Tennessee Code Annotated
Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-1-103 (2026)
"Autocycle," "motor bicycle," "motor vehicle," "motorcycle," "vehicle" and "freight motor vehicle" defined
✓ current as of May 2026
- (a) "Autocycle" means a three-wheeled motorcycle that is equipped with safety belts, steering wheel, and nonstraddle seating, and is manufactured to comply with federal safety requirements for motorcycles.
- (b) "Motor bicycle" means a motorized bicycle as defined in § 55-8-101.
- (c) "Motor vehicle" means every vehicle that is self-propelled, excluding electric scooters, motorized bicycles, personal delivery devices, and every vehicle that is propelled by electric power obtained from overhead trolley wires. "Motor vehicle" means any low speed vehicle or medium speed vehicle as defined in this chapter. "Motor vehicle" means any mobile home or house trailer as defined in § 55-1-105.
- (d) "Motorcycle" means every motor vehicle that has a seat or saddle for the use of the rider and designed to travel on not more than three (3) wheels in contact with the ground, including an autocycle and does not include a tractor or motorized bicycle.
- (e) "Vehicle" and "freight motor vehicle" means every device in, upon, or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a highway, excepting devices moved by human power or used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks.
Amended by 2020 Tenn. Acts, ch. 685, s 1, eff. 7/1/2020.
Amended by 2019 Tenn. Acts, ch. 388, s 1, eff. 7/1/2019.
Amended by 2016 Tenn. Acts, ch. 1015, s 2, eff. 7/1/2016.
Amended by 2016 Tenn. Acts, ch. 1015, s 1, eff. 7/1/2016.
Amended by 2014 Tenn. Acts, ch. 871, s 6, eff. 7/1/2014.
Acts 1951, ch. 70, § 2 (Williams, § 5538.102); Acts 1963, ch. 143, § 1; 1979, ch. 247, § 1; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), § 59-103; Acts 1981, ch. 448, § 1; 1985, ch. 283, § 1; 1986, ch. 804, § 1; 2000, ch. 606, § 2; 2002, ch. 747, §1; 2008 , ch. 959, § 1.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 7
cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1984–2022 · leading case: Hendon v. Oody (In Re Oody), 249 B.R. 482 (Bankr. E.D. Tenn. 2000).
Hendon v. Oody (In Re Oody), 249 B.R. 482 (Bankr. E.D. Tenn. 2000). “"Motor vehicle" is defined by Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-1-103 (3) (1998), in pertinent part, as "every vehicle which is self-propelled .”
Bank of Com. v. Waddell, 731 S.W.2d 61 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1986). “Sections 55-1-103(b) and 55-l-105(d), T.C.”
Farmer v. Green Tree Servicing LLC (In Re Snelson), 330 B.R. 643 (Bankr. E.D. Tenn. 2005). “§ § 55-1-103, -105 (1997) (“Motor vehicle means any mobile home or house trailer as defined in § 55-l-105[,]” as follows: “ ‘[mjobile home or house trailer’ means any vehicle or conveyance, not self-propelled, designed for travel upon the public highways, and designed for use as…”
Roberts v. Green Tree Fin. Corp. (In re Cassady), 197 B.R. 846 (Bankr. E.D. Tenn. 1996). “§ 55-1-103 (1993) provides in material part: (d) .”
State of Tennessee v. Garet Myers (Tenn. Crim. App. 2022). “T.C.A. § 55-1-103(c). It is a defense to the crime that the attempted arrest was unlawful.”
Tennessee Farmers Mut. Ins. Co. a/s/o Kenneth L. Couch v. Jackson Madison Sch. Sys. Bd. of Educ. (Tenn. Ct. App. 2015). “2 Tennessee Code Annotated Section 55-7-202(a)(1) provides: No motor vehicle as defined in § 55-1-103 or any trailer or semitrailer, whose width, including any part of the load, exceeds eight feet (8′) (that is, four feet (4′) on each side of the center line of the vehicle), or…”
McLemore v. Liberty State Bank (In re Johnson), 39 B.R. 478 (Bankr. M.D. Tenn. 1984). “§ 55-1-103: (a) The word "vehicle" shall mean every device in, upon, or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a highway, excepting devices moved by human power or used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks.”
— Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-1-103(b) — 1 case
Bank of Com. v. Waddell, 731 S.W.2d 61 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1986). “Sections 55-1-103(b) and 55-l-105(d), T.C.”
— Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-1-103(c) — 1 case
State of Tennessee v. Garet Myers (Tenn. Crim. App. 2022). “T.C.A. § 55-1-103(c). It is a defense to the crime that the attempted arrest was unlawful.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.