Interpretation ID: nht71-2.49

DATE: 05/12/71

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; Lawrence R. Schneider; NHTSA

TO: Distributers Association

TITLE: FMVSR INTERPRETATION

TEXT: This is in response to your letter of May 4, 1971, in which you asked several interpretive questions concerning the recent issuance of regulations on Vehicles Manufactured in Two or More Stages (49 CFR Part 568) and corresponding amendments to the Certification Regulations (36 F.R. 7054, April 14, 1971; corrected 36 F.R. 7855, April 27, 1971). I will rephrase your questions slightly in order to answer them.

1. If a person delivers an incomplete vehicle to a truck body assembler for completion, but insists that the vehicle not contain all the lighting required by Standard No. 108, may the assembler carry out the person's wishes as an "intermediate manufacturer" under the regulations? Would identification, clearance, and sidemarker lamps required by Standard 108 be considered "readily attachable accessories" under the regulations, so that the assembler would necessarily be considered a final-stage manufacturer?

The assembler would be permitted under the regulations to put a truck body on an incomplete vehicle, without all the required lighting, and consider himself an intermediate manufacturer. As you suggest, he would be obliged to specify, in the document furnished with the vehicle according to Part 568, that the vehicle does not conform to the standards, and describe the remaining work necessary to make it conform. The lamp assemblies you mention would not necessarily be considered "readily attachable accessories"; in general this agency will leave the determination of such categorical questions up to the parties directly concerned, as long as they act consistently with the regulations.

2. We interpret the new regulation to mean that every vehicle which is sold to the first purchaser for use must be certified. Will this do away with the truck dealer selling an incomplete vehicle direct to the user without a body or other structure on it?

Every completed vehicle must be certified. But an incomplete vehicle is not certified under our regulations, and there is certainly no restriction on the sale of an incomplete vehicle "direct to the user" or to anyone else, except for the requirement for the standards information document. One of the main purposes of the new regulation is to remove artificial restrictions on the production and marketing of incomplete vehicles.

3. If an incomplete vehicle may be sold direct to the user without a final Certification, does this mean that there is no need to certify the vehicle further--even if the vehicle is completed after the sale?

To the contrary -- each manufacturer of a vehicle (or a final-stage manufacturer in the case of multistage vehicles) must affix a certification label in accordance with 49 CFR Part 567; this includes persons who manufacture or complete the manufacture of vehicles for their own use. The label contains information concerning weight ratings, date of manufacture, and identity of manufacturers that is important for enforcement purposes regardless of how the vehicle is marketed.

4. At what point after the sale of a vehicle to the first user does the vehicle become classified as "Used", and therefore not subject to the provisions of the Safety Standards or the Certification requirements?

The answer is, "immediately after sale of a vehicle to a user", but a couple of distinctions should be noted in this connection. Section 108(b)(1) of the Act predicates the cutoff of standards application on the "first purchase of [the motor vehicle or motor vehicle equipment] in good faith for purposes other than resale." Thus, there must be a bona fide sale, and the standards continue to apply to a vehicle where a person has manufactured or completed the manufacture of it for his own use, until after he sells the vehicle to another person. Also, the "vehicle" in question is the completed vehicle, and the above does not apply in any way to incomplete vehicles.

5. What recourse, other than to refuse to do the work, does the final-stage manufacturer have if the customer or user of the vehicle (1) no longer has the document provided by the incomplete vehicle manufacturer or (2) does not wish to have the work done in accordance with the provisions of the existing Safety Standards or the Certification requirements? If under (1) above the document is not available from the user of the vehicle, is it reasonable for the final-stage manufacturer to assume that all work has been done in conformance with the Safety Standards and that he "has no reason to know" otherwise for the purpose of the final certification (if required)?

If the incomplete vehicle furnished to the final-stage manufacturer does not contain the information document, as it should under the multistage vehicle regulation, then the final-stage manufacturer should contain a copy of the document from the incomplete vehicle manufacturer. The document does much more than assure "that all work has been done in conformance with the Safety Standards"; most importantly, it describes what must be done by subsequent manufacturers to conform with the standards, and may in the future contain required consumer information.

6. Was the vehicle identification number inadvertently omitted from the requirements for the Certification label for multistage vehicles?

The need for a vehicle identification number on multistage vehicles was not apparent when the regulation was promulgated. Since that time several interested parties have suggested that the VIN would be useful for identification of information documents that go with particular vehicles, and for other purposes related to identification of the vehicles in communications with the manufacturer. This agency is considering the possibility of adding such a requirement to Part 567.