Interpretation ID: nht75-4.43

DATE: 05/16/75

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; Richard B. Dyson; NHTSA

TO: Department of California Highway Patrol

TITLE: FMVSR INTERPRETATION

TEXT: This is in reply to your letter of February 25, 1975, requesting several interpretations of 49 CFR Part 569, "Regrooved Tires." The present Regrooved Tire regulation results from a U.S. Court of Appeals decision (NAMBO v. Volpe 484 F.2d 1294 (D.C. Cir. 1973), cert. denied U.S. (1974) which invalidated certain aspects of the previous requirements. The confusion apparent in the existing requirements results from Section 204 of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicles Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 1424) which, when read literally, only authorizes the NHTSA to permit the sale of regrooved tires. That statutory section has since been revised (Sec. 110, Pub. L. 93-492, 88 Stat. 1470, October 27, 1974) and the NHTSA will revise Part 569 to provide a more realistic regulatory scheme than that contained in the present requirements. While we have answered as best we can the questions you raise, we believe any extensive enforcement program you plan for the requirements should be deferred until new regulations are issued.

Section 569.1 Purpose and scope, provides that the regulation specifies requirements under which regrooved tires may be sold. This should not be interpreted as precluding the enforcement of the regulation against other commercial transfers, such as offering for sale, the introduction or delivery for introduction into interstate commerce, etc. Section 569.7(a) specifically prohibits those activities. Section 569.7(a) also prohibits an operator, including a public transit system, from regrooving his own tires under any circumstance; he may not, as you suggest, regroove them and sell them to others. Section 569.7(a)(1) specifically states that a person regrooving his own tires for use on motor vehicles is to be considered as delivering those tires for introduction into interstate commerce, which is a prohibited activity.

Section 569.7(b) prohibits any of the proscribed commercial activities with respect to tires siped in the manner set forth in that section. You are apparently again misinterpreting the Scope section.

With respect to your question regarding the labeling of retreaded regroovable tires, such tires must be labeled in accordance with section 569.9. There are numerous procedures by which labeling can be molded onto retreaded tires. Two with which we are familiar involve either a cutting or engraving of the matrix or the insertion of metal strips into the matrix during curing.