ID: nht69-2.41

DATE: 04/23/69

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; Robert Brenner; NHTSA

TO: IFFISA

TITLE: FMVSR INTERPRETATION

TEXT: We regret the delay in replying to your letter of January 15, 1969, to Dr. William Haddon, Jr., concerning regulations applicable to replicas of antique automobiles which you manufacture.

As a general rule, motor vehicles manufactured on or after January 1, 1968, must comply with all applicable Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards in order to be imported into the United States. Section 114 of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 (the Act) requires that manufacturers permanently affix a tag or label to the motor vehicle certifying that the motor vehicle conforms to all applicable Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) established under authority of Section 103 of the Act. Your vehicles would properly be classified as passenger cars. Thus the FMVSS applicable to this classification would apply. The above standards are currently applicable only to motor vehicles over 1,000 pounds curb weight. Curb weight includes a full bad of engine fuel, oil, and coolant as defined in 49 CFR 371.3. In accordance with a proposed rule making published in 32 FR, page 14282, October 14, 1967, the Administrator is considering adding new standards applicable to motor vehicles of 1,000 pounds or less curb weight, and revising certain of the initial standards to extend their applicability to these motor vehicles. Comments have been received from industry and a discussion paper on the subject prepared. This discussion paper will be mailed to industry in the near furture, together with a notice of a meeting to be held on the subject. Your name is being added to the mailing list for this information.

19 CFR 12.80, Importation of Motor Vehicles and Items of Motor Vehicle Equipment, was jointly issued and published by the Secretary of Transportation and the Secretary of Treasury in implementation of Section 108(b)(3) of the Act. This regulation makes provision for importation of certain motor vehicles not conforming to the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, subject to specific conditions.

An amendment to the Act has granted authority to the Secretary of Transportation, based upon certain specified findings, to exempt temporarily, a limited production motor vehicle from any Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard. A limited production motor vehicle is defined as a motor vehicle produced by a manufacturer whose total motor vehicle production, as determined by the Secretary, does not exceed 500 annually. It is to be noted, however, that exemptions are granted to the person actually producing the motor vehicle, not to the importer or distributor of such motor vehicle. Regulations for petitioning for an exemption are contained in 49 CFR 355.5.

In the United States, motor vehicles are licensed for operation by each of the states and the District of Columbia. A letter addressed to the State Department of Motor Vehicles in the capitol city of the states in which you intend marketing your product, should reach an individual who can provide you with information regarding state licensing requirements.

While you did not inquire about Federal regulations concerning control of anti-pollution emission devices, this is another area of possible effect in your situation. These regulations are not the responsibility of the Department of Transportation but of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. By copy of this letter, Mr. William H. Megonnell, Associate Commissioner for Standards and Compliance, Department of Health, Education and Welfare, National Air Pollution Control Administration, BCT, 801 North Randolph Street, Arlington, Virginia, 22203, is being requested to forward such information as he deems appropriate.

Publications of the Socity of Automotive Engineers (SAE), including copies of SAE Standards, may be obtained by writing to: Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc., 2 Pennsylvania Plaza, New York, New York, 1001.

For your information and guidance, enclosed are copies of the Act, as amended; the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, (49 CFR 351, 353, 355 and 371); 19 CFR 12.80, Importation of Motor Vehicles and Items of Motor Vehicle Equipment; Declaration Form HS-7, Importation of Motor Vehicles and Motor Vehicle Equipment Subject to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards and the proposed rule making, Docket 5-1.

ENCLOSURES

ID: nht69-2.42

DATE: 12/22/69

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; Lawrence R. Schneider; NHTSA

TO: Ford Motor Company

TITLE: FMVSR INTERPRETATION

TEXT: RE: CONSUMER INFORMATION

This is in response to your telegram of December 15 concerning the submission of consumer information on passenger cars produced by your associated company in England. You stated, "This data will be submitted to the Bureau thirty (30) or more days in advance of any of these cars being offered for sale in the United States as required by section 375.6 as published on October 22, 1969."

