Interpretation ID: 2884o
Durham & Associates, P.C.
Suite 1750
950 17th Street
Denver, CO 80202
Dear Mr. Keatinge:
This is a response to your letter of December 4, 1987, asking this agency to clarify your understanding of 49 CFR 571.7(e). That section reads in part as follows:
Combining new and used components. When a new cab is used in the assembly of a truck, the truck will be considered newly manufactured ...unless the engine, transmission, and drive axle(s) (as a minimum) of the assembled vehicle are not new, and at least two of these components were taken from the same vehicle.
You referred to my August 11, 1987 letter to Mr. Ernest Farmer, and expressed concern that my having discussed only one aspect of 571.7(e) in that letter has led to some confusion. My letter to Mr. Farmer states that "a modified school bus or truck is not considered a 'new' vehicle if, at a minimum, the engine, transmission, and drive axle(s) are not new and at least two of these three listed components are taken from the same used vehicle." You stated that while my statement is "correct," my response did not address the first clause of this provision: "When a new cab is used in the assembly of a truck..." You asserted that, "a bus should not be considered 'new' unless a new body is attached to the chassis." Your assertion is correct with respect to 571.7(e), but there is another regulation that specifies a vehicle is "new" if an old body is combined with a new chassis.
By its own terms, 571.7(e) applies only in situations where a new body is combined with either (1) mixed new and used chassis components, or (2) used components from different vehicles. You were correct, then, in asserting that 571.7(e) applies only to situations involving a new body. For the purposes of the Farmer letter, it was understood between Mr. Farmer and a member of my staff that the bus bodies in question were new, so that letter did not purport to address the question of combining an old bus body with new and or/used chassis components. Many of our prior interpretations have stated that a person who adds a new or used body to a new chassis to produce a school bus is considered the manufacturer of a new school bus, and must certify that the new bus conforms with all applicable safety standards, just as every other school bus manufacturer must. In this case, the new chassis is an incomplete vehicle. "Incomplete vehicle" is defined in 49 CFR 568.3 as:
an assemblage consisting, as a minimum, of a frame and chassis structure, power train, steering system, suspension system, and braking system, to the extent that those systems are to be part of the completed vehicle, that requires further manufacturing operations, other than the addition of readily attachable components, such as mirrors or tire and rim assemblies, or minor finishing operations such as painting, to become a completed vehicle.
When a new bus chassis is used to produce a vehicle, the person who adds a body - even an old body - is a final-stage manufacturer, within the meaning of 49 CFR 568.3. Final-stage manufacturers are required to certify that the completed vehicle conforms with all applicable Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards in effect on the date of manufacture. The date of manufacture for these buses cannot be earlier than the date on which the chassis manufacturer completed its work on the chassis and cannot be later than the date the final-stage manufacturer completed its manufacturing operations. See 49 CFR 567.5, Requirements for Manufacturers of Vehicles Manufactured in Two or More Stages.
Note that neither 571.7(e) nor Part 568 would require a person to certify that a school bus complies with all applicable safety standards, if that person merely rebuilds or replaces an engine, drive axle, or transmission in a bus, or if that person places a used bus body on a used chassis.
I hope you find this information helpful.
Sincerely,
Erika Z. Jones Chief Counsel
ref:57l#567#568 d:5/2/88