dissenting.
The interpretative rule upheld by the court today enjoys the virtues of simplicity, *1573administerability, and apparent congruence with powerfully attractive ideals of public policy.1 Regrettably, however, it suffers from the vices of administrative overreaching and a marked in congruence with the language and history of the statute it purports to interpret. Because the “principal dispute relates to the meaning of the statutory term” and “does not significantly engage the agency’s expertise,”2 and because the EPA in this case promulgated an interpretative rule with far-reaching implications for the fair administration of the Clean Air Act without sufficient statutory grounds for so doing, I am troubled by the majority’s extreme deference to the EPA’s actions. Therefore, I respectfully dissent.
I. “Useful Life” and the Limits of Interpretation
A. The Standard of Review
We are called upon in this case to review an interpretative, not a legislative rule.3 The distinction between the two can be of great moment, since one of the distinguishing features of an interpretative rule is its lack of binding force upon courts; such rules are always subject to challenge in later judicial proceedings.4 Even though courts often properly defer to an agency’s interpretation of a statute for which it has been assigned enforcement responsibility, a court clearly has the power to substitute its judgment for that of the agency in the case of an interpretative rule.5 But “neither this court nor the agency is free to ignore the plain meaning of the statute and to substitute its policy judgment for that of Congress.”6 I fear that in this instance the EPA has done precisely that.
The Supreme Court has pointed out that “[ojrdinarily, administrative interpretations are given important but not controlling significance.” 7 The precise weight to be accorded an interpretative rule promulgated by an agency “in a particular case will depend upon the thoroughness evident in its consideration, the validity of its reasoning, its consistency with earlier and later pronouncements, and all those factors which give it power to persuade, if lacking power to control.”8 A court must consider “such factors as the timing and consistency *1574of the agency’s position and the nature of its expertise.”9
The EPA rule does not “receive high marks when judged by [these] standards ____” 10 The rule was not a contemporaneous interpretation of the Clean Air Act, and there is no evidence that it reflects a longstanding interpretation of the Act by the agency.11 Nor, in my view, did the rule “simply restate[ ] the consistent practice of the agency in conducting recalls pursuant to section 207(e)” — a proposition upon which the majority places substantial weight.12 Finally — and this point can scarcely be overemphasized — the interpre*1575tative rule at issue in this case does not involve the kind of fact-intensive questions concerning which great deference need be given the agency’s technical expertise; rather, as the agency itself concedes. “[s]ince the rule simply expresses an interpretation of the law based on the language, legislative history and policy of the Clean Air Act, no factual data need be analyzed or commented on.”13 Consequently, although some deference is to be accorded the May 30 rule, our inquiry must focus on whether EPA’s interpretation is reasonable and supportable in light of the statutory language and legislative history. And our final determination should reflect, if required by that language and history, the Supreme Court’s reminder that “[a] court is not required to give effect to an interpretative regulation.”14
B. Statutory Language
In reviewing an agency’s interpretation of a statute, a court should first examine the language of that statute to determine whether the interpretation falls within the statute’s plain meaning.15 Section 207(c) of the Clean Air Act reads in relevant part as follows:
If the Administrator determines that a substantial number of any class or category of vehicles or engines, although properly maintained and used, do not conform to the regulations prescribed under section 7521 of this title [emissions standards] when in actual use throughout their useful life (as determined under section 7521(d) of this title), he shall immediately notify the manufacturer thereof of such nonconformity, and he shall require the manufacturer to submit a *1576plan for remedying the nonconformity of the vehicles or engines with respect to which such notification is given. The plan shall provide that the nonconformity of any such vehicles or engines which are properly used and maintained will be remedied at the expense of the manufacturer.16
The majority relies upon “this class-based orientation of section 207(c)(1)” in concluding that “the EPA reasonably mandated that remedial plans be designed to cover all members of a recall class,” regardless of the age or mileage of any individual vehicle at the time it is brought in for repair, “if (1) a substantial number of cars within a given class exhibited nonconformity during their useful lives, and (2) the car is a member of that class.”17 GM focuses instead upon the concept of nonconformity, arguing essentially that although classes of vehicles can be recalled, and remedial plans can be prepared on a class-wide basis, a manufacturer can be liable to “remedy” only those nonconforming members of a recall class that are within their useful lives at the time of repair.18 Each of these approaches to the statute has a superficial appeal, but neither constitutes a “sufficiently reasonable” interpretation of the legislation to which this court must look for guidance.19
To some extent, of course, the plain language of a statute and the legislative history which resulted in that language are inextricable;20 but even a casual reader of the Clean Air Act’s text, without reference to legislative intent, could not help but be struck by the significance of the concept of “useful life.” At the outset, the Act makes clear that emissions standards prescribed by the Administrator are applicable to the vehicles throughout their “useful lives.”21 It explicitly defines the useful life of automobiles as “a period of use of five years or fifty thousand miles (or the equivalent), whichever first occurs____” 22 In the recall and remedy provision at the heart of the instant controversy, the statute not only refers to “useful life” but directs readers to the statutory definition of the term by section number.23 Moreover, without resort to the term or definition, the Act utilizes the five year or fifty thousand mile “useful life” concept in no fewer than four different statutory enforcement provisions.24 To interpret section 207(c) in such a way as to eliminate, for all practical *1577purposes, any “useful life” limitation on the EPA’s authority to require manufacturers to remedy nonconforming vehicles, would be manifestly unreasonable, an evident attempt to circumvent the plain meaning of the statutory language. Yet, it is precisely such an interpretation that the majority today condones, emphasizing that the question presented by this case “is not settled by the definition of ‘useful life’; it turns on the intended scope and purpose of the recall provision.”25
But if defining the concept of “useful life” cannot settle this question, neither will minimizing that concept’s obvious importance contribute to the correct resolution of this case. Indeed, it is likely that the “intended scope and purpose of the recall provision” can only be arrived at and fully appreciated by attempting to define, understand, and reasonably apply that critical statutory term. A good place to begin is with the argument urged upon this court by GM, the bulk of which the majority properly rejects.
