Interpretation ID: nht94-6.28
DATE: April 14, 1994
FROM: John Womack -- Acting Chief Counsel, NHTSA
TO: Robert L. Montgomery -- Safety Manager, Leprino Transportation Division, Leprino Foods (Denver, CO)
TITLE: None
ATTACHMT: Attached to letter dated 3/24/94 from Marvin A. Leach to Robert Hellmuth (OCC 9821); Also attached to letter dated 3/24/94 from Marvin A. Leach to to Robert L. Montgomery; Also attached to a letter dated 3/9/94 from Robert Montgomery to Mike Baker
TEXT:
This replies to your letter of March 9, 1994, to the Regional Office of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). You have questions regarding the trailer conspicuity requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 108, a regulation of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
You have enclosed photos of two rear end treatments. In Photo #1, the conspicuity treatment is applied "on the doors at a height of 56 inches which is approximately 6 inches higher than the 1.25 meters (50 inches) dictated." The conspicuity treatment appears to extend the full width of the vehicle. In Photo #2, the reflectorized material is located "4 inches less than the 1.25 meters (50 inches) dictated." In this configuration, the conspicuity treatment has been relocated to a position between the rear lighting units so that it no longer extends the full width of the vehicle.
Photo #1 represents the trailer as received from the manufacturer. Photo #2 represents the modifications you wish to make to the trailer. You have asked whether the configuration depicted in Photo #2 complies with Standard No. 108.
The manufacturer of the trailer has certified its compliance with all applicable Federal motor vehicle safety standards, including the conspicuity treatment location requirements of Standard No. 108. Paragraph S5.7.1.4.1(a) specifies that the material be located "as close to the extreme edges as practicable." The relocation you contemplate would place the material where it is not as close to the extreme edges of the trailer as it originally was. This would create a noncompliance with Standard No. 108.
Section 108(a)(2)(A) of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 1397(a)(20(A)) (the Act) prohibits any manufacturer, dealer, distributor, or motor vehicle repair business from knowingly rendering inoperative, in whole or in part, any device or element of design installed in accordance with a Federal motor vehicle safety standard. The prohibition, however, does not apply to the vehicle owner. This means that Leprino Foods and its employees are not themselves prohibited by the Act from modifying your trailers to the configuration depicted in Photo #2. It does mean that a "manufacturer, dealer, distributor, or motor vehicle repair business" cannot perform this work for you.
We surmise that your trailers are subject to the jurisdiction of the FHWA when they are operated in interstate commerce. FHWA regulations require your trailer to be equipped to conform to Standard No. 108. Thus, if you modify your trailers so that they no longer conform to the rear location requirements of
Standard No. 108, you would be in violation of the regulations of that agency. This is to advise you that the FHWA has concurred in this interpretation to you.
Either mounting height location is permitted. Originally, Standard No. 108 did specify a mounting height for rear conspicuity material that was "as close as practicable to 1.25 meters above the road surface." However, the agency amended this paragraph on October 6, 1993, to adopt a height range of "as close as practicable to not less than 375 mm and not more than 1525 mm above the road surface." This is the equivalent of 15 to 60 inches above the road surface. Therefore, the mounting heights of 46 and 56 inches shown in your two photos is in accordance with the revised requirement.
Finally, we note your comment that the diagram in the Federal Register "failed to consider the bumper bar area and the light assemblies that are actually on a van." The requirements that must be adhered to are found in the text of Standard No. 108; Figure 30 is meant only as a general guide as to the placement of the conspicuity material. Obviously, it cannot depict the exact rear configuration of all van trailers.