Interpretation ID: nht78-3.44

DATE: 06/28/78

FROM: John Womack; NHTSA

TO: McMullen & Porter

TITLE: FMVSR INTERPRETATION

TEXT: This is in response to your letter of June 6, 1978, requesting an interpretation of the Feeral odometer disclosure requirements. The question you raised was whether the owner of a truck with a gross vehicle weight rating of 64,000 pounds is required under Federal regulations to issue an odometer disclosure statement to the purchaser of the truck. 49 CFR @580.4, Disclosure of odometer information, requires each transferor of a motor vehicle to furnish to the transferee a written disclosure statement. 49 CFR@580.5 (a) (1), however, exempts a transferor of a vehicle having a gross vehicle weight rating of more than 16,000 pounds from having to fulfill the requirements of @580.4

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in promulgating these regulations added this exemption section because buses and large trucks are routinely driven hundreds of thousands of miles, and their maintenance records, not their odometers, have traditionally been relied on by buyers as the principal guide to their condition. It is, therefore, the interpretation of the NHTSA that in the situation you describe in your letter, no disclosure statement was required to be issued under the Federal regulations.