In asserting that “the statute does not authorize EPA to order recall and repair of vehicles beyond their useful lives, ignoring their age and mileage at the time of repair,” 26 GM confusingly intermingles the EPA’s authority “to order recall and repair” of vehicles with its own duty to perform any necessary repair, implying that the time and mileage parameters of “useful life” are somehow to be applied “at the time of repair.” There is no support for such an interpretation in the statutory language. Indeed, that language suggests, if anything, that the definition of useful life applies when “the Administrator determines” that a nonconformity exists and notifies the manufacturer “immediately.”27 In addition, to accept GM’s interpretation would be, in practice, to undercut the central point of section 207(c), even as to accept EPA’s and the majority's interpretation would be to destroy its explicitly delineated outer boundaries. If the nonconformity of a class of vehicles were discovered relatively late in a vehicle’s useful life, or if protracted negotiations, litigation, and appeals combined to place all or most vehicles involved in a recall beyond their useful lives by the time members of the recall class were brought in for necessary service, GM’s interpretation could regularly, even totally, frustrate the purpose of the recall provision. On the other hand, the interpretation offered by the EPA and accepted by the majority flies just as surely in the face of the statute’s plain meaning and similarly frustrates the intent of Congress. Somewhere between these two extreme readings of the statutory language, the path of reasonableness lies.
C. The Legislative History
Even where, as here, the statutory language appears clear, the plain meaning rule is only a primary and not a conclusive *1578source of understanding and must yield on occasion to other indicia of legislative intent, including legislative history.28 The majority rightly looks to such history for guidance, but looks, I believe, in the wrong places and with the wrong emphasis. The crucial point to be made about the recall provision is not that Congress intended it to apply to a “model” or “class” or “category” of vehicles or engines, but that it intended any delineation of a “given model run” or an “entire lot” to depend upon its deliberately created concept of “useful life.”29
If little else is crystal clear from the complex legislative history of the Clean Air Act, one thing is: despite evidence that the actual life of an automobile is closer to ten years or one hundred thousand miles than it is to five years or fifty thousand miles, Congress intentionally limited the duration of a manufacturer’s liability for a vehicle’s nonconformity with emissions standards to a five-year/fifty-thousand mile period. For example, Senator Muskie, one of the bill’s prime sponsors, remarked that “[fjifty thousand miles is not all their life, 100,000 miles being nearer to a measure of the life of a motor vehicle, but we have taken 50,000 miles.”30 During the debate on the 1977 Clean Air Act Amendments, Senator Muskie reemphasized this conscious choice:
The actual life of a car is more than 50,000 miles. We all know that. It approaches 100,000 miles, I think, increasingly, but it was our feeling that a 50,-000-mile warranty would put sufficient pressure on the manufacturers to meet the standards so that if they met them for 50,000 miles, the chances were that the standards would be met pretty closely ... even ... beyond 50,000 miles.31
The considerations underlying the “useful life” limitations were equally straightforward. As the Senate Committee Report noted in 1970:
The manufacturers informed the Committee that they would not be able to guarantee conformity with emissions standards for the anticipated 10-year life of a vehicle. The committee bill provides that 50,000 miles would be the maximum that a vehicle would be required to conform to the standards for which it was certified.32
Where Congress has so explicitly and deliberately considered, and then rejected, a more expansive requirement than that ultimately enacted, it is not for the agency to exceed the statutory limits under the guise of “interpretation.”33
Nevertheless, the majority argues at considerable length that some of the 1970 legislative history is “irrelevant” because
*1579the law as finally enacted, in contrast to the Senate bill, creates an independent recall repair obligation in addition to the warranty obligation. Section 7541(c) of title 42 requires the manufacturer of a recalled class to submit and comply with a remedial plan for that class. Unlike the warranty repair obligation, which covers only failure to conform with emission standards “for [the individual vehicle or engine’s] useful life,” 42 U.S.C. § 7541(a), the recall repair obligation contains no such limitation, and can reasonably be considered to extend to all vehicles or engines in the recall class.34
With respect, such exertions in response to GM’s reliance upon a particular passage from a committee report hardly seems worth the candle.35 Ultimately, the majority’s dismissal of the Senate Committee Report rests on the dubious assumption that the Conference Committee, without comment or explanation, added to the recall provision of the Senate bill an “independent” recall repair obligation in addition to the warranty obligation. Any such new recall repair obligation, however, would expose the manufacturer to liability for repair virtually indefinitely, in dramatic (and unexplained) contrast to the warranty repair obligation, which limited the manufacturer’s liability for repair to a vehicle’s useful life. Unlike the majority, I do not see, try as I might, how the recall repair obligation “can reasonably be extended” so far.36
To appreciate how un reasonable such an interpretation would be, it is important to bear in mind that a recall class may include vehicles or engines of more than one model year. For example, the same carburetor or engine component may be used in vehicles over the course of four or five model years.37 Under the interpretation espoused by EPA and the majority, the manufacturer would be liable for the repair of all vehicles ever produced with that component, provided a sample of defective vehicles or engines still within their useful lives could be assembled for testing.38 If the processes of the initial EPA investigation and of approving a remedial plan were to require as much time as they did in the present case, that liability would be extended even further.39 And taking the process of owner notification into account, compounded not infrequently by appeals to the *1580agency or the courts, manufacturers could and certainly would be compelled to remedy at their own expense the “nonconformity” of vehicles that were more than a decade old.40 The emissions standards to which those ten-year old vehicles would be required to conform, moreover, would be standards that Congress explicitly intended to apply exclusively to vehicles half that age or younger.41
One would have expected such a drastic extension of the manufacturer’s repair obligation to have attracted at least some debate. Certainly there were those in the Senate who believed even the limited five-year liability imposed by the warranty provision to have been excessive.42 Particularly in the House, where the original bill to amend the Clean Air Act contained neither a recall nor a warranty repair obligation, some comment on such a sweeping new imposition of repair liability would surely have arisen.43 Yet, no such comment was made during either the House or the Senate debates on the Conference Committee *1581Report; instead, the only discussion of amendments to § 207 of the Act focused exclusively on the House’s acquiesence in the Senate’s proposed warranty repair obligation, which as the majority admits, was limited to the five-year/50,000-mile useful life of the recalled vehicle.44
My own reading of the legislative history leads me to conclude that any alterations made in the Senate bill by the Conference Committee were merely “technical, clarifying, and conforming changes,”45 and that the warranty repair obligation and the recall repair obligation are essentially coterminous.46 Although they do differ in their triggering agents — the individual consumer in the case of warranty repairs or the agency in the case of recalls — both obligations are limited in duration to the five years or 50,000 miles of a vehicle’s useful life.
