- Vehicles
- 202
- Built between
- May 1996 – May 2004
- Models
- 1
- Recall type
- Vehicle
- Initiated by
- Manufacturer
- Owners notified
- 7 November 2003
- Repaired
- Not reported
- Unrepaired
- Not reported
Does this affect my vehicle?
This recall covers vehicles built between May 1996 and May 2004. If yours was built outside that window, it is not part of this recall.
- 1996-2003 Pierce Custom ChassisBuilt May 1996 to May 2004
What the defect is
On certain fire trucks with tandem steer axles. The trw tie-rod on the rear-most axle of a tandem axle is restrained from rotational movement by a pair of anti-rotation seals located at the ball socket joints. These anti-rotation seals will compress over time. If the anti-rotation seal allows too much motion, the seals can deteriorate, allowing contact between the ball socket and the ball shaft. This metal-to-metal contact will transmit forces into the tie-rod tube, causing fatigue failure initiating at the root of the female treads.
What could happen
Failure of the tie-rod will allow one of the wheels to swing to the limit of its steering stop, potentially causing a loss of vehicle control, increasing the risk of a crash.
What gets fixed
DEALERS WILL REPLACE THE TIE ROD. NOTIFICATION TO OWNERS BEGAN NOVEMBER 7, 2003.
Timeline
- Vehicles builtMay 1996 to May 2004
- Recall reported to NHTSA8 October 2003
- Owners notified7 November 2003
Your rights
A safety recall repair is free. Under US federal law the manufacturer must fix a safety defect at no cost to you — no charge for parts, labor or diagnosis — whether or not you are the original owner. A dealer cannot charge you for recall work, and cannot require you to have bought the vehicle from them.
That entitlement is not unlimited. It applies where the vehicle was first sold less than 15 years before the recall was announced — 5 years for tires. Past that a manufacturer may still do the repair free of charge, and many do, but they are no longer obliged to. This recall was reported on 8 October 2003.
To arrange the repair, contact any franchised dealer for the brand. If a dealer refuses the work or tries to charge for it, you can report that to NHTSA at nhtsa.gov/recalls or on 1-888-327-4236.
Manufacturer contact
Owners should contact pierce at 1-888-974-3723.
Official source
- Recalling manufacturer
- PIERCE MANUFACTURING
- Recall initiated by
- MFR
Everything on this page — the models listed, the build dates and the repair figures — comes from the manufacturer's filing to NHTSA and describes the vehicle line as a whole, not any individual car. Only the manufacturer can confirm whether a specific vehicle is affected, and whether its recall work has already been carried out. Check yours by VIN and read the official notice at nhtsa.gov/recalls.
Additional notes
Customers can also contact the national highway traffic safety administration's auto safety hotline at 1-888-DASH-2-DOT (1-888-327-4236).
Check your own vehicle
This page describes the recall, not any one car. To see which recalls cover a specific vehicle, search by make, model and year.
A VIN lookup here identifies your vehicle and shows recalls issued for that make, model and year. It cannot tell you what is still open on your individual car - only the manufacturer knows that. Search by VIN instead, or check your VIN at nhtsa.gov for whether a recall is still open on your individual car.