The regulation (49 CFR @ 375.6(b)) requires information to be made available to prospective purchasers, on or afer January 1, 1970, on "each of the vehicles offered for sale" at the dealer showroom. The general applicability of the information is to vehicles manufactured on or after January 1, 1970. The intent of the regulation is to provide prospective vehicle buyers with information on all the various types of vehicles currently being manufactured and available for purchase after that date.

You apparently are assuming that, within the meaning of the regulation, no vehicles are "offered for sale" to prospective purchasers except those that are physically present in the dealer showroom. This certainly does not reflect the practice of most manufacturers, whose dealers, while keeping representative stock of vehicles on hand, offer for sale (and enter into contracts for sale of) the manufacturer's complete line of vehicles. This interpretation would, furthermore, tend to defeat the main reaon for providing information to prospective purchasers, since a dealer would never be obligated to provide information on vehicles other than those that happened to be in his possession at a given moment.

We advise you, therefore, that the term "vehicles offered for sale" in the prospective purchaser requirement, 49 CFR @ 375.6(b), refers to all the types of vehicles that a manufacturer represents, or the dealer represents with the permission of the manufacturer, as being available for purchase by the general public at a particular dealer location. The regulation requires that consumer information be provided to prospective purchasers on each of there vehicles on or after January 1, 1970, and to the Administrator 30 days in advance of its availability to prospective purchasers.

ID: nht69-2.43

DATE: 12/11/69

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; Robert Brenner; NHTSA

TO: Mercedes-Benz of North America Inc.

TITLE: FMVSR INTERPRETATION

TEXT: RE: CONSUMER INFORMATION

We have received your submittal of consumer information in response to the requirements of 49 CFR Part 375. The regulation requires that manufacturers submit their information to the Administrator 30 days in advance of the time it is made available to prospective purchasers. Since we have not required that this advance submittal be in the same form as that given to purchasers, the following comments are only advisory in nature. There is one respect, however, in which the information, if supplied in this form to prospective purchasers, would not satisfy the requirements of the regulations.

The Consumer Information section on Vehicle Stopping Distance, 49 CFR @ 375.101, specifics that the information presented shall contain "the most adverse combination of maximum or lightly loaded vehicle weight and complete loss of braking in any one of the vehicle brake subsystems." In your submittal, you have presented information for failures in each of the front and rear subsystems, instead of selecting the most adverse combination of weights and system failures. This is likely to confuse consumers attempting to compare vehicles of different manufacturers, and fails to satisfy the requirement that the information shall be submitted "in essentially the form illustrated in Figure 1" of @ 375.101.

We will be glad to answer any questions that you may have with respect to the requirements of these or other motor vehicle safety regulations and standards.

ID: nht69-2.44

DATE: 12/11/69

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; Robert Brenner; NHTSA

TO: Chrysler Corporation

TITLE: FMVSR INTERPRETATION

TEXT: RE: CONSUMER INFORMATION

We have received your submittal of consumer information in response to the requirements of 49 CFR Part 375. That regulation requires that manufacturers submit their information to the Administrator 30 days in advance of the time it is made available to prospective purchasers. Since we have not required that this advance submittal be in the same form as that given to purchasers, the following comments are only advisory in nature. There is one respect, however, in which the information, if supplied in this form to prospective purchasers, would not satisfy the requirements of the regulations.

Each of the three substantive sections establishing requirements for Vehicle Stopping Distance, Tire Reserve Load, and Acceleration and Passing Ability respectively specify that the information shall include, "in essentially the form illustrated in Figure 1," a description of the vehicles to which the table applies. Each of the figures in the regulations shows the vehicle description in close proximity to be tables. This element is missing from your compilation of information. Instead you have provided a master key in the front of the booklet, applying to all the tables within. Not only does this not satisfy the requirement in respect to form, but we have found in attempting to transcribe the information into a standard format that it is very difficult to interpret in some cases; and would surely cause confusion to consumers attempting to use it.