If this reading of the legislative history (and, as demonstrated earlier, of the plain meaning of the statutory language with which the history is thoroughly consistent, is correct, just one task remains: the determination of the precise point in the recall process at which the all-important “useful life” limitation should apply. That determination, of course, is for the agency, so long as its action is “sufficiently reasonable.”47 In this case, the majority concludes that “it certainly is.”48 Reluctantly, as sympathetic as I am with the EPA’s chafing at the bit of its statutory authority in promulgating the instant rule, I cannot agree.49
II. The Reasonableness Inquiry
A. The Language of the May 30 Rule and its Implications
By requiring “manufacturers to submit a plan to remedy all vehicles within the class or category of vehicles subject to an ordered recall which experienced the nonconformity during their useful lives regardless of their age or mileage at the time of repair,”50 the agency did at least use the words “useful life.” But it did so in such a way as, in practice, to read the useful life limitation out of the statute. As the foregoing discussion has demonstrated, Congress clearly contemplated some increase in a car’s emissions once a vehicle has surpassed its useful life. Correspondingly, and just as clearly, Congress provided for a limitation on a manufacturer’s obligation to recall and repair nonconforming cars that had exceeded their useful lives. The question presented by this case is thus whether, as the majority asserts, the recall repair obligation “can reasonably be considered to extend to all vehicles or engines in the *1582recall class”51 which, in the language of the rule, “experienced the nonconformity during their useful lives.” To my mind, what is unreasonable about the EPA rule is not that some vehicles may be compulsorily repaired at a manufacturer’s expense “regardless of their age or mileage at the time of repair” (GM’s position), but that in many cases a manufacturer will be unable reasonably to determine whether a particular vehicle became noncomplying during its useful life or long after.52
Under the May 30 rule as promulgated, whenever a car brought in for repair has exceeded its useful life, the manufacturer will be unable to demonstrate whether a present emissions excess is attributable to the sanctioned erosion of performance after 5 years or 50,000 miles, which Congress so clearly acknowledged as likely and explicitly provided for through the concept of useful life, or to a nonconformity which did in fact exist during the vehicle’s useful life.53 In essence, the EPA’s rule establishes an absolute and irrebuttable presumption that all older cars were among the percentage failing to meet standards during their useful lives. In practice, the language of the statute — “If the Administrator determines that a substantial number ... do not conform” — would be rewritten to read “did not conform” or “might not have conformed.” Even if the establishment of such a presumption or the enforcement of such a construction were within the EPA’s authority, such actions go beyond mere statutory interpretation. Even if, as the majority suggests, the May 30 rule “makes good practical sense” and is “sensible” in light of the Clean Air Act’s purpose, its evident disparity with the plain meaning of the statutory language and legislative history would seem to require, at a minimum, legislative rulemaking with attendant notice and comment procedures.54
B. Some Reasonable Alternatives
In concluding that the agency acted unreasonably in promulgating its May 30 interpretative rule, I wish to emphasize that the interpretation urged upon this court by GM seems to me at least equally unreasonable,55 and that EPA could, in my view, readily remedy the defect by one of three alternative approaches.56
First, EPA might reword its interpretative rule in such a way as to reasonably interpret the language and history of the recall provision. If, for example, the rule were to provide for the recall and repair of vehicles within their useful lives at the time the notice of nonconformity issued to manufacturers, the intent of Congress would be vindicated, and manufacturers would have little or no incentive to delay a valid recall by means of strategic lawyering. Quite to the contrary, any frivolous or bad-faith delay would be penalized not only by its inherent expense but by the fact that any nonconforming vehicles ultimately requiring repair would be older and, pre*1583sumably, more expensive to bring into conformity with emissions standards.
The reasonableness of such an interpretative rule would be underscored by an important passage of the Act's legislative history. The comments of the House managers of the 1970 bill, included in the Conference Committee Report, explicitly state:
The Senate [bill] ... authorized the Administrator, if he determined that any class or category of vehicles or engines did not conform with applicable emission standards, to require manufacturers to notify purchasers of such nonconformity. Moreover, if a manufacturer discovered such nonconformity during the term of any warranty required under the Senate [bill], he was required to notify purchasers of the nonconformity and to remedy such nonconformity at no cost to the owner.57
Even as to the warranty provision, then, and a fortiori as to the recall provision (if, as the majority believes, there is any distinction between the two), Congress contemplated that the notion of “useful life” was to be applied at the time the manufacturer became aware of a nonconformity.58
A second alternative open to the agency, as noted, would be a full legislative rule-making. If, after hearing all sides and making a record, the agency believed that the language of its May 30 rule remained justifiable, it would be sustained on judicial review unless it were found to be “arbitrary, capricious, or manifestly contrary to the statute.”59 Any rule promulgated in the wake of such full procedural safeguards would, of course, be entitled to more weight than the interpretative rule to which the majority — inappropriately, I believe — today defers.
