Interpretation ID: 77-4.11

TYPE: INTERPRETATION-NHTSA

DATE: 09/30/77

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; Francis Armstrong; NHTSA

TO: Bedell Trailer Company

TITLE: FMVSR INTERPRETATION

TEXT: This responds to your August 18, 1977, letter asking who is responsible for compliance with the standards issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Compliance with Federal safety standards is the responsibility of the manufacturer of the motor vehicle or motor vehicle equipment. Manufacturer is defined in the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 1381 et seq.) as "any person engaged in the manufacturing or assembling of motor vehicles or motor vehicle equipment . . . ." Therefore, in the cases to which you refer, the assembler of the vehicle would be responsible for ensuring the compliance of the vehicle with all applicable Federal safety standards. The purchaser is not responsible for compliance with the requirements unless he assembles the vehicles, thereby becoming the manufacturer.

Dealers are prohibited by section 108(a)(1)(A) of the Act from selling any completed motor vehicle that is not in compliance with the standards. A dealer is permitted, however, to rely upon the manufacturer's certification that the vehicle conforms to the standards' requirements. Therefore, prior to sale of a vehicle a dealer should make sure that the manufacturer has complied with the certification requirements of Part 567, Certification, and Part 568, Vehicles Manufactured in Two or More Stages, of our regulations which are contained in Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

A dealer is not prohibited from selling an "incomplete vehicle" as that term is defined in Part 568 of our regulations. Such an incomplete vehicle would require further manufacturing before its final certification for compliance with the standards. The incomplete vehicle manufacturer would need to fulfill it's responsibilities as outlined in Part 568. The person who completes the vehicle would then be responsible for the vehicle complying with standards. You should note that vehicles that lack merely readily attachable components are not "incomplete vehicles." They are completed vehicles. The sale of any such vehicle that was not certified for compliance with all applicable standards would be a violation of the Act.