We will be glad to answer any questions that you may have with respect to the requirements of these or other motor vehicle safety regulations and standards.

ID: nht69-2.45

DATE: 12/11/69

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; Robert Brenner; NHTSA

TO: American Motors Corporation

COPYEE: CLAYBROOK; BOAZ; FULMER; NIELD; ARMSTRONG

TITLE: FMVSR INTERPRETATION

TEXT: We have received your submittal of consumer information in response to the requirements of 49 CFR Part 375. That regulation requires that manufacturers submit their information to the Administrator 30 days in advance of the time it is made available to prospective purchasers. Since we have not required that this advance submittal be in the same form as that given to prospective purchasers, the following comments are only advisory in nature. There are several respects, however, in which your information, if supplied in this form to prospective or actual purchasers, would not satisfy the requirements of the regulations.

1. The Stopping Distance information is presented as a "range of stopping distances," both in numerical and graphical form. The regulations clearly require a single stopping distance figure to be provided for a given group, that can be met or exceeded by all vehicles in the group. We do not know, and consumers surely would not know, the significance of the lower figure given. Even if it were clear, the provision of such additional, non-required information in close proximity to the required data would cause confusion in attempting to compare figures between various makes--the main purpose of the information.

2. The provision of four sets of data in respect to partial failure of the braking system, for "fronts operative" and "rears operative," and for lightly-loaded and maximum-loaded vehicles, is not in accordance with the regulation requirement that information be provided for the "most adverse combination" of weights and system failures. As stated in item 1. above, the inserting of this additional information, self-serving in every case since only the worst element should be included, would make comparisons difficult and be unfair to competing manufacturers who followed the regulations strictly.

3. The form of the Stopping Distance information would fail to satisfy the requirement that the information be presented "in effentially the form illustrated in Figure 1" of 49 CFR @ 375.101. In particular, we refer to the placing of two columns side by side instead of the single-axis graph depicted in that figure, and the inclusion of other varying between the required statements and warnings and the information itself. "The reference to shorter stopping distance with wheel lock-up and without restricting pedal effort, between the required information and the graphs, is especially objectionable, since the safety advantages of avoiding wheel skid were a particular concern in developing this regulation. Although the regulation do not prohibit the provision of other then required information in a Consumer Information booklet, they do require that it be connected in such a manner that the required information, both taxtual and cumulative, is presented in "essentially the form illustrated." 4. The Tire Reserve Load section of the regulations requires that "the table that is provided for a specific vehicle shall contain only information that is applicable to that vehicle." This requirement prohibits a large, all-purpose chart such as yours, with information for many vehicle included on it, at least as far as the information given to the actual purchaser of a vehicle is concerned. More generally, the information is not presented in "essentially the form illustrated in Figure 1" of 49 CFR @ 375.102.

5. The large, all-inclusive bar graph on Accleration and(Illegible Word) Ability does not present the information in "essentially the form illustrated in Figure 1" or 49 CFR @ 375.106, or recuired.

We will be glad to answer any questions that you may have with respect to the requirements of these or other motor vehicle safety regulations and standards.

ID: nht69-2.46

DATE: 09/25/69

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; Lawrence R. Schneider; NHTSA

TO: Toyota Motor Company Ltd.

TITLE: FMVSR INTERPRETATION

TEXT: This is to confirm the information given to you by Mr. Richard Dyson of this office by telephone on September 19, 1969, concerning the consumer information regulations, in response to your telegram of September 15.

Your understanding of section 375.106, Acceleration and Passing is correct. The acceleration interval may be begun in any gear, and the gears may be shifted during the interval.

You also asked how long "manufacturers are responsible after the sale of a vehicle for the information they provide." The regulations apply to manufacturers, so that strictly speaking the information is only required to be correct for vehicles at the point of sale to a person for purposes other than resale -- as is the case with the Standards. In other words, there is no implied requirement in regard to vehicle degradation with use. If a vehicle in use were found not to perform in accordance with the consumer information, however, (or not to conform to standards) that fact might be strong evidence of a violation by the manufacturer in the design or production of the vehicle.

