Interpretation ID: nht91-5.39

DATE: September 9, 1991

FROM: Paul Jackson Rice -- Chief Counsel, NHTSA

TO: Alonzo Bendolph

TITLE: None

ATTACHMT: Attached to letter dated 8-9-91 from Alonzo Bendolph to Legal Counsel, NHTSA (OCC 6346)

TEXT:

This responds to your letter of August 9, 1991 concerning possible regulations governing the placement of personalized stickers in the upper portion of the front windshield and rear window of a vehicle. You were told by the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles that all signs, other than inspection and registration stickers, placed in the front windshield and rear window are illegal. You asked the position of this agency concerning the issue.

Some background information on Federal motor vehicle safety laws and regulations may be helpful. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is authorized, under the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 1381 et seq., the Safety Act), to issue safety standards applicable to the manufacture and sale of new motor vehicles and new items of motor vehicle equipment. In addition, the modification of a vehicle, after that vehicle has been sold to a consumer, could be affected by section 108(a)(2)(A) of the Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 1397(a)(2)(A)). That section provides, in part, that:

No manufacturer, distributor, dealer, or motor vehicle repair business shall knowingly render inoperative, in whole or part, any device or element of design installed on or in a motor vehicle or item of motor vehicle equipment in compliance with an applicable Federal motor vehicle safety standard. . . . However, the above provisions of Federal law do not affect either the operation of vehicles by the owners of those vehicles or modifications to vehicles by their owners. The individual States have the authority to regulate the operation, use, and modification of vehicles by their owners. In the case your describe, the State of New York has exercised its authority to restrict the display of signs on vehicle windshields and rear windows. The wisdom and fairness of those restrictions is something to be decided by the State of New York, not the Federal government.

I hope that this information is useful. If you have any further questions, please contact John Rigby of this office at 202-366-2992.