Masterlock Equipment

Masterlock is recalling about 56,406 vehicles over a problem with the equipment. In the event that the main towing mechanism, such as the ball mount or the hitch ball fails, and the trailing vehicle becomes disengaged from the hitch receiver, the link connected to the safety chain could fail allowing the trailing vehicle to become separated from the towing vehicle, possibly resulting in a crash.

Campaign
07E081000
Manufacturer
MASTERLOCK CO.
Reported
25 September 2007
Vehicles
56,406
Built between
Not published
Models
1
Recall type
Equipment
Initiated by
Manufacturer
Owners notified
4 October 2008
Repaired
Not reported
Unrepaired
Not reported

Does this affect my vehicle?

The manufacturer did not publish a build-date range for this recall, so the model and year list below is the only way to tell whether your vehicle is covered.

  • Masterlock 2983 DAT

What the defect is

Certain masterlock quick link towing safety chain connectors, model 2983 dat, with "5/16" 1,760 lbs. Wll" stamped into the product. The locking nut on the link may not stay engaged in the screw threads on the link, preventing the locking nut from holding the force generated during use. This can result in the link becoming mis-shapened and allowing the safety chain attached to the link to come loose from the link, and/or the link to come loose from the hitch receiver.

What could happen

In the event that the main towing mechanism, such as the ball mount or the hitch ball fails, and the trailing vehicle becomes disengaged from the hitch receiver, the link connected to the safety chain could fail allowing the trailing vehicle to become separated from the towing vehicle, possibly resulting in a crash.

What gets fixed

MASTERLOCK WILL NOTIFY OWNERS TO STOP USING THE DEFECTIVE LINKS AND RETURN THEM FOR FREE REPLACEMENT LINKS. THE RECALL BEGAN ON OCTOBER 4, 2007.

Timeline

  1. Recall reported to NHTSA25 September 2007
  2. Owners notified4 October 2008

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 25 September 2007.

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 can contact masterlock at 800-424-2088.

Official source

Recalling manufacturer
MASTERLOCK CO.
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 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