You should also note that the consumer information regulations relating to braking and acceleration performance specify that a period of burnishing or breaking in shall be completed before the performance is measured.[Illegible Page)[Illegible Page)

ID: nht69-2.47

DATE: 12/23/69

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; C. A. Baker; NHTSA

TO: Department of California Highway Patrol

TITLE: FMVSS INTERPRETATION

TEXT: Thank you for your letter of December 8, 1969, concerning alternate flashing of side marker lamps with turn a signal lamps.

Alternate flashing sidemarker lamps are permitted in paragraph S3.5 of Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 108 for signaling purposed; however, they must not impair the effectiveness of the turn signal lamps as required in paragraph S3.1.2.

ID: nht69-2.48

DATE: 10/16/69

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; C. A. Baker; NHTSA

TO: Seagrove Corporation

TITLE: FMVSS INTERPRETATION

TEXT: Thank you for your letter of September 29, 1969, to Mr. Julien B. Leysath concerning the mounting location of lamps and reflectors on fire trucks.

The lamps and reflectors shown on your print of drawing number 2207 B 43.3 dated September 29, 1969, appear to meet the requirements of MVSS No. 108 with the following exception:

1. Front side marker lamps are not indicated on either the "F" or "S" cab. The front clearance lamps on the "F" cab may be combination clearance and side marker lamps, but are not so labeled.

2. The rear reflex reflectors on the 4 wheel aerial truck and the trailer do not appear to be located as far apart as practicable.

3. Backup lamps are not required on trailers.

Since no dimensions are specified on your drawing, we can only assume that the locations are otherwise as specified in MVSS No. 108.

With respect to the requirements of MVSS No. 108, I must point out that this Bureau does not issue approvals on items of lighting equipment or on vehicle designs incorporating this equipment. Therefore, the above consants are for your information only and in no way relieve the vehicle manufacturer from his responsibility for certifying that the assembled vehicle meets the requirements of Standard No. 108.

ID: nht69-2.49

DATE: 08/18/69

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; S. K. Booth; NHTSA

TO: Cox Trailors Incorporated

COPYEE: CENTRAL FILE(2); ANDERS; COMPTON; LEYSATH; NIELD; 512 CHRON; 510A CHRON; INTERPRETATIONS: STD.108; DYSON (2); CC-2921

TITLE: FMVSS INTERPRETATION

TEXT: This is in response to your letter of August 6, 1969, concerning the location of the side marker lamp and reflector on boat trailers manufactured by your company, as discussed by your Mr. Oglesby with Mr. Tyson of this office.

Paragraph S3.2.1.4 of Standard 108 states: "On trailers, the amber front side reflex reflectors and amber front side marker lamps may be located as for forward as practicable exclusive of the trailer tongue." The forward location chosen will be satisfactory if you can provide reasonable justification for not placing it farther forward, that is, closer to the base of the trailer tongue.

We are pleased to be of assistance.

ID: nht69-2.5

DATE: 01/24/69

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; Charles A. Baker; NHTSA

TO: Nissan Motor Corporation in U.S.A.

TITLE: FMVSS INTERPRETATION

TEXT: Thank you for your letter of December 6, 1968, to Dr. William Haddon, Jr., Director, National Highway Safety Bureau, requesting a clarification of the requirements for a turn signal pilot indicator as specified in Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 108.

With respect to the turn signal pilot indicator only, you are correct in your interpretation that so long as the indicator is the color green, the diameter circle is more than 3/16 inches, and the driver has a clear and unmistakable indication, it is not necessary to apply other test procedures in order to meet the requirements of Standard No. 108.

The above provision in no way excepts turn signal lamps from meeting the requirements of SAR Standard J588d, June 1966.