Interpretation ID: nht93-5.1

TYPE: Interpretation-NHTSA

DATE: June 29, 1993

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

TO: Michael H. Dunn -- Vice President of Marketing, Micho Industries

TITLE: None

ATTACHMT: Attached to letter dated 6-3-93 from Michael Dunn to Greg Fera; Also attached to letter dated 11-29-91 from Paul Jackson Rice to Michael H. Dunn; Also attached to letter dated 12-3-91 from Michael H. Dunn to Paul Jackson Rice.

TEXT: This agency has received copies of your May 17 and June 3, 1993, letters to Mr. Greg Fera, Pupil Transportation Specialist, New Jersey Department of Education, advising Mr. Fera that you can now "certify" your product, the R-Bar Passenger Restraint System (R-Bars), as complying with Federal Motor Vehicle Standard (FMVSS) No. 222.

This agency has repeatedly asked you to refrain from false or misleading representations that, among other things, NHTSA has "approved" R-Bars or that R-Bars comply with Federal safety standards. (For example, we sent a letter to you on this subject on November 29, 1991, copy attached.) As we previously explained, FMVSS 222, SCHOOL BUS SEATING AND CRASH PROTECTION, applies to school buses, not to individual items of motor vehicle equipment mounted or mountable in school buses, such as R-Bars. Further, there are no FMVSSs directly applicable to equipment such as R-Bars. Therefore, it is not possible to "certify" that R-Bars comply with any FMVSS.

In your December 3, 1991, response to our November 29, 1991, letter (copy attached), you stated that you and other company employees would refrain from suggesting that NHTSA has approved the R-Bars. However, that letter is silent as to our demand that your company cease its representation that R-Bars meet applicable Federal Standards.

To alleviate any possible misunderstanding, you are again asked to refrain from claiming that Micho Industries can "certify" the compliance of R-Bars. Such a claim is false, and misleads people into believing that your product complies with or is "certified" to a safety standard that does not exist. Such a false and misleading certification is prohibited by S108(a)(1)(C) of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act, 15 U.S.C. S1397(a)(1)(C). This agency is prepared to bring appropriate legal action against you and your firm if you persist in making these representations in the future.