---
kind: "section"
citation: "49 U.S.C. § 33105"
title: "49"
title_heading: "Transportation"
number: "33105"
heading: "Cost limitations"
release: "119-102"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/49/33105"
units:
  - "Subtitle VI — Motor Vehicle and Driver Programs"
  - "Part C — Information, Standards, and Requirements"
  - "Chapter 331 — Theft Prevention"
---

# §33105. Cost limitations

- (a) **Maximum Manufacturer Costs.—** A standard under section [33102](/usc/49/33102.md) or [33103](/usc/49/33103.md) of this title may not impose—
  - (1) on a [manufacturer](/usc/49/32101.md?p=5) of [motor vehicles](/usc/49/32101.md?p=7), compliance costs of more than $15 a [motor vehicle](/usc/49/32101.md?p=7); or
  - (2) on a [manufacturer](/usc/49/32101.md?p=5) of [major replacement parts](/usc/49/33101.md?p=7), compliance costs for each part of more than the reasonable amount (but less than $15) that the Secretary of [Transportation](/usc/49/13907.md?p=e-2) specifies in the standard.
- (b) **Costs Involved in Engines and Transmissions.—** For a [manufacturer](/usc/49/32101.md?p=5) engaged in identifying engines or transmissions on October 25, 1984, in a way that substantially complies with the standard—
  - (1) the costs of identifying engines and transmissions may not be considered in calculating the [manufacturer](/usc/49/32101.md?p=5)’s costs under [subsection (a)](#a) of this section; and
  - (2) the [manufacturer](/usc/49/32101.md?p=5) may not be required under the standard to conform to any identification system for engines and transmissions that imposes greater costs on the [manufacturer](/usc/49/32101.md?p=5) than are incurred under the identification system used by the [manufacturer](/usc/49/32101.md?p=5) on October 25, 1984.
- (c) **Cost Adjustments.—**
  - (1) In this subsection—
    - (A) “base period” means calendar year 1984.
    - (B) “price index” means the average over a calendar year of the Consumer Price Index (all items—United States city average) published monthly by the Secretary of Labor.
  - (2) At the beginning of each calendar year, as necessary data become available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Secretary of Labor shall certify to the Secretary of [Transportation](/usc/49/13907.md?p=e-2) and publish in the Federal Register the percentage difference between the [price index](#c-1-B) for the 12 months before the beginning of the calendar year and the [price index](#c-1-B) for the [base period](#c-1-A). For model years beginning in that calendar year, the amounts specified in [subsection (a)](#a) of this section shall be adjusted by the percentage difference.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 103–272, § 1(e), July 5, 1994, 108 Stat. 1081.)

## Notes

| Historical and Revision Notes |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Revised<br>Section | Source (U.S. Code) | Source (Statutes at Large) |
| 33105 | 15:2024. | Oct. 20, 1972, Pub. L. 92–513, 86 Stat. 947, § 604; added Oct. 25, 1984, Pub. L. 98–547, § 101(a), 98 Stat. 2758. |

In subsection (a)(1) and (2), the words “compliance costs” are substituted for “costs . . . to comply with such standard” to eliminate unnecessary words. In clause (2), the words “reasonable amount (but less than $15)” are substituted for “reasonable lesser amount” for clarity.

In subsection (c)(2), the words “commencing on or after January 1, 1985” are omitted as obsolete.