Interpretation ID: 1983-1.33

TYPE: INTERPRETATION-NHTSA

DATE: 03/24/83

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; F. Berndt; NHTSA

TO: Cummins Engine Company, Inc.

TITLE: FMVSR INTERPRETATION

TEXT:

MAR 24 1983 NOA-30

Mr. J. N. Uranga Cummins Engine Company, Inc. Box 3005 Columbus, Indiana 47201

Dear Mr. Uranga:

This responds to your January 28, 1983, letter asking about the responsibilities of an original equipment manufacturer for compliance with Part 573, Defect and Noncompliance Reports, and other agency recall-related regulations. In particular, you ask questions concerning a hypothetically defective original equipment fan that is a component of an original equipment engine that you manufacture. You ask whether your company would be responsible for compliance with agency regulations if you notified the fan manufacturer of a defect in its product and if that manufacturer refused to report to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Part 579, Defect and Noncompliance Responsibility, states clearly that original equipment is the responsibility of the vehicle manufacturer. As such, the manufacturer(s) of the vehicles in which the equipment is installed would be responsible for recalling and remedying the defective fan. However, Part 573 states that in the case of original equipment, defect reports shall be submitted by either the equipment or the vehicle manufacturer when the defective equipment has been supplied to only one vehicle manufacturer. On the other hand, where such equipment is supplied to more than one manufacturer, both the vehicle manufacturers and the original equipment manufacturer must submit the required reports.

Your hypothetical situation further complicates the reports question because the original equipment is a component of the original equipment that you manufacture. The agency concludes that in the situation that you posit, the manufacturer of the fan and the manufacturer of all of the vehicles in which the fan is installed would be required to supply the necessary defect reports. Failure to do so would subject all manufacturers to the penalties provided by law. If the fan manufacturer refuses to submit the required reports, it would be the responsibility of your company to issue the report to the agency, since you would also be considered an original equipment manufacturer and the defective component would be part of your equipment. The agency would not require both your company and the fan manufacturer to report. A report submitted by either company would be considered compliance by both companies. However, failure of both companies to report could result in the imposition of penalties on both.

I trust this fully answers your question.

Sincerely,

Frank Berndt Chief Counsel

January 25, 1983

Frank Berndt, Esquire Chief Counsel National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 400 Seventh Street, S.W. Washington, D.C. 20590

Dear Mr. Berndt:

Aenid Rubenstein and David Allen of your staff recommended I request a written opinion from your office regarding the applicability of your operational regulations (49 CFR 573 et. seq.) to the following hypothetical situation:

Cummins Engine Company, Inc. manufactures only diesel engines. It sells such engines to OEM's for installation in their trucks. The OEM's attach various components to our engines as part of their installation. One of such OEM add-ons is the engine cooling fan. Assume an OEM manufactured fan, attached to our engine fails. Assume further that Cummins notifies the OEM that such fan has failed (along with particulars of where, when, frequency, etc.) and requests to know if the OEM will notify NHTSA. Assume the OEM does or does not conduct a safety defect investigation of the failure but indicates to Cummins that it will not report to NHTSA for whatever reason. Under this hypothetical situation, what is Cummins' responsibility vis-a-vis NHTSA?

Our concern in this hypothetical situation is for the truck user who may be injured and who will probably assume that the fan was an integral part of the engine.

The Corporate Product Safety Committee of Cummins is involved in reviewing and formulating corporate guidelines regarding product safety and would appreciate your timely response to the above question.

Yours truly,

Senior Counsel J.N.Uranga/cst