NHTSA Annual List of Nonconforming Imported Vehicles
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has issued a final rule, effective September 21, 2010, that amends the list in Appendix A of 49 CFR Part 593 of vehicles not originally manufactured to conform to U.S. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS), that NHTSA has decided are eligible for importation.
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The list, which is required to be published annually in the Federal Register, has been revised to add all vehicles that NHTSA has decided are eligible for importation since October 1, 2009, and to remove all previously listed vehicles that are now more than 25 years old and need no longer comply with all FMVSS to be lawfully imported.
The list is for vehicles that are:
Certified by manufacturer as complying with Canadian safety standards - vehicles certified by their original manufacturer as complying with all applicable Canadian motor vehicle safety standards (which NHTSA sources have previously stated are quite similar to the FMVSS), which fall under four VSA eligibility numbers.
Manufactured for non-Canadian markets - vehicles manufactured for other than the Canadian market, listed by manufacturer. Included are vehicle eligibility numbers (VSP, VSA, or VCP), model type(s), model year(s), etc.
(Under 49 USC 30141(a)(1)(A), a motor vehicle that was not originally manufactured to conform to all applicable FMVSS shall be refused admission into the U.S. unless NHTSA has decided that the motor vehicle is (1) substantially similar to a motor vehicle originally manufactured for importation into and sale in the U.S., (2) certified under 49 USC 30115, (3) of the same model year as the model of the motor vehicle to be compared, and (4) capable of being readily altered to conform to all applicable FMVSS.
Where there is no substantially similar U.S.-certified motor vehicle, 49 USC 30141(a)(1)(B) permits a nonconforming motor vehicle to be admitted into the U.S. if its safety features comply with, or are capable of being altered to comply with, all applicable FMVSS based on destructive test data or such other evidence as the Secretary of Transportation decides to be adequate.)
The list, as of September 1, 2010, is available on the NHTSA website.
(See ITT’s Online Archives or 08/12/10 news, 10081216, for BP summary of NHTSA revising certain fees for registered importers of non-conforming vehicles.)
NHTSA contact -- Coleman Sachs (202) 366-3151