Recreational Vehicle Institute, Inc.

TITLE: FMVSS INTERPRETATION

TEXT: Your letters of September 8 and October 16, 1972, raise a question concerning the applicability of S4.3 of Standard 207 to certain folding seats in recreational vehicles. Your position is that the typical dinette seat that folds down to form a bed is "a seat having a back that is adjustable only for the comfort of its occupants" and is therefore excepted from the restraining device requirement of S4.3.

In a letter that we sent to Auto Top, Inc. on September 8, 1972, we distinguished between excepted seats and non-excepted seats on the basis of the degrees of arc through which the back could be adjusted. A back adjusting only a few degrees would be excepted under this interpretation, while a seat that folded flat to make a bed would not be excepted and would therefore have to have a restraining device. After reconsidering the background of these exceptions, we have decided to modify that interpretation. Although there is likely to be a difference between these seats in the degree of protection they give the occupant, we cannot find that this difference was reflected in the drafting of the S4.3 exceptions.

The S4.3 exceptions were created by a notice of rulemaking published April 4, 1967 (32 F.R. 5498). The exception in issue here was adopted in response to a petition by the Rover Company, who requested special treatment for a seat with a back that had a range of adjustment from 77 degrees to the horizontal down to 19 degrees to the horizontal. In granting an exception to the type of seat depicted by Rover, the agency therefore included seats with backs that folded until they were substantially horizontal. We must thus conclude that a seat whose back folds backward with respect to the seat cushion to form a bed is not required under S4.3 to have a device to restrain the backward folding of the seat back.

However, the exemption granted in response to the Rover petition does not cover the case you have described. A seat having a back that folds for the occupant's comfort but that also folds in another manner is required to have a restraining device for the second folding mode. The usual example of such a seat is a front seat in a two-door sedan that folds forward for entry to the rear and has a back that adjusts through a rearward arc for the occupant's comfort. Such a seat must have a restraining device to prevent forward movement because the adjustment of the back is not "only" for the occupant's comfort. A dinette seat that has an additional folding or hinging mode must therefore have a restraining device to guard against the effects of the seat's folding in this mode during a crash. For example, a seat whose base is hinged to move the bottom cushion into the space between the dinette seats must be restrained by a device conforming to S4.3.

With specific reference to the type of seat shown in the attachments to your letters, the downward motion of the seat back would be exempt under S4.3, but the motion of the bottom cushion is such that it would have to have a restraining device conforming to S4.3.

As you describe the seat, a restraining device is provided. However, without subjecting it to a compliance test under S4.3.2 we are unable to say whether it conforms to S4.3.