Interpretation ID: nht75-3.32

DATE: 05/22/75

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; James B. Gregory; NHTSA

TO: Aslan Truck Service

TITLE: FMVSS INTERPRETATION

TEXT: Thank you for your letter of April 15, 1975, explaining your reasons for not purchasing bulk agricultural commodity trailers that conform to the requirements of Standard No. 121, Air brake systems. You said that you expect that the new systems will be disabled or destroyed by rough usage in the fields, and that you intend to manufacture trailers that do not conform to the standard.

We have no reason to believe that the new axle systems will be more susceptible to field hazards than are present systems. Most antilock systems are designed so that the outboard sensor is enclosed in the hub and the wiring harness is routed inside the axle to the antilock module. There are antilock systems that incorporate the antilock module and air valve in the same location as the relay valve found on pre-121 vehicles. We therefore expect little change in the susceptibility of these vehicles to field hazards.

You stated that you intend to manufacture air-braked trailers for your own use which do not comply with Standard No. 121. The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 1391, et seq.) prohibits the manufacture of non-complying vehicles after the effective date of an applicable standard as follows:

@ 1397 (a) (1) No person shall --

(A) manufacture for sale, sell, offer for sale, or introduce or deliver for introduction in interstate commerce, or import into the United States, any motor vehicle or item of motor vehicle equipment manufactured on or after the date any applicable Federal motor vehicle safety standard takes effect under this subchapter unless it is in conformity with such standard except as provided in subsection (b) of this section; . . .

From your description, your plans to build vehicles which would subsequently be introduced in interstate commerce (i.e., driven on the public highway) would appear to be in violation of this section. Civil penalties of up to $ 1,000 per violation can be assessed under @ 1398 of the Act.

I am interested in hearing from you on your experience with Standard No. 121 if you choose to purchase any complying vehicles. In any case, I would like to assure you that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is in the process of monitoring the standard's economic impact. The NHTSA will attempt to identify any modifications that would lower the standard's cost while achieving comparable levels of safety.

SINCERELY,

April 15, 1975

James B. Gregory, Administrator U.S. Dept. of Transportation National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Received your letter of March 31, 1975, in regards to the Standard No. 121, Air brake System.

I understand very well your reasons for denying my request for exempting agriculture trailers from the new brake law No. 121. It is impossible for us to comply with the new regulations. We see nothing but trouble with them in the fields, after we have dropped them to the roadside of the ranches where the farmer is harvesting. He will drag them through the field with his own farm tractor, which has no air. He will pull them over weeds, tomato vines, grain fields and many other types of field harvesting in plowed ground. Our feeling is that it will create nothing but trouble with the brakes locking and not working.

I have two hundred and fifty bulk agriculture trailers in the field during harvest season, and I do not have the time and the extra help to keep these trailers in working order if the brakes lock up. With our present trailers we do not have any trouble of any sort and that is the way we are going to continue to operate.

We had an order, for the 1975 season, 100 more new trailers to be able to meet the volume of the additional acreages that are being planted this year. Unfortunatly, we had to cancel our order and are buying as many of 1973-74 trailers that we can find and what we cannot find we will build ourselves.

You said that the major concern is that these trailers could be used in the winter months. It is impossible for us to use these bulk trailers for anything other than bulk harvesting. There are no floors, no stake pockets and the fiberglass bulk tanks cannot haul anything else but raw food products, which are grown and harvested during the May, June, July, August, September, October, and November months.

In regard to the petition filed by Utility Trailer Co., our opinion is that all of the Anti-Skid Standard No. 121 brake law should be excluded from the 1975 harvest season so the manufactures can have one year to try it in various localities to see if it will work satisfactory. Otherwise, I do not believe any of the truckers, including myself, will be interested in buying any trailers that are not guaranteed to be trouble free.

Our company, which happens to be one of the largest bulk haulers in California, will not buy or use any trailers with the new 1975 Standard No. 121 brake system. Up until the time it can be proven to me that it will be absolutaly trouble free, we do not dare to take the chance. I sure do not want to invest an extra one hundred and fifty thousand dollars to find out; our costs are high enough now.

A. L. Aslan

ASIAN TRUCK SERVICE