Interpretation ID: nht79-1.6

DATE: 12/27/79

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; F. Berndt; NHTSA

TO: Manning Equipment, Inc.

TITLE: FMVSS INTERPRETATION

TEXT:

In reply refer to: NOA-30

Mr. Denis Urban Manning Equipment, Inc. P.O. Box 23229 Louisville, Kentucky 40223

Dear Mr. Urban:

This responds to the questions raised in your December 5, 1979, conversation with Roger Tilton of my staff concerning the application of Federal safety standards to devices designed to aid the handicapped. In your conversation, you indicated that you will manufacture some devices that enable the handicapped to operate their own vehicles. These would be sold by you to individuals and installed in either new or used vehicles. You also will install lifts in vehicles.

The agency has no specific safety standards applicable to handicapped control devices or other devices designed to aid the handicapped. Therefore, we have no special guidelines that you must follow in constructing these devices. However, other Federal agencies, such as the Veterans Administration, have guidelines for such devices and we suggest that you comply with those guidelines.

The agency requires new vehicles to comply with all applicable safety standards. Accordingly, if you manufacture and install handicapped devices in new vehicles, those vehicles should comply with the standards. However, the agency has long realized that, in the instance of handicapped driver controls, it may be difficult to comply with some safety standards, particularly Standard No. 124, Accelerator Control Systems (copy enclosed). As a result of compliance problems and the need for these devices to promote the mobility of the handicapped, the agency has stated that it will not enforce standards whose compliance may be impaired as a result of the installation of handicapped driver control devices. Nonetheless, the agency encourages manufacturers to try to comply with all of the safety standards.

The compliance of vehicles with the safety standards, however, should not be affected by the installation of lifts. Many companies now install lifts in regular vans and in school buses. In all instances the compliance of the vehicle with the safety standards is maintained. Therefore, the agency will not allow any noncompliances to result from the installation of lifts in vehicles.

For used vehicles that you modify by the addition of devices to aid the handicapped, you need not ensure that the vehicles comply with all safety standards. You should not render inoperative the compliance of the vehicle with the safety standards, however. As in the case of new vehicles, if the addition of handicapped driver controls interferes with the compliance of the vehicle with the safety standards, the agency would not enforce the noncompliance.

Sincerely,

Frank Berndt Chief Counsel

Enclosure