Interpretation ID: 17696.drn

Gary Miller, Vice President
Chillicothe Ford Lincoln Mercury
521 South Washington
Chillicothe, MO 64601

Dear Mr. Miller:

This responds to your request for an interpretation regarding the removal of seats from a new 15-passenger Ford E350 Club Wagon, for possible sale to a school. You ask whether the van must meet Federal school bus standards if seats are removed, reducing seating positions to fewer than 10. Our answer is that if the seats were permanently removed prior to the vehicle's sale, the van would not be a "school bus" subject to our school bus standards. However, the vehicle would be considered to be a multipurpose passenger vehicle (MPV) and subject to standards for MPVs.

Your letter states that a "School of Vocational Education" in your area would like the Club Wagon. In a telephone conversation with Dorothy Nakama of my staff, you explained that high school aged students attend the School of Vocational Education ("the School"), and get credit towards high school diplomas for attending the School.

By way of background, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is authorized to issue and enforce Federal motor vehicle safety standards applicable to new motor vehicles, including school buses. In 1974, Congress enacted legislation directing NHTSA to issue safety standards on specific aspects of school bus safety.

Our statute at 49 U.S.C.30112 requires any person selling or leasing a new vehicle to sell or lease a vehicle that meets all applicable standards. Under our regulations, a "bus" is any vehicle, including a van that has a seating capacity of 11 persons or more. Our statute defines a "school bus" as any bus which is likely to be "used significantly" to transport "preprimary, primary, and secondary" students to or from school or related events. 49 U.S.C. 30125. Therefore, a 15-passenger van that is likely to be used significantly to transport students is a "school bus."

Because the School of Vocational Education instructs high school students, NHTSA considers it a "school." If a new 15-passenger Club Wagon is sold or leased to transport students of the School (e.g., leased on a regular or long term basis), the vehicle must meet NHTSA's school bus standards. Conventional 15-passenger vans do not have the safety features necessary for them to be certified as school buses. Therefore, a conventional Club Wagon thus cannot be sold or leased, as a new vehicle, to the School for pupil transportation.

As for removing seats from the van, in an interpretation letter of April 2, 1996 to the Michigan State Police (copy enclosed), NHTSA addressed the issue of dealers reducing seating capacity on a bus to fewer than 11 positions. NHTSA stated the following (see page 3):

If a dealer permanently reduces the seating capacity of a bus to less than 11, the modified vehicle is no longer a "bus." Because the dealer would not be selling a bus, the requirement to sell a school bus does not apply. However, a dealer modifying a new vehicle in this manner would have other responsibilities as a vehicle "alterer" under our regulations (49 CFR 567.7). The dealer would be changing the vehicle's classification to that of a multipurpose passenger vehicle (MPV), and would have to certify that the vehicle complies to the MPV standards.

The letter also addresses several hypothetical situations where dealers lease or sell passenger vans with 5, 8 or 12 seating positions to schools.

You also wish to know whether the van has to meet school bus standards if seating capacity were reduced to 10 or fewer and you obtained a letter from the School stating that it will never transport more than 10 people. As explained above, with seating capacity reduced to less than 11 persons, the vehicle would be subject to the MPV standards. In any event, you appear to be asking whether a school's assurances that it will not carry more than 10 persons in a vehicle enables you to sell non-school buses to the school. The answer is no. A vehicle is a bus depending on whether it is designed for carrying more than 10 persons. The number of persons actually carried in the vehicle has no effect on its classification. Thus, a letter from the school will have no effect on your responsibilities, described in the April 1996 letter, to sell complying vehicles.

I hope this information is helpful. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact Dorothy Nakama of my staff at this address or by telephone at (202) 366-2992.

Sincerely,
Frank Seales, Jr.
Chief Counsel
Enclosure
ref:VSA#571.3"school bus only"
d.7/28/98