In this context I would note, as well, that the Administrator has substantial discretion in defining by regulation the useful lives of vehicles under the Act. Section 202(d) defines the useful lives of “light duty vehicles” as “a period of use of five years or fifty thousand miles (or the equivalent), whichever first occurs____”60 The parenthetical phrase, “or the equivalent,” surely authorizes the Administrator to establish, in essence, a “constructive useful life,” by promulgating legislative regulations prescribing how the five-year/50,000 mile useful life will be measured for recall purposes. For example, a vehicle’s age and mileage could be “tolled” whenever the EPA issues a recall order for vehicles of its class. Such a tolling provision would protect the recall system from manufacturer-induced delays. The majority acknowledges this possibility but “decline[s] to enter into the inquiry of which regulatory scheme would best balance all the interests on this field.”61 I agree that it is the role of the agency, and not of the courts, to make such a determination. But it is the role of the courts to “reject administrative constructions which are contrary to clear congressional intent.” 62 Especially where, as here, an agency promulgates an interpretative, rather than a legislative, rule, *1584and where it relies not on its technical expertise but on statutory interpretation alone, the Supreme Court has made it abundantly “clear ... that deference is not to be a device that emasculates the significance of judicial review.”63
Finally, of course, the EPA and other advocates of a more far-reaching recall authority than that provided by Congress in the Act as amended may seek fresh congressional attention to the issues raised by this case. A more reasonable interpretative rule, crafted along the lines suggested in this opinion, may be deemed inadequate; similarly, the alternative of legislative rule-making may prove somehow unsatisfactory. If so, those who would impose a more far-reaching burden upon automobile manufacturers to ensure the purity of our nation’s air will have recourse to our nation’s legislators. It may well be desirable to hold manufacturers liable to recall and repair every vehicle ever produced that may have violated emissions standards many years before in order “to compensate for the pollution caused during the time of its violation.”64 I fear, however, that in this case the majority has forgotten that “[i]t is not for an administrative agency to preempt congressional action or to ‘fill in’ where it believes some federal action is needed.” 65
III. Conclusion
For the reasons discussed in this opinion, I would vacate EPA’s May 30, 1980 interpretative rule. I would affirm, however, that part of the June 23,1980 order finding that GM had failed to submit a satisfactory remedial plan with respect to certain 1975 Cadillacs within their useful lives as of March 21, 1977, the date on which the Administrator officially notified GM of the nonconformity of a substantial number of those vehicles.
. Through the Clean Air Act, Congress sought "to protect and enhance the quality of the Nation’s air resources so as to promote the public health and welfare and the productive capacity of its population ____” Clean Air Act § 101(b)(1), 42 U.S.C. § 7401(b)(1) (Supp. V 1981) [hereinafter cited as the Act],
. Wilderness Soc'y v. Morton, 479 F.2d 842, 866 (D.C.Cir.), cert. denied, 411 U.S. 917, 93 S.Ct. 1550, 36 L.Ed.2d 309 (1973) (quoting Barlow v. Collins, 397 U.S. 159, 166, 90 S.Ct. 832, 837, 25 L.Ed.2d 192 (1970)); see also Citizens to Preserve Overton Park, Inc. v. Volpe, 401 U.S. 402, 415, 91 S.Ct. 814, 823, 28 L.Ed.2d 136 (1971).
. From the outset, as the majority notes, EPA characterized the rule as "interpretive.” See 45 Fed.Reg. 36,396 (May 30, 1980); Majority opinion at 1565 [hereinafter cited as Maj. op.]. For the reasons cited by the majority opinion and based upon those same authorities, I agree. Id.
. See, e.g., Batterton v. Francis, 432 U.S. 416, 425 n. 9, 97 S.Ct. 2399, 2405 n. 9, 53 L.Ed.2d 448 (1977) ("[A] court is not required to give effect to an interpretative regulation.”); Citizens to Save Spencer County v. EPA, 600 F.2d 844, 876 (D.C.Cir.1979); Joseph v. United States Civil Serv. Comm'n, 554 F.2d 1140, 1153 n. 24, 1154 n. 26 (D.C.Cir.1977); Gibson Wine Co. v. Snyder, 194 F.2d 329, 331-32 (D.C.Cir.1952); see generally 2 K. Davis, Administrative Law Treatise §§ 7:8, 7:13 (2d ed. 1979 & Supp.1982).
. See Batterton v. Francis, 432 U.S. 416, 425 n. 9, 97 S.Ct. 2399, 2405 n. 9, 53 L.Ed.2d 448 (1977); General Elec. Co. v. Gilbert, 429 U.S. 125, 141-42, 97 S.Ct. 401, 410-11, 50 L.Ed.2d 343 (1976); Skidmore v. Swift & Co., 323 U.S. 134, 140, 65 S.Ct. 161, 164, 89 L.Ed. 124 (1944); 2 K. Davis, supra, at § 7:8, 7:13.
. Alabama Power Co. v. Costle, 636 F.2d 323, 365 (D.C.Cir.1979).
. Batterton, 432 U.S. at 424, 97 S.Ct. at 2404.
