Interpretation ID: nht92-5.17

DATE: July 14, 1992

FROM: Paul Jackson Rice -- Chief Counsel, NHTSA

TO: Josefina McCarty

TITLE: None

TEXT:

This responds to your request for an interpretation which you made in telephone conversations with Steve Kratzke of my staff. Specifically, you asked if there are requirements for seat belts or any other occupant protection requirements, to protect persons who ride in the cargo beds of pick-up trucks. I am pleased to have this chance to explain our occupant protection requirements for you.

The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act authorizes this agency to issue Federal motor vehicle safety standards applicable to the manufacture and sale of new motor vehicles and items of motor vehicle equipment. We have exercised this authority to establish Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 208, Occupant Crash Protection (49 CFR 571.208), which specifies performance requirements for the protection of vehicle occupants in crashes. Standard No. 208 sets forth occupant crash protection requirements for occupants in vehicles ranging from small cars all the way up to the largest trucks.

In every case, however, the occupant crash protection requirements are directed toward occupants of "designated seating positions." Pickup trucks, for example, are required to be equipped with a seat belt at each and every "designated seating position." The term "designated seating position" is defined at 49 CFR S571.3 as:

any plan view location capable of accommodating a person at least as large as a 5th percentile adult female, if the overall seat configuration and design is such that the position is likely to be used as a seating position while the vehicle is in motion, except for auxiliary seating accommodations such as temporary or folding jump seats.

There are instances where a vehicle manufacturer installs seats in the cargo bed of a pickup truck. For instance, Subaru once made a pickup it called the "Brat," that had two rearward-facing seats installed in the cargo bed of the truck, just behind the passenger compartment. Since these were actually seats, and their design was such that the position was likely to be used as seating while the vehicle was in motion, Subaru was required to install seat belts and comply with other occupant crash protection requirements at such seating positions.

However, the overwhelming majority of pickup trucks do not have any seats installed in the cargo bed. When there are no seats installed in the cargo bed, there are no designated seating positions in the cargo bed. As noted above, the occupant crash protection requirements in Standard No. 208 apply only to seating positions that are "designated seating positions." Since there are no "designated seating positions" in the cargo bed of pickups that do not have any seats installed in the cargo bed, persons that ride in the cargo bed of those pick-ups would not be protected by any of the occupant crash protection features.