Interpretation ID: nht76-5.55

DATE: 02/19/76

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; Richard B. Dyson; NHTSA

TO: E. D. Etnyre & Co.

TITLE: FMVSR INTERPRETATION

TEXT: This responds to your letter of January 5, 1976, requesting information as to the criteria used to distinguish between a "new" or a "used" chassis, in regard to the certification requirements of 49 CFR Part 567 and 49 CFR Part 568.

You described a situation in which a chassis-cab comes to you "from the field," lacking both a certification label and an incomplete vehicle manual, under the claim that it is used, with the absence of a certification label explained by a statement that "a previous body was mounted and removed by the customer and the vehicle was not presented for resale by a distributor or dealer." You also add that "the vehicle reportedly has had extremely limited or no use."

It seems to us that the facts you are describing constitute a fairly obvious misrepresentation by your customer in order to circumvent the requirements of the standards. Even if the implausible allegation that the customer "mounted and removed" a body were true, it would not remove the requirement for the vehicle to bear a certification label. Our regulations do not limit the labeling requirement to the narrow language of section 114; any vehicle upon completion must be permanently labeled.

Furthermore, for a vehicle to be "used" today, it must be titled and registered under the laws of some State. Your letter does not discuss this, but we would assume that any vehicle whose owner cannot produce title and registration as a completed vehicle was never completed and used within the meaning of our regulations.

For these reasons, we would expect you as a final-stage manufacturer to treat as new a chassis-cab brought to you for completion under the conditions you described. If the chassis-cab were properly certified in a manner that evidenced prior use, or the customer were able to produce legitimate title/registration documentation showing significant previous use as a completed vehicle, the answer would of course be different.

Please let us know if we can be of further assistance.