. General Elec. Co., 429 U.S. at 142, 97 S.Ct. at 411 (quoting Skidmore, 323 U.S. at 140, 65 S.Ct. at 164).
. Batterton, 432 U.S. at 424 n. 9, 97 S.Ct. at 2405 n. 9.
. General Elec. Co., 429 U.S. at 143, 97 S.Ct. at 411.
. EPA argues, and the majority agrees, that its interpretation is "longstanding." Maj. op. at 1565 n. 7. Yet, with the exception of the dispute with GM leading to the promulgation of the May 30 rule, the agency can point to only one controversy, a Chrysler recall in 1979, during which the "useful life” issue arose. See EPA Brief at 5 & n. 5. In that case, by EPA’s own admission, the agency did not press the issue with Chrysler, because the question of nonconformity was itself being litigated. See id. Thus, even assuming that a lifespan barely exceeding one year suffices to render an interpretation longstanding, it would appear that the public was never placed on notice with respect to EPA’s interpretation. To the extent to which the Supreme Court has required that courts scrutinize the timing of an agency’s interpretative rulemaking, EPA’s promulgation of the May 30 rule while in the heat of regulatory battle with GM deserves close and critical attention.
. Maj. op. at 1565; see also id. at 1563; 1565 n. 7; 1570 n. 12. This conclusion lacks sufficient specific support in the record. Outside of the instant dispute, as noted supra, the EPA can point to only the Chrysler recall in February 1979, and there the useful life issue was conceded by the EPA. See EPA Brief at 5 & n. 5. Thus, in the only two specific instances in which the useful life limitations were at issue, the EPA ultimately acceded to the limitation in the Chrysler recall, choosing for the first time to contest the limitation in this present Cadillac recall.
The majority also speculates that the EPA’s practice must have been consistent because the "manufacturers have not conditioned a vehicle’s eligibility for recall repair ... on the basis of the vehicle's age or mileage.” Maj. op. at 1565 n. 7 (citing 45 Fed.Reg. at 36,397). The record simply fails to substantiate directly that the manufacturers’ behavior was the result of the imposition of the EPA’s practice. The majority’s speculation in fact appears to presume that manufacturers (1) somehow foresaw EPA’s heretofore unannounced interpretation of their liability for repair of vehicles beyond their useful lives; (2) conceded the "reasonableness” of EPA’s position; and (3) therefore, "voluntarily” included older vehicles in their remedial plans, refraining from challenging this manifestly "reasonable" interpretation.
A more plausible explanation suggests itself. With the exception of the Chrysler and Cadillac recalls in which the useful life disputes did arise, virtually all completed emission recalls have involved vehicle classes less than three years of age at the time of owner notification of nonconformity by the manufacturer. See J.A. 278-96. The owner response rates drop substantially for vehicles more than four years old. See id. at 298. This information forms a strong basis for the inference that both the EPA and manufacturers in previous recalls have failed to raise the question of liability for repair of cars beyond their useful lives because the involvement of such vehicles in the recalls has been de minimis. It would not have been economical for manufacturers to have expended the resources necessary to identify those vehicles beyond their useful lives or to risk owner alienation by refusing to repair the small percentage of older cars which might have found their ways to dealerships in response to a recall.
When the "six out of fifteen recalls described in detail in the record” and cited by the majority, Maj. op. at 1565 n. 7, are closely examined, this conclusion is reinforced. The percentages relied upon neglect the fact, for example, that the recalls of 1975 and 1976 Pontiacs, 1975 Fords, and 1974 AMCs involved vehicles that were part of a much larger (and younger) recall class; that the AMC recall was complicated by the more stringent emissions standards applicable uniquely to vehicles sold in California; that the manufacturers included older vehicles voluntarily; that owner responses to recalls drop dramatically with the age of the vehicle; and that the idiosyncracies of particular recalls and of negotiations between EPA and manufacturers on a case-by-case basis render the statistics relied upon by the majority unrepresentative and misleading. See J.A. at 278-96.
For example, the majority writes that "in 1978 the EPA began a recall that included 1974 AMC cars sold in California, approximately 56% of which were beyond their useful lives.” Maj. op. at 1565 n. 7 (emphasis in original). A close look at the facts of that recall, however, is illuminating. EPA ordered the recall of all 1976 AMC cars in May 1978. At that point, the model was approximately two-and-a-half years old and fewer than 20% of the vehicles could have been *1575expected to have exceeded their useful lives. We are told that AMC "indicate[d] it [would] include 1974, 1975, and 1976 AMC cars sold in California in its plan.” J.A. 291. The exact motive for this inclusion is not disclosed by the record, but it is clear that AMC included these vehicles voluntarily, perhaps out of a concern for their ability to meet more stringent California state emissions requirements. However, the majority points to the 1974 AMCs included in this recall as evidence of a class involving large numbers of cars beyond their useful lives for which the manufacturers did not impose a five year or 50,000 mile limitation. I would suggest, with respect, that such use of data is inappropriate because (1) only California vehicles from the 1974 and 1975 AMC model-years were included in the recall, thus making them a relatively small proportion of the recall class which was overwhelmingly composed of 1976 AMCs, and (2) these vehicles were included voluntarily, thus indicating the manufacturer’s willingness to go beyond EPA's requirements.
The majority’s reliance upon a few other recalls involving some percentage of olders cars is similarly misplaced, but no constructive purpose would be served by here disputing the numbers offered by the majority or by enumerating the special circumstances involved in each case. The fact remains that nine of the fifteen recalls involved no older vehicles, J.A. at 278-96, and that only the Chrysler and Cadillac recalls meaningfully presented the useful life issue, an issue which, in the Chrysler case, was not pursued by EPA. See supra note 11. Such a history hardly “constitutes a longstanding administrative policy.” Maj. op. at 1565 n. 7.
