Interpretation ID: aiam1831
Operations Manager
Oswalt Division
Butler Manufacturing Co.
North Hy. 83
P.O. Box 1038
Garden City
KS 67846;
Dear Mr. Guthrie: This responds to your February 18, 1975, request for confirmation tha the chassis-cab-mounted Oswalt bulk feed mixer and Manure spreader vehicles do not qualify as 'motor vehicles' subject to the provisions of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966:; >>>Sec. 102. As used in this title -- (3) 'Motor vehicle' means any vehicle driven or drawn by mechanica power manufactured primarily for use on the public streets, roads, and highways, except any vehicle operated exclusively on a rail or rails.<<<; You describe the vehicles as chassis-cab-mounted and state tha 'Generally the complete operation of loading the ENSILMIXER and delivery of feed to the feed bunk is performed entirely on the property belonging to the farmer or feedlot operation. SPREADERS are normally loaded on a farm or feedlot and unloaded on nearby farmland.'; The NHTSA has developed criteria for the interpretation of th definition of motor vehicle in the area of heavy vehicles with an off-road function. We conclude that the definition includes vehicles which use the highway on a necessary and recurring basis to move between work sites. We have cited mobile cranes, drill rigs, and towed equipment such as brush chippers and pull-type street sweepers as examples of this motor vehicle class. Following the rationale of necessary and recurring road use, we have excluded from the definition such farm vehicles as mobile feed mixers used in feedlot operations.; If as your description indicates, these vehicles spend substantiall their entire time on a farm and use public highways only on or around the farm, they are not considered motor vehicles under the Act.; Sincerely, James C. Schultz, Chief Counsel