49 U.S.C. § 32506 — Prohibited acts

(a) General. Except as this section and section 32502 allow, a person may not (1) manufacture for sale, sell, offer for sale, ship or deliver for shipment in interstate commerce, or import into the U.S. a passenger vehicle or vehicle equipment made on or after the date its bumper standard takes effect, unless it meets that standard; (2) fail to follow an applicable regulation the Secretary of Transportation issued under this chapter; (3) fail to keep records, refuse to let records be accessed or copied, fail to file reports or provide items or information, or refuse entry or inspection, as this chapter or its regulations require; or (4) fail to provide the certificate required by section 32504, or provide one the person knows — or reasonably should know — is false or misleading in a material way. (b) Nonapplication. Subsection (a)(1) doesn't apply to (1) selling, offering to sell, or shipping a vehicle or equipment after its first good-faith purchase for reasons other than resale — though a standard can still require the vehicle or equipment to keep complying over a set period of use; or (2) a person who (A) shows they had no reason to know, using reasonable care, that the vehicle or equipment failed to comply, or (B) held — without knowing about the noncompliance, and before that first purchase — a certificate under section 32504 saying the vehicle or equipment complied. (c) Importing noncomplying vehicles and equipment. (1) The Secretaries of Transportation and the Treasury may jointly allow a noncomplying vehicle or piece of equipment to be imported into the U.S., under conditions they set (including requiring a bond), to make sure it will either (A) be brought into compliance after import, (B) be exported, or (C) be given up (abandoned) to the U.S. government. (2) They may also jointly allow import after the vehicle's or equipment's first good-faith purchase for reasons other than resale. (d) Liability under other law. Meeting a standard under this chapter does not shield anyone from liability that other laws already impose.