Interpretation ID: nht74-2.38

DATE: 05/09/74

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; Lawrence R. Schneider; NHTSA

TO: Henke Manufacturing Corporation

COPYEE: MR. PESKOE; MR. SHIFFLETT; MR. FAY

TITLE: FMVSR INTERPRETATION

TEXT: This is in reply to your letter of March 12, 1974, asking several questions regarding the sale of snow plows and related equipment and their installation on vehicles. Your questions are restated below, followed by our responses:

1. Question A: "When we sell a plow, lift frame, lights and brackets to a dealer, do we have to report to you what dealers we sold light kits. Lights meet the code. Yes or no."

No. The sale of lighting equipment to a dealer, without any concurrent installation on a vehicle, does not give rise to any reporting or other requirements.

Question B: "When we receive an order for a snow plow and no light kit is ordered, what is our responsibility in this case: We assume the dealer furnishes his own light kit."

As long as you do not install the plow no requirements apply.

2. "We mount a lift frame for a county or city and they want to mount their own lights. We instruct them that lights are mandatory before they affix the plow. The lift frame only does not affect the present requirement for lights. Are we violating the law and what must we do?"

The addition of a lift frame to a completed vehicle (to which a "readily-attachable" plow will later be added) would make you a vehicle alterer and subject to section 567.7 of the Certification regulations. The alterer label should take into account the weight of a plow. As lights may be considered to be readily attachable, you may deliver the vehicle to the county without the additional lights. The county must install them, however, and you should obtain written assurance that it will do so. If the lights were not installed by the user, you would be responsible for a violation of section 108(a)(1) of the Vehicle Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 1397(a)(1)). Your certification as an alterer would also be invalid, as the altered vehicle would not conform to all applicable standards.

3. "Henke receives a truck with a dump box and no certification label and nothing noted on incomplete registration. We certified the truck and informed the county that they should get the dealer mounting the box to put an addendum to the incomplete vehicle form to the effect that he mounted the box. Is this correct?"

Yes, if in fact the vehicle conforms to applicable standards, and its weight ratings are correct; no, if it does not conform or its weight ratings are not correct. In completing and certifying a vehicle without complete documentation required under Part 568, you run the risk of having no "due care" defense to a finding of nonconformity.

4. "Henke receives a truck that has a final certification. We mount lift frame, (Illegible Word) and front hydraulic power system. The county wants to mount their own lights. Do we have to put on an addendum sticker? We warn them regarding light requirements when plow is mounted."

Section 577.7 of the Certification regulations requires an alterer label when non-readily-attachable components, or any components whose installation modifies the stated weight ratings, are installed. We assume the equipment you mount in this case falls within one if not both of these categories, and an alterer label is therefore required. Your failure to install lights has the same effect here as in our answer to question 2.

5. "We receive a truck with a box capacity when loaded with sand which is more than the GVWR rating and we mount snow plow lift frame and wing. We instruct the customer to mount the plow and wing and add their normal ballast and take the truck to a scale and trim the load not to exceed the axle ratings as stated on the certification label. Our equipment does not overload any axle. Do we have any further liability in regard to the overloading of axles?"

As a vehicle alterer, you are required to recertify the vehicle, and modify its weight ratings if necessary, following the alterations you perform. The gross vehicle weight rating you establish must be based on the vehicle's rated cargo load. Normally, manufacturers are not required to determine what specific loads a vehicle they certify may carry, and are certainly not responsible for overloading by users. However, where the manufacturer (or alterer as the case may be) actually knows that a vehicle he certified is being purchased to carry primarily a particular commodity, the rated cargo load on which he bases his ratings should not be less than what he can reasonably expect the user to consider a "full load" of that commodity. If he knows that a normal full load of sand, for example, to be carried in that truck will weigh 5 tons, we would consider it false and misleading to rate the cargo load at 4 tons to avoid having to use heavier-duty running gear. In the example you describe, the answer would depend on what you (the manufacturer) know, or can reasonably be expected to know, about how the plow trucks are likely to be loaded. A warning to the buyer not to exceed the rated cargo load or the weight ratings, in that case, would not be sufficient if it were reasonable to expect that the vehicles would, in practice, exceed these ratings at normal full load despite the warning.

With respect to your request for a code number, no final requirements have been issued on this matter, and no number is presently required.