Interpretation ID: 1982-2.20

DATE: 07/21/82

FROM: Frank Berndt; NHTSA

TO: Arnold P. Fuchs

TITLE: FMVSS INTERPRETATION

TEXT: This letter is to confirm your view, expressed in a telephone call with Edward Glancy of this office, that the requirements of Standard No. 206, Door Locks and Door Retention Components, are not applicable to a replacement latch for a truck built in l969.

The requirements of Standard No. 206 are applicable to passenger cars, multipurpose passenger vehicles and trucks. See S2 of that Standard. However, its requirements are not applicable to replacement parts for installation in used vehicles of these types.

Further, the "render inoperative" provisions of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act are not relevant to the installation of such a latch. Under section 108(a)(2)(A) of that Act, a business such as a garage must make sure that it does not knowingly render inoperative the compliance of a vehicle with any applicable safety standard. With respect to a 1969 truck and Standard No. 206, there is no compliance which could be rendered inoperative since the Standard was never applicable to that truck. That Standard applies only to trucks manufactured on or after January 1, 1972.

I would note that even in the absence of an applicable safety standard, the defect provisions of the Act may be applicable. Sections 151 et seq. of the Act provide that manufacturers of motor vehicles and motor vehicle equipment must notify owners of vehicles and equipment with safety-related defects and remedy those defects free of charge.