Interpretation ID: nht74-4.4

DATE: 06/20/74

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; Lawrence R. Schneider; NHTSA

TO: Lieberman; Tratras & Markowitz

TITLE: FMVSR INTERPRETATION

TEXT: This is in reply to your letter of May 21, 1974, enclosing a check for $ 1,000 and a suggested defect notification letter on behalf of your client, Bill's Trailer Manufacturing Company.

The notification letter you enclose fails to conform in significant respects to 49 CFR Part 577, Defect Notification. The regulation presumes the notification will be sent by the manufacturer, as required by statute, and requires statements conforming to sections 577.4(a) and 577.4(b) to comprise the opening and second statements of the notification. We consider the format you have used, that of sending the letter in the name of an attorney for the company, to be inconsistent with this requirement. The first three sentences of the sample letter should thus be stricken. Moreover, section 577.4(b) (1) requires the vehicles or equipment which contain the defect to be identified in the second statement. Trailers are vehicles under the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act, and not "equipment." We will accept as sufficient identification the year, model number if any, and the words "utility trailer" in meeting section 577.1(b) (1). The reference to equipment is inappropriate in that it implies that the defect is in the lighting (which is equipment) rather than in the vehicle.

Your letter also fails to evaluate the risk to traffic safety as required by section 577.4(d). In most cases, the potential result of a failure to install required lighting is vehicle crash, and the notification should thus conform to section 577.4(d) (1).

We consider the second and third sentences of your second paragraph and the second sentence of your next to last paragraph ("This notification is intended . . .") to be disclaimers and prohibited by section 577.6. Each should be stricken.

The sample notification letter must be revised as set forth above to conform to Part 577. In addition, the defect report (49 CFR Part 573) is required to be submitted within 5 days of the determination that the defect relates to motor vehicle safety, and not within 5 days of the mailing of notification letters. Your report should thus be submitted forthwith.

We will hold your check until you have submitted a notification letter and defect report in accordance with our requirements. At that time we will deposit the check and inform you that the case is closed.