Interpretation ID: aiam1733
General Manager
Utility Trailer Sales Co.
Railroad and Orange Ave.
P.O. Box 3258
Fresno
CA 93776;
Dear Mr. Markovich: This responds to your December 6, 1974, request for a determinatio whether a bulk transport trailer designed for transporting farm commodities from the field to processing plants over private and public roads, qualifies for exemption from Standard No. 121, *Air brake systems*, as an agricultural vehicle.; The vehicle you describe does not qualify as an agricultural vehicl that is excepted from Federal motor vehicle safety standards. The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 defines motor vehicle as follows:; >>>'Motor vehicle' means any vehicle driven or drawn by mechanica power manufactured primarily for use on the public streets, roads, and highways, except a vehicle operated exclusively on a rail or rails.<<<; We have interpreted this language to mean that a motor vehicle is vehicle which the manufacturer expects to be used on the public highways as part of its intended function. This would include most agricultural vehicles. However, the legislative history of the original Safety Act and S 301 indicate that congress did not intend agricultural machinery to be subject to the safety standards. We have interpreted agricultural machinery to include only vehicles designed as 'implements of husbandry' to perform strictly agricultural functions on farmland. The category does not extend to all vehicles engaged in transporting agricultural products.; The bulk transport trailer you describe appears designed expressly t rransport (sic) the product of an agricultural machine from the field to processing plants over the highways. It does not, therefore, qualify as an agricultural machine.; To expedite any questions you may have regarding the procedure fo temporary exemption, I would advise you to call Mr. Taylor Vinson of this office at (202)426-9511.; Yours truly, Richard B. Dyson, Acting Chief Counsel