Interpretation ID: nht80-2.14

DATE: 04/23/80

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; Frank Berndt; NHTSA

TO: Douthitt; Mitchell & Paul

TITLE: FMVSR INTERPRETATION

TEXT: This responds to your March 19, 1980, letter asking whether it is legal for a manufacturer to build a chassis that would normally have a high gross axle weight rating (GAWR) while continuing to certify the combined axle and chassis to a lower GAWR and gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR). The answer to your question is yes.

The chassis-cab manufacturer and the final stage manufacturer when certifying the proper GVWR and GAWR must consider the entire vehicle and its capacity to sustain the load for which it is designed. Therefore, if a manufacturer installs a heavy axle but does not reinforce the frame to correspond with the heavier axle, it must select a GVWR that reflects the capacity of the weaker frame rather than the stronger axle. The GAWR can be any amount appropriate for a given axle without regard to the vehicle's GVWR, provided the sum total of the Gross Axle Weight Ratings (GAWR) is not less than the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR).

Your problem arises because the contract for purchase of the chassis-cab specified only the GAWR without insisting that the GVWR be similarly increased. This is entirely a private contractual matter and no Federal regulation of which we are aware has been violated.