Interpretation ID: 17321.wkm

Mr. Craig May
Process Machinery, Inc.
1636 Isaac Shelby Drive
Shelbyville, KY 40065

Dear Mr. May:

Please pardon the delay in responding to your letter to Mr. Steve Kratzke of this agency, asking whether the equipment your company produces will be required to be equipped with antilock brake systems (ABS). The answer is no.

You explained that your company manufactures various types of equipment for the aggregate industry. Some of that equipment must be portable, permitting movement of the equipment within quarries or to other quarries. The weights of your equipment vary from 17,000 to 100,000 pounds. You also enclosed drawings of a portable rock crushing plant and a portable conveyor.

Chapter 301 of Title 49, U. S. Code (U.S.C.) authorizes this agency to establish Federal motor vehicle safety standards applicable to new motor vehicles and new items of motor vehicle equipment. The Safety Act defines "motor vehicle" as:

[A] vehicle driven or drawn by mechanical power and manufactured primarily for use on the public streets, roads, and highways, but does not include a vehicle operated only on a rail line.

49 U.S. C. 30102(6).

In analyzing the information you provided, including your drawings, it is our opinion that your portable rock crusher and the portable conveyor are not motor vehicles within the statutory definition. They are primarily designed to be used off-road and although they are portable and therefore capable of being transported on-road from one job site to another, their on-road use is only incidental and not the primary purpose for which the equipment was manufactured. Not being motor vehicles, your portable rock crusher and portable conveyor are not required to comply with the Federal motor vehicle safety standards.

Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 121, Air Brake Systems (49 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 571.121), requires

trailers, among other things, equipped with air brake systems to be equipped with ABS. Excluded from that requirement, however, is:

Any trailer that has an unloaded vehicle weight which is not less than 95 percent of its GVWR.

Subparagraph S3(f), 49 CFR 571.121.

Your drawings indicate that the rock crusher and conveyor would also meet this exclusion. Therefore, even if your equipment were considered motor vehicles, they would still be excluded from the ABS requirement under this provision.

I hope this information is helpful to you. Should you have any further questions or need additional information, feel free to contact Walter Myers of my staff at this address or at (202) 366-2992, fax (202) 366-3820.

Sincerely,
John Womack
Acting Chief Counsel
Ref:121#VSA
d.5/1/98