Interpretation ID: 20099.ogm

Mr. Mark LaPlante
Vice President, Manufacturing
EnTech Industries, Inc.
2211 Central Avenue, NW
P.O. Box 422
East Grand Forks, MN 56721-0422

Dear Mr. LaPlante:

Please pardon the delay in responding to your letter to this office in which you asked whether the equipment that your company produces for the steel structures recoating industry is excluded from the antilock brake system (ABS) requirement of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (Standard) No. 121, Air brake systems. The answer is yes.

You stated that the equipment that you manufacture is a trailer-mounted grit collection and cleaning device used to collect sandblasting grit and make it ready for re-use. The equipment in question is permanently mounted on a 40- foot single-drop fifth wheel trailer equipped with air brakes. You describe the equipment as being intended to be transported to a job site and moved only when a job is completed. Your letter further states that the trailer has a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of 48,000 pounds and is not used to transport any other payload.

Chapter 301 of Title 49, U.S. Code (hereinafter Safety Act) authorizes this agency to establish Federal motor vehicle safety standards applicable to new motor vehicles and new items of motor vehicle equipment. The Safety Act defines "motor vehicle" as:

[A] vehicle driven or drawn by mechanical power and manufactured primarily for use on the public streets, roads, and highways, but does not include a vehicle operated only on a rail line.

49 U.S.Code 30102(a)(6).

In reviewing the information you provided, assuming that the equipment in question remains stationary at job sites for an extended period of time, it is our opinion that the equipment is not a motor vehicle within the statutory definition. It is obviously designed to be used primarily off-road. Although it is portable and therefore capable of being transported on-road from the factory to the customer and by the customer from one job site to another, its on-road use is only incidental and not the primary purpose for which it was manufactured. Because it is not a motor vehicles, therefore, your equipment is not required to comply with the Federal motor vehicle safety standards, including Standard No. 121.

Please note that since State laws may require the mobile equipment your company manufactures to be registered, you may wish to contact State motor vehicle administrators to determine whether there are State requirements that must be met.

I hope this information is helpful to you. Should you have any further questions or need additional information, feel free to contact Otto Matheke of my staff at this address or at (202) 366-2992, fax (202) 366-3820.

Sincerely,
Frank Seales, Jr.
Chief Counsel
ref:121