Judicial deference to an agency’s "consistent” interpretation should not be based on the fact that the issue at stake simply has not previously arisen. Such deference is appropriate if an administrative interpretation has been consistently asserted in the face of a long series of challenges, see, e.g., Esquire, Inc. v. Ringer, 591 F.2d 796, 801 (D.C.Cir.1978), or if the policy had been publicly announced and implemented for a long time, see, e.g., DeLano v. United States, 183 Ct.Cl. 379, 393 F.2d 517, 521-22 (1968). In the instant case, however, the EPA has previously announced its position only once and, in that instance, "did not proceed” on behalf of that position. EPA Brief at 5 n. 5. We are pointed to no other occasion on which the EPA affirmatively required manufacturers to include vehicles beyond their useful lives in their remedial plans; the issue simply was never raised by either party.
. EPA Brief at 41.
. Batterton, 432 U.S. at 425 n. 9, 97 S.Ct. at 2405 n. 9.
. See Consumer Prod. Safety Comm’n v. GTE Sylvania, Inc., 447 U.S. 102, 108, 100 S.Ct. 2051, 2056, 64 L.Ed.2d 766 (1980); Touche Ross & Co. v. Redington, 442 U.S. 560, 568, 99 S.Ct. 2479, 2485, 61 L.Ed.2d 82 (1979); Caminetti v. United States, 242 U.S. 470, 485, 37 S.Ct. 192, 194, 61 L.Ed. 442 (1917); Symons v. Chrysler Corp. Loan Guarantee Bd., 670 F.2d 238, 241 (D.C.Cir.1981); Higgins v. Marshall, 584 F.2d 1035, 1037 (D.C.Cir.1978), cert. denied, 441 U.S. 931, 99 S.Ct. 2051, 60 L.Ed.2d 659 (1979).
. As amended, 42 U.S.C. § 7541(c)(1) (Supp. V 1981).
. Maj. op. at 1567.
. GM Brief at 20, 23-26; Petitioner's Supplemental Brief on Rehearing En Banc, April 12, 1984 at 5 [hereinafter cited as GM Supp. Br.j ("Because no emissions standard applies to a vehicle beyond 5 years or 50,000 miles, there can be no nonconformity which the manufacturer can be required to remedy under § 207(c)(1).”); see Maj. op. at 1567.
. See FEC v. Democratic Senatorial Campaign Comm., 454 U.S. 27, 39, 102 S.Ct. 38, 46, 70 L.Ed.2d 23 (1981).
. The legislative history is explored infra pp. 1577-1581.
. 42 U.S.C. § 7521(a)(1) (Supp. V 1981).
. 42 U.S.C. § 7521(d)(1) (Supp. V 1981).
. 42 U.S.C. § 7521(c)(1) (Supp. V 1981); see supra note 16 and accompanying text.
. For example:
1. Section 206(a) requires EPA to certify, on the basis of extensive testing of prototypes, that each new vehicle produced will conform to emissions standards for five years or 50,000 miles. No manufacturer may produce or market vehicles not covered by such a certificate. 42 U.S.C. § 7525(a) (Supp. V 1981).
2. Section 206(b) authorizes the EPA to conduct production line testing to determine whether vehicles being manufactured will conform to emissions standards for 50,000 miles. Suspension of the certificate of conformity is authorized if vehicles fail such tests. 42 U.S.C. § 7525(b) (Supp. V 1981).
3. Section 207(a) requires a manufacturer to warrant that each vehicle sold is designed and built to conform to emissions standards and that its materials and workmanship are free from any defect which will cause it to fail to conform to emissions standards during its useful life. 42 U.S.C. § 7541(a) (Supp. V 1981).
4. Section 207(b) further requires a manufacturer to warrant that performance of major emissions components of each vehicle will conform to emissions standards for five years or *157750,000 miles. 42 U.S.C. § 7541(b) (Supp. V 1981).
. Maj. op. at 1568.
. GM Supp. Br. at 5.
. GM essentially ignores the language of section 207(c) itself, which plainly invokes the "useful life" concept in connection with the EPA’s pre-notice determination of nonconformity. The company argues instead that vehicles beyond their useful lives when brought in for repair cannot be, at that time, "nonconforming,” since emissions standards can only apply to vehicles during their useful lives. GM Brief at 19-20, 23-26. If accepted as a reasonable interpretation of the statute, EPA would be required, before issuing a notice of nonconformity to a manufacturer, to estimate and take into account potentially long lag times between that notice and the date that the entire class of vehicles would be brought in for inspection and repair. In practical administrative terms, the five year element of "useful life” might mean 4!/2 years in some cases, two years or less in others. Section 207(c) would become an uncertain and inconsistent mechanism at best, a nullity at worst. Reading the statute, instead, to mean what it plainly seems to mean — i.e., that a manufacturer must recall and repair vehicles that are within their useful lives at the time that the agency’s notice of nonconformity first issues — would be at once administerable and reasonable. See infra pp. 1582-1583.
. See Chesapeake & Ohio Ry. Co. v. United States, 571 F.2d 1190, 1194 (D.C.Cir.1977); see also Watt v. Alaska, 451 U.S. 259, 266 & n. 9, 101 S.Ct. 1673, 1678 & n. 9, 68 L.Ed.2d 80 (1981); Aaron v. SEC, 446 U.S. 680, 705-08, 100 S.Ct. 1945, 1960-61, 64 L.Ed.2d 611 (1980) (Blackmun, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part).
. The majority devotes much effort to establishing that recalls must be class-wide, but sheds no light on the role of "useful life” in defining the "class” to be recalled. See Maj. op. at 1567-1568.
