Interpretation ID: nht93-4.3

DATE: May 19, 1993

FROM: Edward F. Conway, Jr. -- Assistant General Counsel, Recreation Vehicle Industry Association

TO: John Womack -- Acting Chief Counsel, NHTSA

TITLE: None

ATTACHMT: Attached to letter dated 6-15-93 from John Womack to Edward F. Conway, Jr. (A41; Std. 108; VSA Sec. 108(a)(2)(A))

TEXT: The purpose of this letter is to seek official clarification of the center high mounted stop requirements with respect to truck campers prescribed in FMVSS 108, (49 CFR 571.108).

In the April 19, 1991, issue of the Federal Register (pp. 16015-16021), your agency published a final rule that amended FMVSS 108 to provide that trucks whose overall width is less than 80 inches and whose GVWR is 10,000 pounds or less, manufactured on or after September 1, 1993, must be equipped with a center high mounted stop right (CHMSL).

On page l6Ol8, your agency responded in part to the concern expressed by the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association and others that CHMSLs would be obscured by aftermarket slide-in campers, as follows:

Under the Vehicle Safety Act, manufacturers, dealers, distributors, or motor vehicles repair businesses, may not install campers or other equipment on new or used vehicles that would obscure the original mandated CHMSL, as this obscuration would be "rendering inoperative" a mandated safety device. However, this prohibition does not apply to vehicle owners. Therefore, they could use slide-in campers or caps that obscure the original CHMSL. However, the agency believes that slide-in campers, which are not part of the original pickup design and hence are accessory equipment, are typically intended for occasional use, and the CHMSL would only be obscured for a relatively short period of time on those vehicles whose owners have purchased them.

This agency response was not entirely dispositive of the slide-in truck camper issue. The CHMSL requirement for trucks manufactured on or after September 1, 1993, applies ONLY to trucks whose overall width is LESS THAN 80 inches and whose GVWR is less than 10,000 pounds.

A number of RVIA manufacturer members produce slide-in campers that are more than 80 inches wide. When such a side-in camper is installed in a pickup truck that is less than 80 inches wide, the overall width of the pickup truck is thereby increased to MORE THAN 80 inches. See the enclosed truck camper brochures for examples.

While such a slide-in camper does obscure the pickup truck's CHMSL, it does NOT "render inoperative" a MANDATED safety device. A CHMSL is NOT required on that pickup truck because its overall width is now MORE THAN 80 inches. Moreover, if and when the side-in camper is removed thereby reducing the overall width of that pickup truck to less than 80 inches, the mandated CHMSL is not obscured but is "fully operative".

Accordingly, RVIA believes that:

1) manufacturers, dealers, distributors and motor vehicle repair businesses MAY lawfully install a slide-in camper that is 80 or more inches wide on a new or used pickup truck that is less than 80 inches wide even though that camper obscures the truck's CHMSL; and

2) a side-in camper that is 80 or more inches wide, which obscures the CHMSL of a truck that is less than 80 inches wide, is NOT required by MVSS 108 to be equipped with a CHMSL.

Does your agency concur?

Since the CHMSL requirement will apply to trucks built on or after September 1, 1993, we would greatly appreciate an early reply.