Interpretation ID: nht70-1.25

DATE: 06/20/70

FROM: Lawrence R. Schneider; NHTSA

TO: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

TITLE: FMVSR INTERPRETATION

TEXT: I have read with great interest your letter of June 10 and its enclosures. You appear to be seeking an assurance that "we, the C&CR Organization Committee, are complying with all Federal rules and regulations in regard to highway safety", and information ensuring "that the race vehicles involved are satisfactory to [National Highway Safety Bureau] specifications and regulations".

The first part of your inquiry really requires a response from us to [Illegible Words] of your entry rules, which states that the entrant shall "Satisfy any additional requirements imposed by the U.S. Federal Government since cross-country travel will take place on interstate highways". There are no conditions which must be met prior to operation of experimental vehicles on the interstate system. Nor are there any Federal requirements applicable to the Committee as promoter or sponsor of a competition conducted in part on the interstate system. State and local laws, if any, would have to be followed of course.

In response to the second part of your inquiry the Federal "specifications and regulations" concerned are the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, issued under the authority of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966. The Committee has no responsibility under the Act for ensuring compliance with the Federal safety standards. This responsibility rests with the vehicle's original manufacturer, and with any person modifying a vehicle prior to its first sale in a manner affecting compliance with the safety standards. It is evident that standard production motor vehicles (such as the Chevelles presented to the Committee by General Motors) which originally

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