Fontaine Trailer Hitches

Fontaine is recalling about 131 vehicles over a problem with the trailer hitches. Failure of the winch could result in a loss of cargo and potential injury or property damage.

Campaign
05V403000
Manufacturer
FONTAINE TRAILER COMPANY
Reported
13 September 2005
Vehicles
131
Built between
Jul 2005 – Aug 2005
Models
4
Recall type
Vehicle
Initiated by
Manufacturer
Owners notified
20 September 2005
Repaired
Not reported
Unrepaired
Not reported

Does this affect my vehicle?

This recall covers vehicles built between July 2005 and August 2005. If yours was built outside that window, it is not part of this recall.

  • 2006 Fontaine DFTBuilt July 2005 to August 2005
  • 2006 Fontaine EdftBuilt July 2005 to August 2005
  • 2006 Fontaine EftwBuilt July 2005 to August 2005
  • 2006 Fontaine FTWBuilt July 2005 to August 2005

What the defect is

On certain open platform trailers, the physical dimensions of the sliding cargo control winches allow it to rotate out of the winch track at a load lower than the strength required by published ratings.

What could happen

Failure of the winch could result in a loss of cargo and potential injury or property damage.

What gets fixed

DEALERS WILL REPLACE THE WINCHES. THE RECALL BEGAN SEPTEMBER 20, 2005.

Timeline

  1. Vehicles builtJuly 2005 to August 2005
  2. Recall reported to NHTSA13 September 2005
  3. Owners notified20 September 2005

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 13 September 2005.

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 may contact fontaine at 1-800-821-6535.

Official source

Recalling manufacturer
FONTAINE TRAILER COMPANY
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 may also contact the national highway traffic safety administration's vehicle safety hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (tty 1-800-424-9153), or go to http://www.safercar.gov.

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.

Same component

Same brand