Recall Corner — September 2004

Freightliner Custom Chassis Corporation has announced NHTSA recall 04V283000, which affects some 2003 and 2004 Freightliner XC chassis made between January 1, 2003, and April 1, 2004. The potential number of chassis involved is 2,000.

Certain motorhome chassis fail to conform to the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 121, “Air Brake Systems.” During a situation in which multiple alarms are active, a “check engine,” “stop engine,” or similar warning indicator is given priority over the “low air alarm” for the air brake system by the instrument system controller software. If the driver does not acknowledge these higher priority alarms, the low air alarm may not be displayed. This means that the motorhome could be driven with the air brake pressure below 60 psi without the low air warning being activated, which could result in loss of braking power and potentially lead to an accident.

Freightliner dealers will reprogram the software. The repair is expected to take approximately 30 minutes to complete. However, because of service scheduling times, the service center may need the vehicle for a longer time period.

For more information about this recall, contact Freightliner at (800) 547-0712. Owner notification was expected to begin in July 2004.