. 116 Cong.Rec. 33,094 (1970), reprinted in 1 Senate Comm, on Pub. Works, 93rd Cong., 2d Sess., A Legislative History of the Clean Air Amendments of 1970, at 430 (1974) [hereinafter cited as 1970 Legislative History ].
. 122 Cong.Rec. 24,302 (1976), reprinted in 6 Senate Comm, on Environment & Pub. Works, 95th Cong., 2d Sess., A Legislative History of the Clean Air Amendments of 1977, at 5145 (1978).
. S.Rep. No. 1196, 91st Cong., 2d Sess. 30 (1970), reprinted in 1 1970 Legislative History, supra note 30, at 430.
. The Supreme Court has recently reaffirmed that “[w]hen a court reviews an agency’s construction of the statute which it administers, ... the court, as well as the agency, must give effect to the unambiguously expressed intent of Congress.” This is so because ”[t]he judiciary is the final authority on issues of statutory construction and must reject administrative constructions which are contrary to clear congressional intent ____ If a court, employing traditional tools of statutory construction, ascertains that Congress had an intention on the precise question at issue, that intention is the law and must be given effect.” Chevron U.S.A. v. Natural Res. Ref. Council, — U.S. —, — & n. 9, 104 S.Ct. 2778, 2782 & n. 9, 81 L.Ed.2d 694 (1984).
. Maj. op. at 1571 (emphasis in original).
. See Maj. op. at 1570. I do not find this particular passage either as ambiguous as the majority appears to believe or as dispositive as GM claims on the issue of congressional intent. Most importantly, I find it completely consistent with "the plain meaning of the statutory language” and “the expressed purpose of the statute” insofar as it reinforces the evident desire of Congress to place some reasonable limitation upon the liability of manufacturers. See id. at 1568 n. 10; Jordan v. Department of Justice, 591 F.2d 753, 767 (D.C.Cir.1978) (en banc) (footnotes omitted).
. At one point the majority appears to modify its own "classwide" analysis, arguing that “[tjhere is, at the very least, this definite time limitation on the Administrator: he must conclude his testing before the entire recall class has exceeded five years of age.” Maj. op. at 1568 n. 9. While I agree that this would be a slightly more reasonable interpretation of the EPA’s statutory authority, it is not the authority asserted by the EPA in this case, and no hint of such a limitation is contained in the plain language of the interpretative rule, the validity of which is here at issue. Additionally, it does not avoid the unreasonable result illustrated infra notes 37-41 and accompanying text.
. See, e.g., J.A. 293 (recall of 1975-1978 Pontiacs with EGR back pressure transducers).
. Thus, if the Pontiac engine defect, supra, for instance, had been discovered during the fourth year of the useful lives of the 1978 model Pontiacs, all Pontiacs manufactured with the suspect transducer would be subject to recall. The manufacturer would have been required to repair not only the four-year old 1978 but also the 1975 Pontiacs, which, at the time the EPA would have issued its notification of nonconformity, would have been between nine and ten years old.
. Months may be consumed in testing and investigating a potentially nonconforming class prior to the issuance of a recall order. EPA approximates the average time spent in such investigations as nine months. See J.A. 268 & n. 5. In this case the EPA investigation began in May 1975, issued its notice of nonconformity in March 1977, and negotiated the details of GM’s remedial plan through December 1979. See J.A. *15801, 123, 137, 142, 145, 170, 182, 203, 224, 226, 230, 236, 247, 252.
. EPA estimates that the “average time from recall order to owner notification is 8‘A months.” EPA Brief at 28 n. 33; J.A. 268 & n. 6. As to appeals, EPA found "the recall of certain 1975 Chryslers ordered recalled on December 8, 1976” to be “[o]f particular note”:
Although the recall was ordered relatively early in the life of the vehicles, Chrysler requested an administrative hearing on the Administrator’s determination of nonconformity. The Administrative Law Judge upheld the determination in a decision filed on February 10, 1978. Subsequent appeals to the Administrator and this Court also resulted in decisions favorable to EPA. Chrysler Corp. v. EPA, [631 F.2d 865 (D.C.Cir.1980) ].... Certiorari was denied by the U.S. Supreme Court on December 1, 1980 ..., when few, if any, of the 208,000 vehicles subject to the recall order were still within their useful lives.
EPA Brief at 28 n. 35.
. If the EPA and this court had interpreted the statute to require the manufacturer to recall and bring into conformity with "useful life” standards all cars which were within their useful lives at the time the notice of nonconformity issued to manufacturers, or even on the date the manufacturer and EPA agreed on an appropriate remedial plan, that interpretation would, 1 believe, have been a reasonable one. This is so even though, as. developed infra note 58 and accompanying text, such an interpretation might require some vehicles to be brought into conformity with such standards despite their having exceeded their useful lives at the time of repair. By limiting, ab initio, the recall authority to the class of vehicles within their useful lives at the time the nonconformity is first established by the agency and communicated to the manufacturer, the agency would have been acting, in my opinion, within its reasonable discretion under the statute. See infra pp. 1582-1583.
Taken on its face, however, the EPA rule simply goes too far, and does raise the specter of a manufacturer being required to remedy decade-old cars at its own expense, a result that Congress clearly intended to avoid. The EPA attempted at oral argument to salvage the rule from this conspicuous defect by asserting that the agency will not in fact require such vehicles to be brought into compliance with inapplicable standards but will instead require the same “repair” to be made on older and younger vehicles. The difficulty with this approach is that the Act requires not that a "repair” be performed but that a nonconformity be remedied.
Similarly, the majority’s attempt to save this interpretative rule by reading a modest limitation into its facially limitless language, Maj. op. at 1568 n. 9, ought to be unavailing. Even if the recall action in this case can and should be upheld, see infra at p. 1584, the rule itself, as promulgated, is clearly and unambiguously contrary to the statute’s language and history.
