DEF bypass Newmar mountain Aire 2019

[Rd1]

............. But at least many of us filed complaints so there is significant record for what that’s worth.

Thank you for all the efforts and the update.

Great to hear complaints had been filled. That is for sure the first step. However, sometimes, there is a need for further followup. Just as an fyi, and fwiw, here is what I did re the freightliner pdm lights issues;

I wrote a letter to the NHTSA investigation Admin and copied the NHTSA legal counsel. All certified letters. The legal counsel, often a registered attorney is considered an officer of the court. Hence, they are obligated to follow ethical rules established by the supreme court of their state. In other words, they can not ignore problems that can have legal implications. The very same letter was copied to DTNA(freightliner parent company) ceo and their legal counsel, among a few others. A couple weeks later, I heard from others thru irv2, that they had an updated version of the recall, which eventually resolved the issue. That was march of 2022. It took me 5 years to deal with that mess from spring of 2017.

The first step was a simple letter to newmar documenting a video of the tail lights failure plus invoices from multiple freightliner dealers and a newmar dealer documenting the failure. I just told them, if I get into a wreck my insurance company will be involved and you can deal with them. They understood that. The first recall in aug of 2018 was actually reported thru newmar to nhtsa and freightliner was obligated to respond. It was freightliner's litigation admin who was the holdup.

Unfortunately ,sometimes you have to deal with this kinda 'jacks' hiding behind the corporate logo or even the government. However, as long as there are laws on the books, they are on the hook. It just requires 'someone' to hold them to account.

Rich, the point of it all is, there are more ways than one to skin the problem. Yes, it takes a great deal of effort and inconveniences, thats how it gets done. Btw, I went thru NHTSA bylaws and reviewed FMVSS rules before writing to NHTSA. If there are provisions of law that apply, they HAVE to adhere to those rules. You 'may' find the head failure 'may' not apply. I do understand the circumstances as you described and they are certainly relevant. Perhaps one option is to write the execs at the DEF head mfr and their legal counsel, and copy the engine, chassis and the RV mfr EXECs and their legal counsel and just describe the same scenario you listed above. I have found, addressing one person is often not sufficient. If you have others copied, it helps to motivate the responsible party to act. Hope this helps.

 

[turbopilot]

Just as an fyi, and fwiw, here is what I did re the freightliner pdm lights issues;

Thanks for your efforts on this. I went through two failures. They refused to acknowledge a systemic problem. After my second failure I asked the manager of a small Freightliner service center how big this problem was. He shrugged and pointed to big drum full of bad PDM's and said "good for business".

 

[Bigblockyeti]

. . . But since it was a government mandated problem they were quite mute on the issue as well. Essentially the mandates were put in place before technology was ready and no one would take responsibility. . . .

Man oh man do I wish this could only be applied to diesel pusher RVs instead of ANYTHING today. Any Canadians like to used WD-40? Better stock up!

 

[Ken C]

Not counting in 2018 there was no upcharge for Spartan on Newmar DS

 

[Rich W.]

Not counting in 2018 there was no upcharge for Spartan on Newmar DS

well right now it’s $7000 for Ventana and DS, and on New Aire for some reason its $11,200.

 

[turbopilot]

Yes just the up-charge has gotten ridiculous. It was around $4k just a couple years ago.

Just curious. What is the basis for an up charge on the Spartan chassis? Same engine. What other differences in components would argue for more value? Is it more expensive for Newmar to integrate the coach and Spartan chassis?

 

[Neal]

Let's keep this thread on track please...