Interpretation ID: 77-4.8

TYPE: INTERPRETATION-NHTSA

DATE: 09/28/77

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; Joseph J. Levin Jr.; NHTSA

TO: McCandlish; Lillard; Bauknight; Church & Best

TITLE: FMVSR INTERPRETATION

TEXT: This responds to your August 4, 1977, letter asking whether the remanufacture of a school bus using a new chassis and an old school bus body constitutes the manufacture of a new school bus subject to the new Federal school bus safety standards.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has determined that the manufacture of a vehicle using a new chassis and an old body is the manufacture of a new vehicle. (Part 571.7, Title 49, Code of Federal Regulations.) In this regulation the agency indicated that the only time that the remanufacture of a vehicle would be exempted from compliance with the new safety standards is when an old chassis is combined with a new body. In those situations, the vehicle is considered a used vehicle not subject to the standards.

In the case to which you refer, the combination of a new chassis and an old school bus body would require that you modify the bus body to comply with all of the Federal school bus safety standards in effect on the date of your manufacture of the new bus.

SINCERELY,

McCANDLISH, LILLARD, BAUKNIGHT, CHURCH & BEST

AUGUST 4, 1977

Joseph J. Levin, Jr. Chief Counsel National Highway Traffic Safety Administration United States Department of Transportation

This office represents the County School Board of Fairfax County, Virginia. A 1975 school bus was damaged extensively in November of 1976, and due to the failure of the insurance company for the responsible driver to pay, we have had to look very carefully into the question of damage to school buses.

In my search for an economical way to repair this bus, I have discovered that there are new regulations from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration dealing with the installation of old school bus bodies on chassis manufactured after April 1, 1977. In this case, putting the old school bus body onto a chassis would be the cheapest way to repair the bus but it appears that this runs afoul of regulations of your agency.

I would appreciate very much your advice on this matter, especially your direction as to the regulations which control this matter.

Robert H. J. Loftus