national safety law?

[roccit_53 at hotmail.com (C Boyko)]

I think the major issue is when you resell, not sure how sticky the state 
annual inspections are, I guess that could be an issue too. Here there is a 
considerable difference in how strict the safeties are when ownership 
changes, they'll all check the essentials like brakes, but some places are 
more anal than others with the small stuff (our Jetta failed due to a non 
functional odometer, the place that did Klaus never even looked at it). The 
other sticking point may be insurance, if you ever have to make a claim with 
a modified car, especially if it's a safety related item that's modded, and 
it can be attributed to an injury for which you get sued. GL on that one. We 
have the new "if it smells of racing, it's illegal" law coming up in 
Ontario, that should make life intersting. Can't wait. cathy


>From: Jason <jason@scirocco.org>
>To: Ryan Schuermann <big_hot_tamale@yahoo.com>,scirocco-l@scirocco.org
>Subject: Re: national safety law?
>Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2003 08:48:04 -0400
>
>Hey Ryan,
>         As far as I know, there is no federal law on modifications to your 
>car post-sale.  Individual states might have laws, but I doubt it.  Bumpers 
>really aren't considered a "safety" item; while they do help cars meet 
>frame to frame in accidents, their purpose is really for low-speed parking 
>impacts and such.
>
>         The FMVSS requires a certain strength of bumper when the car is 
>sold to the end customer, but from what I know, once that happens, you can 
>do anything you want, up to and including removing the bumpers (as many 
>people do with S-10 pickups for example).  YMMV and your state might have 
>different laws...
>
>Jason
>
>
>
>At 03:33 AM 7/25/2003, Ryan Schuermann wrote:
>>I surfed around a bit, Abused google as best I could, but really
>>couldn't find a repository of laws that pertain to automobile
>>modification. Specifically what is or isn't against the law
>>pertaining to automobile modification, specifically bumpers. I
>>just assume because we live in such a safety conscious country that
>>any slight change from the factory is automatically illegal unless
>>the part and installation has been DOT ot NHTSA approved. But I
>>know we routinely swap ours out for euro production, or make custom
>>mods to lighten them. The average cop isn't going to know euro from
>>american (well ok Meze would! ;P) But what about going more drastic?
>>like installing custom bump stops ala Porsche design, or yanking the
>>entire bumper concept and just runing 'naked'. Aerodynamics aside
>>because I'm not talking about drag racing here, or trying to win the
>>LeMans. I'm thinking purely cosmetics here, and what I could legally
>>get away with, and what I would then know the rest fell under illegal.
>>Ya know nothing is sexier than the Trans-Am champ 'rocco front :)
>>
>>thanx
>>Ryan (remember me? hehe)
>>81 1.8 8v
>>85 1.8 8v for sale
>>86 Rieger project
>>
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