recalls

Paccar Issues Two Truck Recalls Due to Underhood Fires, Blown Fuses

May 21, 2020 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Paccar Inc. is issuing a recall of hundreds of thousands of trucks regarding potential fuses blowing out, leading to dashboards failing to illuminate

The recall notice, posted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, covers 455,458 trucks that were manufactured between January 2007 and March 2018.

According to Paccar, if a blown fuse did take place, the dashboard illumination would fail and prevent anti-lock braking or the control of electronic stability. The fuse could also cause the possibility of a crash to increase if a driver happens to be unaware of the potential problem.

“This recall is an outgrowth of an investigation performed in connection with 18V-368,” said Paccar in its notice. “Further testing showed a larger population of vehicles was affected, and proposed remedies were not effective. A new testing matrix and bench test were developed in September 2018.”

Electronic stability control lights and anti-lock braking systems could fail to illuminate without battery power to the ABS controller. Therefore, those warning lights are not in alignment with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.

Ways to identify an affected chassis and develop methods of making repairs began as early as the end of 2018. Now, the recall includes trucks with NAMUX software in place which also have the 25% voltage threshold setting in the indicator lamp for the ABS/ESC malfunction.

Additionally, PACCAR had also recalled nearly 86,000 trucks from the 2015 to 2018 model years back in August of 2018, when those particular trucks had similar issues to current models. Those trucks will also need updated software, and the current recall notice includes issues with those models as well.

The solution, according to Paccar, is to update each cab control module’s NAMUX software, which will be done for free.

Paccar said it will begin notifying dealers of this recall starting June 4th, and will notify customers on June 5th.

This recall comes shortly after Paccar began recalling nearly 36,000 of its Peterbilt trucks due to a battery cable electrical short circuit–a malfunction that could potentially lead to underhood fires.

Only around 1% of the 365, 389, 567, and 579 vehicles from the six model years between 2015 and 2020 are suspected of having excessively long positive battery jumper terminal cables. With these lengths, the cables can easily change against the left front suspension spring.

According to Paccar, this chafing can allow the chassis ground to short circuit and create a vehicle underhood fire–which could potentially lead to a major crash.

“The recall population was determined by filtering build records by option code,” said Paccar in a safety report. “The recalled trucks are equipped with a left hand under hood jumper terminal.”

On January 17th, the company found a small underhood fire near the left-hand side rail mounted jump-start terminals. The fire damage was able to be localized to the battery cable area, and no injuries were reported.

After an investigation by engineers, Peterbilt decided to conduct this safety recall on February 27th.

Paccar said it will begin to notify owners and dealers on May 1st, and dealers will start inspecting battery jumper and terminal cables and will replace them, when needed, for free. The jump start terminal cables will be shorter than the originals, and an additional bracket will be added to support cables for certain option content.

On September 30th, a production change took place which began to allow improved jump start terminal cable routings with shorter cable lengths. After this change was implemented, the areas around the front suspension components had increased overall clearance.

Additionally, in the wake of COVID-19, Paccar announced it would be suspending trucking and engine production throughout its worldwide factories until at least April 6th, which was the first announcement from a truck manufacturer affecting the American heavy-duty market.

Paccar is currently the second-leading U.S. truck maker, according to retail sales data, and said its reasons for shutting down include customer demand changes and concerns for the overall global economy due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Major Car Models Recalled as Takata Discovers Deadly Malfunction in Air Bags

January 26, 2020 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Now-bankrupt air bag manufacturing company Takata has recently discovered a deadly defect in its product.

The newly-found malfunction had led to air bags exploding and hurling shrapnel, or not inflating properly in a crash at all.

This issue comes in addition to an earlier defect that killed at least 24 people and injured hundreds of others worldwide–which also had air bags unexpectedly releasing shrapnel.

On December 19th, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released documents detailing its investigation into Audi, Honda, Toyota, and Mitsubishi regarding their connections to Takata’s recall of 1.4 million inflators.

The current problem has already killed a driver in Australia in an older 3-series BMW. BMW has recalled at least 116,000 vehicles already, and believes the issue is so serious that it has told drivers of affected models to keep their cars parked until repairs can be made. These models include certain 1999 323i and 328i sedans–these vehicles may have Takata inflators that were manufactured before production improvements.

