Interpretation ID: nht93-4.45

DATE: June 25, 1993

FROM: John Womack -- Acting Chief Counsel, U.S. Department of Transportation, NHTSA

TO: Linda Roberson -- President, Body Safety Kids Club, Inc.

TITLE: None

ATTACHMT: Attached to letter dated 4-5-93 EST from Linda Roberson to NHTSA (OCC 8490); Also attached to letter dated 2-25-92 from Paul Jackson Rice to Phil Gray (VSA 108(a)(2)(A)); Also attached to letter dated 9-6-84 from Frank Berndt to Phillip Ables.

TEXT: This responds to your letters about the "vest harness" you have designed for the Body Safety Kid's Club, and follows up on a June 4, 1993 telephone call to you from Deirdre Fujita of my staff. The question posed by your inquiry is whether the manufacture of the vest harness is regulated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The answer is no.

Your letter indicated that the vest harness is made to help parents restrain their children in public areas, and especially in crowds. The vest harness has a strap-like "tether" that a parent would hold to prevent the child from wandering off on his or her own, possibly getting lost. Your letter also indicated that the vest harness could possibly be used as a seat belt accessory" and that you wanted NHTSA to crash test your product with child dummies to see how it would perform in the vehicle. (You did not know that NHTSA does not test manufacturers' products before the sale of the product.) However, after discussing NHTSA's requirements for motor vehicle vest harnesses with Ms. Fujita, you advised that you will not recommend its use as a safety belt accessory or as a motor vehicle harness. You expect that the vest harness would be worn in the vehicle only insofar as it need not be removed to restrain the child; the vehicle's lap/shoulder belt could be threaded between the vest and the child.

NHTSA is authorized by the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act ("Safety Act") to regulate the manufacture and sale of new motor vehicles and new items of motor vehicle equipment. The Safety Act defines "motor vehicle equipment," in part, as:

any system, part, or component of a motor vehicle as originally manufactured or any similar part or component manufactured or sold for replacement or improvement of such system, part, or component or as any accessory, or addition to the motor vehicle ...

Your vest harness is plainly not a "system, part, or component of a motor vehicle as originally manufactured," nor is it a "similar part or component manufactured or sold for replacement or improvement" of an original equipment part of a motor vehicle. The issue is whether the vest harness would be an "accessory" within the meaning of the Safety Act. In determining whether an item of equipment is considered an accessory, NHTSA applies two criteria. The first criterion is whether a substantial portion of the expected use of the item is related to the operation or maintenance of motor vehicles. The second criterion is whether the product is intended to be used principally by ordinary users of motor vehicles.

With regard to the first criterion, the product literature enclosed with your product emphasizes that the vest harness is meant to be used outside of motor vehicles. While the vest harness occasionally may be worn in a motor vehicle, use in the vehicle is incidental to the vest's use as a means to better supervise the child in public areas. Further, you informed Ms. Fujita that you will ensure that the product literature for the vest harness will not claim that the vest harness could improve crash protection in the vehicle, such as by better positioning the vehicle's belts on the child or by preventing the child from circumventing the vehicle belt system. Given this information, a substantial portion of the expected uses of the vest harness do not appear related to the operation or maintenance of motor vehicles, so the vest harness is not considered an item of "motor vehicle equipment." This means that your product is not subject to any of the laws and regulations administered by NHTSA.

We would like to note the following, however. Products that are sold to alter the fit of vehicle belts to better accommodate children are considered "motor vehicle equipment" by NHTSA. I have enclosed a copy of a February 25, 1992 letter to Mr. Phil Gray as an example of one such letter. Although we have concluded that your product is not motor vehicle equipment, we emphasize that this conclusion is based on the information you provided about the very limited use of the vest harness in motor vehicles. In the event that the expected use of the vest harness changes to include motor vehicle use (e.g., as a seat belt accessory), the vest harness might well be considered an item of motor vehicle equipment regulated by NHTSA. Further, as an equipment item, the vest harness could be subject to our motor vehicle safety standard for child harnesses, FMVSS No. 213, "Child Restraint Systems." A copy of our September 6, 1984 letter to Mr. Phillip Ables generally discussing requirements of that standard is enclosed. If the expected use of the vest harness changes, please contact us for information about Standard No. 213 and other NHTSA requirements.

In addition, you may wish to consult the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to learn if they have any requirements applicable to your product. That agency protects the public against unreasonable risks of injury from consumer products. You may write to the Consumer Product Safety Commission at 5401 Westbard Avenue, Bethesda, Maryland, 20207, or contact them by telephone at (301) 492-6580.

I hope this information is helpful. If you have any further questions, please contact Ms. Fujita at (202) 366-2992.