Interpretation ID: nht72-5.30

DATE: 04/24/72

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; Lawrence R. Schneider; NHTSA

TO: Truck Equipment & Body Distributors Association

TITLE: FMVSR INTERPRETATION

TEXT: This is in reply to your letter of March 28, 1972, inquiring whether a State or its political subdivisions (in your particular case it is a county) may elect not to conform to any of the motor vehicle safety standards and the Certification regulations. You state that in the particular case in question the county orders new incomplete vehicles, and then transfers an old body onto the new chassis, creating a completed vehicle.

Under the existing regulations, one who transfers a used body onto a new chassis is, as you have apparently assumed, a final-stage manufacturer, and is responsible for compliance with applicable standards, and the Certification regulations. There is no exemption in the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act, or the standards or certification requirements, for countries or other State governmental units that manufacture completed vehicles. Consequently, the county is responsible in the situation you describe for completing the vehicles in question in such a manner that they conform to all applicable motor vehicle safety standards, and for certifying conformity with the standards in accordance with the certification requirements.

We are pleased to be of assistance.