Interpretation ID: nht75-1.48

DATE: 09/30/75

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; F. Berndt; NHTSA

TO: Transcraft Corp.

TITLE: FMVSS INTERPRETATION

TEXT: I am writing to confirm your telephone conversation of September 9, 1975, with Mark Schwimmer of this agency, concerning the testing of brake hose assemblies pursuant to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 106-74.

As Mr. Schwimmer explained, the standard does not specify the testing which you must conduct; it does specify the criteria which the assemblies must meet when tested by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for compliance. While the surest way for you to be confident of compliance would be to follow the procedures in every detail, you are not legally obligated to do so. Section 108 of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966, as amended (the Act), requires you to assure yourself that, when tested by the NHTSA according to the procedures set out in the standard, your assemblies will meet the specified criteria. In addition, you are required to repair or replace without charge noncomplying assemblies. In the event of noncompliance or failure to remedy the noncompliance, the Act specifies a civil penalty not to exceed $ 1000 for each violation (and not to exceed $ 800,000 for any related series of violations). The exercise of due care in ensuring that the assemblies comply with the standard is a defense to an action for civil penalties for noncompliance. In such a situation, however, the Act nevertheless requires you to remedy the noncompliance.

If you manufacture brake hose assemblies and install them in vehicles which are also manufactured by you, then those assemblies are exempted by S5.2.4 of the standard from the requirement that assemblies be labeled by means of a band.