Under our cases, if the agency wishes to fill in interstices created by a possible congressional failure to anticipate all the possible consequences of the statutory scheme, the proper recourse is a legislative, not an interpretative rule. See Chamber of Commerce v. OSHA, 636 F.2d 464, 469-70 (D.C.Cir.1980).
. See, e.g„ 116 Cong.Rec. 33,083, 33,093 (1970), reprinted in 1 1970 Legislative History, supra note 29, at 307-08, 330-31 (remarks of Senator Griffin); id. at 33,097, reprinted in 1 1970 Legislative History, supra note 29 at 338 (remarks of Senator Cooper); see also Administration’s Letter to Conference Committee Recommending Certain Provisions (Nov. 17, 1970), reprinted in 1 1970 Legislative History, supra note 29, at 212-13 (expressing view of executive branch that 50,000-mile warranty was "inappropriate and unrealistic in the light of known technology and experience").
. See H.R. Rep. No. 1146, 91st Cong., 2d Sess. 11-13, 38-40 (1970), U.S.Code Cong. & Admin. News 1970, p. 5356.
. See 116 Cong.Rec. 42,520 (1970), reprinted in 1 1970 Legislative History, supra note 29, at 112 (House debate) (remarks of Representative Staggers); id. at 42,382, 42,385, reprinted in 1 1970 Legislative History, supra note 29, at 126, 134-35 (Senate debate) (remarks of Senator Muskie).
. H.R. Rep. No. 1783, 91st Cong., 2d Sess. 42 (1970), U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 1970, pp. 5356, 5374, reprinted in 1 1970 Legislative History, supra note 29, at 192. No mention of any extension of a manufacturer’s liability for repair of nonconforming vehicles beyond the five-year/50,000-mile limits of the warranty period is made anywhere in the Conference Committee Report.
. As the Supreme Court has recently reaffirmed in another context: “Had Congress intended so fundamental a distinction, it would have expressed that intent clearly in the statutory language or the legislative history.” Securities Indus. Ass’n v. Board of Governors of the Fed. Reserve Sys., — U.S. —, —, 104 S.Ct. 2979, 2988, 82 L.Ed.2d 107 (1984) (quoting American Tobacco Co. v. Patterson, 456 U.S. 63, 72 n. 6, 102 S.Ct. 1534, 1539 n. 6, 71 L.Ed.2d 748 (1982)).
. FEC v. Democratic Senatorial Campaign Comm., 454 U.S. 27, 39, 102 S.Ct. 38, 46, 70 L.Ed.2d 23 (1981).
. Maj. op. at 1572 n. 16.
. Nor can I agree, as noted supra p. 1577, with the interpretation of the recall provision offered by GM. As this opinion goes on to suggest, EPA’s enforcement authority need not be constrained significantly, if at all, by my reading of the Clean Air Act’s recall provisions. See infra pp. 1582-1584.
. 45 Fed.Reg. 36,396-97 (May 30, 1980) (presently codified at 40 C.F.R. § 85.1803, App. A to subpart S (1982)).
. Maj. op. at 1571.
. See supra pp. 1579-1580.
. At best, manufacturers would be forced to indulge in expensive, unwieldy, customer-alienating, fact-specific controversies concerning when a given car, beyond its useful life when presented for repair, first exhibited excessive emissions.
. Maj. op. at 1571.
. See supra p. 1577.
. The majority has, in a sense, suggested a fourth. See supra note 36; Maj. op. at 1568 n. 9. In so doing, however, the majority opinion insists that "it is not the job of the courts to propose rules that they would prefer the agency to adopt." Maj. op. at 1567 n. 8. That is true, of course, but it is equally true, and this court has recently reemphasized, that where the adoption of a particular rule is beyond the agency's statutory authority, it is our obligation to vacate the rule in question. Cf. Union of Concerned Scientists v. Nuclear Regulatory Comm'n, 735 F.2d 1437, 1451 (D.C.Cir.1984) (Wald, J.) (little deference accorded agency’s interpretation of procedural requirements, normally the area in which an agency deserves the most deference, because “Congress did not grant the Commission discretion to remove so material an issue____”).
. H. Rep. No. 1783, 91st Cong., 2d Sess. 50 (1970), reprinted in 1 1970 Legislative History, supra note 30, at 200 (emphasis added).
. If, as suggested here, the manufacturer’s obligation to recall and repair a nonconforming vehicle attaches at the time the agency makes a determination of nonconformity and gives notice, some cars may be beyond their useful lives by the time they are repaired. If a particular vehicle’s status at the time of the determination were contested, however, its age could be easily ascertained by reference to the bill of sale, and its mileage could be rebuttably presumed to have increased uniformly throughout its period of ownership. Such a presumption would need to be resorted to only rarely, and would be reasonable under the circumstances.
. Chevron U.S.A. v. Natural Res. Def. Council, — U.S. —, —, 104 S.Ct. 2778, 2782, 81 L.Ed.2d 694 (1984).
. 42 U.S.C. § 7521(d)(1) (Supp. V 1981).
. Maj. op. at 1572 n. 16.
. Chevron, — U.S. at — n. 9, 104 S.Ct. at 2782 n. 9.
. Securities Indus. Ass’n v. Board of Governors of the Fed. Reserve Sys., — U.S. —, —, 104 S.Ct. 2979, 2983, 82 L.Ed.2d 107 (1984).
. Office of Consumers’ Counsel v. Federal Energy Regulatory Comm’n, 655 F.2d 1132, 1152 (D.C.Cir.1980).
. Maj. op. at 1568.