CHAPTER 301 OF PART A OF SUBTITLE VI OF TITLE 49, UNITED STATES CODE

[FORMERLY THE NATIONAL TRAFFIC AND MOTOR VEHICLE SAFETY ACT OF 1966]

CHAPTER 301 OF PART A OF SUBTITLE VI OF TITLE 49, UNITED STATES CODE

30103. Relationship to other laws.

30104. Authorization of appropriations.

SUBCHAPTER II-STANDARDS AND COMPLIANCE

30111. Standards.

30112. Prohibitions on manufacturing, selling, and importing noncomplying motor vehicles and equipment.

30113. General exemptions.

30114. Special exemptions.

30115. Certification of compliance.

30116. Defects and noncompliance found before sale to purchaser.

30117. Providing information to, and maintaining records on, purchasers.

30118. Notification of defects and noncompliance.

30119. Notification procedures.

30120. Remedies for defects and noncompliance.

30121. Provisional notification and civil actions to enforce.

30122. Making safety devices and elements inoperative.

30123. Tires.

30124. Buzzers indicating nonuse of safety belts.

30125. Schoolbuses and schoolbus equipment.

30126. Used motor vehicles.

30127. Automatic occupant crash protection and seat belt use.

SUBCHAPTER III-IMPORTING NONCOMPLYING MOTOR VEHICLES AND

EQUIPMENT

30141. Importing motor vehicles capable of complying with standards.

30142. Importing motor vehicles for personal use.

30143. Motor vehicles imported by individuals employed outside the United States. 30144. Importing motor vehicles on a temporary basis.

30145. Importing motor vehicles or equipment requiring further manufacturing. 30146. Release of motor vehicles and bonds.

30147. Responsibility for defects and noncompliance.

SUBCHAPTER IV-ENFORCEMENT AND ADMINISTRATIVE

30161. Judicial review of standards.

30162. Petitions by interested persons for standards and enforcement. 30163. Actions by the Attorney General.

30164.

Service of process.

30165. Civil penalty.

30166. Inspections, investigations, and records.

30167. Disclosure of information by the Secretary of Transportation. 30168. Research, testing, development, and training.

30169. Annual reports.

SUBCHAPTER I-GENERAL

§ 30101. Purpose and policy

The purpose of this chapter is to reduce traffic accidents and deaths and injuries resulting from traffic accidents. Therefore it is necessary(1) to prescribe motor vehicle safety standards for motor vehicles and motor vehicle equipment in interstate commerce; and

(2) to carry out needed safety research and development. § 30102. Definitions

(a) GENERAL DEFINITIONS.-In this chapter

(1) "dealer” means a person selling and distributing new motor vehicles or motor vehicle equipment primarily to purchasers that in good faith purchase the vehicles or equipment

other than for resale.

(2) "defect" includes any defect in performance, construction, a component, or material of a motor vehicle or motor vehicle equipment.

(3) "distributor" means a person primarily selling and distributing motor vehicles or motor vehicle equipment for resale.

(4) "interstate commerce" means commerce between a place in a State and a place in another State or between places in the same State through another State.

(5) "manufacturer" means a person—

(A) manufacturing or assembling motor vehicles or motor vehicle equipment; or

(B) importing motor vehicles or motor vehicle equipment for resale.

(6) "motor vehicle" means a vehicle driven or drawn by mechanical power and manufactured primarily for use on public streets, roads, and highways, but does not include a vehicle operated only on a rail line.

(7) "motor vehicle equipment" means

(A) any system, part, or component of a motor vehicle as originally manufactured;

(B) any similar part or component manufactured or sold for replacement or improvement of a system, part, or component, or as an accessory or addition to a motor vehicle; or

(C) any device or an article or apparel (except medicine or eyeglasses prescribed by a licensed practitioner) that is not a system, part, or component of a motor vehicle and is manufactured, sold, delivered, offered, or intended to be used only to safeguard motor vehicles and highway users against risk of accident, injury, or death.

(8) "motor vehicle safety" means the performance of a motor vehicle or motor vehicle equipment in way that protects the public against unreasonable risk of accidents occurring because of the design, construction, or performance of a motor vehicle, and against unreasonable risk of death or injury in an accident, and includes nonoperational safety of a motor vehicle.

(9) "motor vehicle safety standard" means a minimum standard for motor vehicle or motor vehicle equipment performance.

(10) "State" means a State of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Virgin Islands.

(11) "United States district court" means a district court of the United States, a United States court for Guam, the Virgin Islands, and American Samoa, and the district court for the Northern Mariana Islands.

(b) LIMITED DEFINITIONS. (1) In sections 30117(b), 3011830121, and 30166(f) of this title

(A) “adequate repair" does not include repair resulting in substantially impaired operation of a motor vehicle or motor vehicle equipment;

(B) "first purchaser” means the first purchaser of a motor vehicle or motor vehicle equipment other than for resale;

(C) "original equipment" means motor vehicle equipment (including a tire) installed in or on a motor vehicle at the time of delivery to the first purchaser;

(D) "replacement equipment" means motor vehicle equipment (including a tire) that is not original equipment;

(E) a brand name owner of a tire marketed under a brand name not owned by the manufacturer of the tire is deemed to be the manufacturer of the tire;

(F) a defect in original equipment, or noncompliance of original equipment with a motor vehicle safety standard prescribed under this chapter, is deemed to be a defect or noncompliance of the motor vehicle in or on which the equipment was installed at the time of delivery to the first purchaser;

(G) a manufacturer of a motor vehicle in or on which origina! equipment was installed when delivered to the first purchaser is deemed to be the manufacturer of the equipment; and (H) a retreader of a tire is deemed to be the manufacturer of the tire.

(2) The Secretary of Transportation may prescribe regulations changing paragraph (1)(C), (D), (F), or (G) of this subsection.

§ 30103. Relationship to other laws

(a) UNIFORMITY OF REGULATIONS.-The Secretary of Transportation may not prescribe a safety regulation related to a motor vehicle subject to subchapter I of chapter 135 of this title that differs from a motor vehicle safety standard prescribed under this chapter. However, the Secretary may prescribe, for a motor vehicle operated by a carrier subject to subchapter I of chapter 135, a safety regulation that imposes a higher standard of performance after manufac