BMW is also recalling 34,000 of its 323i and 328 sedans from 1999 and 2000, as well a 323Ci and 328Ci coupes from 2000, which were all made between March 1998 and March of 2000. It will also recall over 74,000 of its 323i, 325i, 328i, and 330i sedans from 1999 to 2001, which were produced between May 1999 and July 2000. These vehicles may have inflators that were replaced by defective ones.

As of now, the NHTSA is saying Takata has yet to give details on specific affected makes, models, or even model years of the vehicles that may have the defective inflators, so it has told companies to recall them properly as soon as possible. The agency also says that the vehicles that will likely be recalled were made between 1995 and 2000, which is when these particular inflators were produced.

As opposed to recalls in the past, Takata’s non-azide inflators don’t use ammonium nitrate to fill air bags when deployed–but the propellant still has a tendency to deteriorate over time when exposed to humidity or high temperatures. In this case, it can deploy too quickly, causing it to explode the inflator itself. The faulty inflators also have weak seals.

Recent government documents show that Takata made around 4.5 million of these inflators around the globe, but because the vehicles have grown so old, only a portion are still in use.

Currently, Mitsubishi has told national safety regulators that its only vehicle affected is the Montero model from 1998 to 2000, but is still working to finalize its recall.

Toyota and Honda are both still working to determine which of their models will need to be recalled. Audi also said it is investigating its 1997 to 1999 A4, SA6, A8, and TT models to determine whether they are affected.

The Center for Auto Safety’s executive director, Jason Levin, says the investigation currently “highlights the need for aggressive oversight both by NHTSA and by the companies themselves in terms of when they get these reports to take them seriously and move more quickly.”

Although he believes we can’t yet tell if automakers are procrastinating on these recalls, he knows it is vitally important to get the recalls out immediately, as many drivers use their cars for long periods of time. “We need to recognize that just waiting these problems out is not going to solve the dangerous situations that defective parts can create,” he explained.

This recall comes in addition to a large series of problems regarding Takata and its inflators, which eventually sent the company into bankruptcy.

In the largest string of automative recalls in American history, 19 automakers are recalling around 70 million inflators. Takata is also recalling about 100 million of its inflators across the country.

What is left of Takata has been purchased by Key Safety Systems of China for 175 billion yen ($1.6 billion).

BMW has been working quickly to remedy the issues with its models, and intends to replace all faulty inflators with new ones shortly. The company says it will notify owners when these new parts become available.

Decisions for all affected vehicles are expected to be made soon–NHTSA has told all companies to respond with final recall decisions by January 17th.

Navistar Cuts 1,300 Jobs and Recalls More Than 12,000 Trucks

January 22, 2020 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Navistar is in hot water after it has reported a low 2019 net income and revenue as well as a need to recall 12,539 of its trucks for safety issues.

On December 17th, Navistar International Corp. of Lisle, Illinois announced it will reduce its global employment rate by at least 10% after low revenue numbers in its fiscal year fourth quarter. Corporate factors such as 2018 chargeouts have caused a decrease in demand for heavy-duty trucks in the industry.

According to Navistar, chargeouts are the trucks invoiced out to customers, while units in dealer inventory show the difference between retail deliveries and chargeouts themselves.

In its forecast for 2020 revenue, Navistar cut its estimates so much that they are now among the lowest of all manufacturers surveyed by Bloomberg. Shares proceeded to plummet 10%, the largest decline since October 2018

“We are taking actions to adjust our business to current market conditions, including reducing production rates and selling, general and administrative expenses while restructuring our global and export operations,” said Navistar president and CEO, Troy Clarke, in a release. “Building on the strong gains achieved over the last several years, Navistar has a clear road map in place for sustained growth that will set it apart from the industry.”

As of now, the majority of the 1,300 jobs being cut out completely are due to North American Production cuts. For the period beginning in November, Navistar’s net income dropped to $102 million ($1.02 per diluted share), after having been at $188 million ($1.89 per diluted share) the year before.

Revenue in this fourth quarter fell to $2.78 billion, down 16% from its $3.27 billion revenue in the same quarter of last year. To be sure, that quarter of 2018 was a particularly strong one, and the drop was caused in part by vehicle chargeouts following supplier production constraints in 2018’s third quarter, lower industry demand, and the sale of Navistar Defense’s in December 2018.

