Interpretation ID: nht74-3.32

DATE: 08/30/74

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; R. B. Dyson; NHTSA

TO: Private Truck Council of America, Inc.

TITLE: FMVSS INTERPRETATION

TEXT: This is in reply to your letters of July 25 and August 26, 1974, requesting information on NHTSA regulations applicable to regrooved tires.

You ask whether companies leasing trucks to other companies may equip the trucks with regrooved tires, and what tire standards apply.

The recent court decision regarding regrooved tires (NAMBO v. Volpe 483 F. 2d 1294 (D.C. Cir. 1973), Cert. denied, -- U.S. -- (1974)) held that under the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act the NHTSA could permit only the sale of regrooved tires. Consequently, the leasing of regrooved tires is now prohibited, as is any other introduction of them into interstate commerce other than by a sale. The NHTSA recently amended its regrooved tire regulations to conform to this Court opinion.

We do not construe the opinion to prohibit the leasing of trucks equipped with regrooved tires. The regulation applies only to the manner in which the tires themselves are obtained.

The standards applicable to regrooved tires are found in the Regrooved Tire regulations (49 CFR Part 569). Regroovable tires manufactured after March 1, 1975, must also conform to Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 119.