Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR)
The maximum loaded weight of a single vehicle as specified by its manufacturer. It is a rating assigned at build, not a measurement of what the vehicle currently weighs.
Federal safety standards define it at 49 CFR 571.3: “Gross vehicle weight rating or GVWR means the value specified by the manufacturer as the loaded weight of a single vehicle.” The related gross axle weight rating is the same idea applied to a single axle system.
Two things follow that matter when writing a specification. GVWR is assigned, not measured. It is the manufacturer’s figure for the vehicle fully loaded, including fluids, occupants and payload, so it does not change when the vehicle is empty. And it is the number nearly everything else keys off: weight class, which emissions regime applies, licensing and operator requirements, and how the vehicle is reported.
That makes GVWR one of the highest-consequence lines in a spec. A chassis ordered just over a threshold can pull a vehicle into a different regulatory regime for its whole service life, long after whoever wrote the spec has moved on.
Sources
- NHTSA, 49 CFR 571.3 retrieved 2026-09-01