An 18% core chargeout decline for Navistar lead to a profit drop of $86 million from $197 million in 2018, as well.

2020 revenue is predicted to drop to between $9.25 billion and $9.75 billion, especially after a net income decline of 53.8%–from $340 million to $221 million.

Additionally, as its holding company’s new fiscal year began in November of this year, Navistar issued a recall for more than 12,500 of its International brand medium-duty work trucks due to a risk of unintended movement while the parking brake is applied.

The safety recall report from November 21st explained that the defect has the potential to cause serious injury and damage to property. While the parking brake is in use, automatic transmission is in the drive or reverse position, and the stationary power takeoff switch is on, the engine’s RPM accelerates rapidly and can override the parking brake’s function.

This defect comes from the trucks’ programming lacking PTO neutral interlock in their powertrain databases.

Currently, the recall applies to the 2019-20 International MV, 2018-20 International WorkStar, 2019-20 International HV, and 2018-19 International DuraStar. These four truck models are medium-duty work trucks used for deliveries, towing, and dumping.

Recalled trucks were built exclusively between February 2017 and September 2019–trucks without power takeoff are exempt from the recall.

The company first learned of the problems in these models over the summer of 2019. A field service representative was able to speed up the engine throttle with the steering wheel switches while the transmission was in gear, even when the parking brake was applied, on HV model trucks. In September, Navistar began its investigation.

The next month, Navistar determined a potential number of defective vehicle models, and finalized the suspect population on November 7th. The safety recall was put into place a week later on November 14th.

Customers will receive a recall notification by January 20th, and can have a recalibration performed for free.

As the notifications begin their delivery, Navistar must keep the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration up-to-date. According to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigations’ letter to Navistar on December 10th, the company will need to submit copies of all bulletins, as well as all draft owner and agency notification letters.

Additionally, Navistar will update its parameters in the Cummins’ engine control module for feature codes enabling a neutral interlock for the PTO.

Buyer Beware: How Safe is your Used Car?

March 5, 2015 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

"Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man" by Flickr user m01229, with text added. CC BY. — “Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man” by Flickr user m01229, with text added. CC BY

The 2015 Chicago Auto Show recently wrapped up, and with all the deals and promotions, now is a popular time to go new, and used, car shopping. We recently wrote about some major car safety issues, but here’s another: did you know that dealers — small and large — are not required to get cars under recall repaired before selling them to you? Used car salespeople are not even legally required to tell you that the car needs repairs at all!

That used car dealers do not need to reveal such important information is a startling, and very dangerous, fact. On the contrary, however, car manufacturers like Ford and Honda have a duty to announce recalls within 60 days of finding the safety problem. According to Carfax, one out of five cars on our country’s roads is driving with an unfixed safety problem that was part of a recall.

Left unattended, the problems at the center of the recalls can result in a crash, injuries, or even the death of occupants. For example, air bags can inflate improperly, with plastic and metal parts parts bursting through and injuring or killing someone in the car. Other recalls have been issued that, if unfixed, result in cars stalling, or parts catching fire. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like this scary problem is going to get better. In 2004, the number of recalled vehicles was about 32 million. In 2014, however, that number doubled to around 64 million recalled vehicles.

With the number of recalled cars on our roads constantly increasing, and no federal law to protect consumers, the entire nation is at risk. Cars move freely between states and among owners. “We cannot allow vehicles with potentially dangerous defects to leave used-car lots without the necessary repairs,” said the head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Mark Rosekind.

While the U.S. Government is working towards passing laws to require used car dealers to get the necessary repairs for a recalled vehicle before selling it, dealers would, potentially, rather limit their responsibility to telling car buyers about the recall. This, dealers say, is all that is needed now because of a new government database that indicates whether a car is under a recall.

Of course, there is a federal law requiring that dealers of new cars make the recall repairs before selling the car. But if you are looking for a used car now, or recently bought a car, you should definitely check whether there is an active recall on the car. To check whether your specific vehicle is under a recall, go to https://vinrcl.safercar.gov/vin/.

While there, it is also a good idea to take a look at the information and safety advice offered for vehicle shoppers at http://www.safercar.gov/Vehicle+Shoppers.