Interpretation ID: 19975-1.pja

Major P.D. McClellan
Commander
Office of Licensing and Commercial Standards
Ohio State Highway Patrol
1970 W. Broad Street
P.O. Box 182074
Columbus, OH 43218-2074

Dear Major McClellan:

This responds to your letter asking for an interpretation of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 217, Bus Emergency Exits and Window Retention and Release. I apologize for the delay in responding. You ask whether Ohio's school bus construction standard is in conflict with our standard as to the location of side window emergency exits. Based on our understanding of your standard, our answer is no.

You explain that your standard requires school buses with a seating capacity greater than 50 to have "two emergency swing out windows on the right and left side of the body" located in the front and rear third of the bus. Thomas Built Buses has told you that they have an interpretation letter from us stating that Standard No. 217 requires a window exit at the midpoint of the bus no matter how many exits are on each side of the bus. (Although you did not identify the letter, we believe you are referring to our August 4, 1995, letter to Ms. Jane L. Dawson of Thomas Built Buses.) You ask whether your standard may require the swing out windows in the front and rear third of the bus.

S5.2.3.1 of Standard No. 217 requires school buses to be equipped with certain numbers and types of emergency exits, at specified locations. At the school bus manufacturer's option, a school bus may either have:

(1) one rear emergency door and the additional exits described in Table 1 of the standard (S5.2.3.1(a)); or

(2) one emergency door on the vehicle's left side, a push-out rear window, and the additional exits described in the standard's Table 2 (S5.2.3.1(b)).

According to your letter, your school buses have a push-out rear window installed pursuant to S5.2.3.1(b). We gather from this that the two additional windows to which you refer are those described in Table 2, which permits manufacturers the option of installing the two window exits in lieu of a right side exit door. Our August 4, 1995, letter states that Standard No.217 does not specify a fore-aft location for a right side exit door or for window exits installed in lieu of a right side exit door. The letter states that these exit windows should be positioned fore-and-aft in the school bus so as to provide bus passengers with maximum accessibility to an emergency exit, in accordance with what is reasonable and practicable. We believe that your requirement that the two exit windows be placed on each side of the bus and in the front and rear thirds of the bus provides for appropriate accessibility. On this point, our standards are consistent.

However, there are some potential differences between our standards that we would like to highlight.

• According to your letter, your standard requires all type B-D school buses, regardless of seating capacity, to have at least two window exits. S5.2.3.1 of our standard allows buses seating less than 46 persons to have only a single rear exit door, or a left side exit door and a rear exit window, with no other exit windows.
• For buses with seating capacities between 46 and 49, your standard requires two side exit windows located at the midpoint. S5.2.3.1(a) of our standard allows an option of either two side exit windows or a left side exit door located as near as practicable to the mid-point of the passenger compartment (see Table 1 and S5.2.3.2(a)). Because a side exit window and a side exit door cannot occupy the same location, under your standard the side exit door option is essentially no longer available.
• For buses with seating capacities of 50 to 62, your standard requires four side emergency window exits, while S5.2.3.1, Tables 1 and 2 of our standard require only two.

Section 30103(b) of our statute, at 49 U.S.C. 30101 et seq., states:

when a motor vehicle safety standard is in effect under this chapter, a State . . . may prescribe or continue in effect a standard applicable to the same aspect of performance of a motor vehicle or motor vehicle equipment only if the standard is identical to the standard prescribed under this chapter. However,  . . . a State . . . may prescribe a standard for a motor vehicle or motor vehicle equipment obtained for its own use that imposes a higher performance requirement than that required by [the Federal standard].

To the extent that the Ohio requirements are different from those in Standard No. 217, their application to private school buses would be preempted. With respect to buses procured for the state's own use (including use by local school districts), the state standard is not preempted. The state standard results in no apparent reduction in the number of emergency exits and the locations appear to be reasonable and practicable.

If you have any further questions, please contact us.

Sincerely,
Frank Seales, Jr.
Chief Counsel
ref:217# 205
d.5/30/00