Mr. Kenneth Conaway
    Adaptive Mobility, Inc.
    7050 Guion Road
    Indianapolis, IN 46268


    Dear Mr. Conaway:

    This responds to your letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) regarding questions you have about Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 206, Door locks and door retention components (FMVSS No. 206), which specifies various performance requirements for the door latches, locks and hinges of motor vehicles. In that letter, you posed four questions regarding the exception contained in FMVSS No. 206 for doors equipped with wheelchair lifts.

    S4(c) of FMVSS No. 206 provides that "[c]omponents on folding doors, roll-up doors, doors that are designed to be easily detached from motor vehicles manufactured for operation without doors, and doors that are equipped with the wheelchair lifts and that are linked to an alarm system consisting of either a flashing visible signal located in the driver's compartment or an alarm audible to the driver that is activated when the door is open, need not conform to this standard."

    As with all of NHTSA's safety standards, FMVSS No. 206 only applies to new vehicles or items of motor vehicle equipment. However, after first retail sale, a manufacturer, dealer, or repair business may not remove or make inoperative safety features installed in compliance with the FMVSS No. 206 or other Federal motor vehicle safety standards unless NHTSA has issued an exemption from the "make inoperative" provision of 49 U.S.C. § 30122. (1)

    First, you ask whether you may make the door locks and door retention components on a vehicle's side doors inoperable if 1) all the seating accommodations are removed except for a wheelchair lockdown and occupant restraint system that is installed directly across from the side doors and 2) a wheelchair lift with power door operators is installed in the side doors.

    NHTSA addressed this and similar issues faced by vehicle modifiers in an amendment to 49 CFR Part 595 (66 Federal Register 12637, February 27, 2001). In amending Part 595, NHTSA struck a balance between maintaining an appropriate level of safety and increasing the mobility of the disabled. Accordingly, under the amended version of 49 CFR Part 595, a manufacturer, dealer, or repair business can now legally remove or make inoperative certain safety features installed in compliance with certain Federal motor vehicle safety standards when accommodating a vehicle for a disabled person. This exemption is limited to those portions of the safety standards specifically referenced in the regulation.

    NHTSA did not include FMVSS No. 206 in the exemption because of the high level of fatalities associated with occupant ejection. Therefore, manufacturers, dealers, and repair businesses are generally prohibited from making door locks and retention components inoperative even when making accommodations for disabled persons. However, in the preamble to the final rule that amended 49 CFR Part 595, NHTSA also indicated its intention to preserve the wheelchair lift exception contained in FMVSS No. 206, which would allow manufacturers, dealers, and repair businesses to make door locks and door retention components inoperative for the specific and limited purpose of installing a wheelchair lift. Because compliance with FMVSS No. 206 is not required in the case of doors equipped with wheelchair lifts equipped with an alarm system, no exemption from the make inoperative provision is needed. Thus, you may make the door locks and door retention components inoperative as long as you install a wheelchair lift system that includes the alarm system specified in FMVSS No. 206. Although the standard does not require you to remove all designated seating positions adjacent to the lift, doing so may reduce the risk of ejection through the lift-equipped door and the possibility of injury from the lift in a crash.

    Next, you would like to know whether you will qualify for the wheelchair lift exception in FMVSS No. 206 if you install either side or back doors that do not contain the original door locks and door retention components but do have a wheelchair lift and the alarm system specified in FMVSS No. 206 installed. The key to qualifying for the wheelchair-lift exception in FMVSS No. 206 is installing both the wheelchair lift and the specified alarm system. Any door for which you install both a wheelchair lift and the specified alarm system will be eligible for the exception contained in FMVSS No. 206 and need not comply with the door lock and door retention requirements of that standard. Accordingly, there is no requirement that you retain the original, complying latch systems for that door.

    Third, you ask whether a wheelchair lift that has a folding platform qualifies for the exception in FMVSS No. 206 (assuming that it is installed in a door that has the alarm system specified in FMVSS No. 206). The exception in FMVSS No. 206 for wheelchair

    lifts applies to all wheelchair lifts regardless of type, model, or brand. All wheelchair lifts, including those with folding platforms, will qualify for the exception in FMVSS No. 206 if they are installed on doors that have the specified alarm system installed. However, we note that a lift that does not block the affected door may not provide a vehicle occupant with protection from ejection. Such a risk is particularly great when the designated seating position adjacent to the affected door has not been removed or has been equipped with a wheelchair retention device.

    Finally, you ask whether the date of manufacture for the vehicle has any bearing on the answers to the above three questions. The provision creating a wheelchair lift exception from the requirements of FMVSS No. 206 was implemented in 1985 (50 Federal Register 12029, March 27, 1985). Any vehicle manufactured after that date that is equipped with a wheelchair lift meeting the requirements of S4(c) need not meet the requirements of the standard with respect to the door that is equipped with the lift. Likewise, we do not consider modifications on vehicles that were manufactured prior to the effective date of an amended standard to constitute a violation of the make inoperative provision as long as those modifications are consistent with the new requirements. Thus, this type of modification may be made to any vehicle subject to the terms of the exception in FMVSS No. 206.

    I hope this answers your questions. If you have any further questions please contact Rebecca MacPherson of my staff at the address provided above or at 202-366-2992.

    Sincerely,

    Jacqueline Glassman
    Chief Counsel

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    1 49 U.S.C. § 30122 states in pertinent part that a "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 or motor vehicle equipment in compliance with an applicable motor vehicle safety standard."