Interpretation ID: nht72-1.27

DATE: 11/21/72

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; L. R. Schneider; NHTSA

TO: Klein Tire Sales

TITLE: FMVSS INTERPRETATION

TEXT: This is in reply to your letter of November 1, 1972, asking whether you may sell tires from which the manufacturer has removed his name and DOT marking, if you tell the purchaser that the tires cannot be sold except for farm use, and if the buyer signs a sales invoice to that effect.

The information I gave you over the phone is incorrect. The answer to your question is that you may not sell such tires. Passenger car tires manufactured before October 1, 1972, can not be made eligible by their manufacturer for sales as farm use tires unless the manufacture has reclassified them in the manner specified in paragraph S6 of Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 109. This provision required the manufacturer to permanently label a tire with the words "UNSAFE FOR HIGHWAY USE", and to affix labels to the tread which state that the tire should not be used on a passenger car and that the sale of the tire for such use may subject the seller to civil penalties. A dealer who sells a nonconforming tire which the manufacturer has not reclassified in this manner will be in violation of section 108(a)(1) of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act, and likewise subject to civil penalties.

A recent amendment to Standard No. 109 prohibits manufacturers from reclassifying any tire after October 1, 1972, and requires them to destroy tires manufactured after that date which they will not certify.

With respect to reports on tires which you mention were obtained for testing purposes by Mr. Loewenstern of NHTSA, these tires, which were not purchased by Mr. Loewenstern but by a New Jersey State Policeman on behalf of NHTSA, were not purchased for testing purposes. Rather, they were purchased for the purpose of obtaining evidence against you that you were selling tires in violation of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act. The NHTSA does not return tires which have been purchased for evidentiary purposes.