Three components decide whether a remount is a new truck

Everyone in remounting knows the shorthand: a new body on a used chassis is a used truck. The rule underneath is narrower than the shorthand. The part most shops skip is the part that makes you a manufacturer.

Three components decide it

The test sits in 49 CFR 571.7(e). It reads: when a new cab is used in the assembly of a truck, the truck is newly manufactured "unless the engine, transmission, and drive axle(s) (as a minimum) of the assembled vehicle are not new, and at least two of these components were taken from the same vehicle."

NHTSA's letters apply that to bodies. In letter nht92-7.5, the agency says it has "consistently interpreted" the provision to apply to new bodies and not old ones: a new body on an old chassis does not produce a new vehicle so long as the engine, transmission and drive axles "are not new AND at least two of these three listed components were taken from the same vehicle."

The reverse case is the one remanufacturers miss. A new vehicle results from putting a new body on an old chassis using "new, a combination of new and used, or used engine, transmission, and drive axles no two of which were taken from the same vehicle." An all-used powertrain built from three donors fails the test.

Letter 7323 adds a judgment call. If the operation also modifies the chassis by adding new components "such as new engine, transmission, suspension, etc.," NHTSA says it is "more likely" that the result is a new vehicle. The suspension is not one of the three components named in the rule.

A used truck is not a free pass

Even a used vehicle carries a rule. 49 U.S.C. 30122(b) says a "manufacturer, distributor, dealer, or motor vehicle repair business may not knowingly make inoperative any part of a device or element of design installed on or in a motor vehicle" in compliance with a safety standard. NHTSA reads that to require anyone who removes an old body and installs a new one to make sure the completed vehicle meets the standards that vehicle originally had to meet. The letter's example: a body built in 1995 on a used 1989 chassis must meet the standards that applied to 1989 vehicles. The shop is liable even if it directed another business to remove the old body.

New equipment fitted along the way has its own rules. Letter 7323 says items such as lighting, tires, glazing and seat belts must comply with their standards when installed new.

When it is new, you signed as the manufacturer

A final-stage manufacturer puts a certification label on the vehicle under 49 CFR 567.5(d). The label carries your name after "MANUFACTURED BY", the month and year, GVWR, GAWR for each axle, the VIN, the vehicle type, and one of three certification statements. The third is the one for a shop that did not follow the chassis maker's document:

• "This vehicle conforms to all applicable Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards ... in effect in (month, year)."
• The same, preceded by "This vehicle has been completed in accordance with the prior manufacturers' IVD, where applicable."
• The IVD statement, then "except for [insert FMVSS(s)]," then the conformance statement.

Responsibility follows the chassis maker's document. A final-stage manufacturer takes on all certification duties, except to the extent the vehicle was completed in accordance with the prior manufacturers' incomplete-vehicle document (IVD) or addendum, "as to the Federal motor vehicle safety standards fully addressed therein." The incomplete-vehicle maker, in turn, stays responsible for the accuracy of that document. Follow it and the chassis maker carries what it covers. Deviate, and you carry that standard yourself.

An intermediate manufacturer, such as a shop that adds or moves an axle, has to furnish an addendum when its work affects the IVD, and is responsible for work it did that was not done in accordance with the IVD.

The date on the label is a choice. It cannot be earlier than the chassis maker's manufacture date or later than completion. NHTSA's letters describe the standards date as the date of manufacture of the incomplete vehicle, the date of final completion, or a date between the two.

What a miss costs

The civil penalty section, 49 CFR 578.6(a)(1), lists 49 U.S.C. 30115, the certification requirement, and 30122, the make-inoperative rule, among the provisions it covers. It sets a maximum of $27,874 for each violation and says a separate violation occurs for each motor vehicle. The cap for a related series of violations is $139,356,994.

That is a ceiling, not a price list. NHTSA weighs the seriousness of the violation and the size of the business, among other factors. The multiplication below shows the exposure grows by the truck.

The dollar figure is as printed in Cornell's copy of the regulation, which shows amendments through December 30, 2024. Penalty amounts are adjusted for inflation, so check the current eCFR text before quoting it. An older NHTSA letter, 10204, warns of a penalty of "up to $1,000 for each violation" for the make-inoperative rule, which shows how far the number has moved.

What this does not tell you: whether a given job crosses the line is a fact question about components and donors, and NHTSA's letters are staff interpretations, not rules. Some are decades old. In the sources reviewed there was no published NHTSA enforcement action against a body installer over a missing label. The penalty section describes the ceiling that applies to anyone.

Sources: 49 CFR 571.7(e), 567.5 and 578.6 (Cornell LII); 49 U.S.C. 30122(b); NHTSA interpretation letters nht92-7.5, usedchas, 7323 and 10204.