Interpretation ID: GF005899

Ms. Robin C. DesCamp
Blount International, Inc.
PO Box 22127
Portland , OR 97269-2127

Dear Ms. DesCamp:

            This responds to your August 26, 2004, letter and subsequent e-mail to George Feygin of my staff. You ask whether various items manufactured by your company for logging purposes would be classified as “motor vehicles” and subject to the agency’s early warning reporting (EWR) regulations (set forth in 49 CFR Part 579) or to our vehicle identification number (VIN) requirements (49 CFR Part 565).  As explained below, based on the information you provided, we do not consider the items to be motor vehicles for the purposes of our regulations. Thus, the EWR and VIN requirements do not apply.

           Title 49 U.S.C Chapter 301 authorizes the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to prescribe Federal motor vehicle safety standards (FMVSSs) applicable to new motor vehicles and new items of motor vehicle equipment. Section 30102(a)(6) 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.”

NHTSA has issued several interpretations of this language. We have stated that vehicles equipped with tracks, agricultural equipment, and other vehicles incapable of highway travel are not motor vehicles. We have also determined that certain vehicles designed and sold solely for off-road use (e.g., airport runway vehicles and underground mining vehicles) are not motor vehicles, even if they may be operationally capable of highway travel. Finally, we have concluded that items of mobile construction equipment that use the highways only to move between job sites and that typically spend extended periods of time at a single site are not motor vehicles. However, we do consider vehicles that use the public roads on a necessary and recurring basis to be motor vehicles.

In the present case, the information you have provided describes specialized cranes and loaders made for delimbing and loading logs. Although the cranes are equipped with wheels, the pictures and the description of the logging cranes indicate that they are intended to remain at a single location for prolonged periods of time. Your letter confirms that these cranes are moved only infrequently between logging sites.

Based on this information, it appears that the logging cranes are akin to airport runway vehicles or items of mobile construction equipment that do not travel on highways on a recurring basis. Accordingly, we find that the logging cranes described in your letter are not “motor vehicles.” Because these machines are not motor vehicles, they are not subject to our regulations and requirements, including those of the EWR and VIN programs. 

I hope you find this information helpful.  If you have any other questions please contact Mr. George Feygin at (202) 366-2992.

Sincerely,

Jacqueline Glassman

Chief Counsel

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