Truck
In federal safety standards, a motor vehicle with motive power, other than a trailer, designed primarily to transport property or special purpose equipment.
49 CFR 571.3 defines it as “a motor vehicle with motive power, except a trailer, designed primarily for the transportation of property or special purpose equipment.”
The phrase that matters to a public fleet is special purpose equipment. It is what places a lot of municipal equipment inside the truck definition even though the vehicle carries no cargo in any ordinary sense. A bucket truck, a street sweeper, a sewer jetter, a bridge inspection unit and an aerial device are all trucks under this definition, because the body and the mounted equipment are what the chassis was built to carry.
Who provides it
See all in the Solutions Guide →
On Modern Public Fleet
Sources
- NHTSA, 49 CFR 571.3 retrieved 2026-09-01