- Vehicles
- 2,500
- Built between
- Not published
- Models
- 2
- Recall type
- Equipment
- Initiated by
- Manufacturer
- Owners notified
- 6 April 2020
- Repaired
- 23%
- Unrepaired
- 1,933
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.
- Freedman Bench Seat
- Freedman Foldaway Seat
Repair progress
1,933 of 2,500 vehicles in this recall had still not been repaired as of Q1 2022.
23% repaired — 567 of 2,500 reported
Manufacturers file these figures with NHTSA each quarter. Vehicles the manufacturer could not trace, or that have been scrapped or exported, are counted separately and are not included in the unrepaired figure.
What the defect is
Freedman Seating Company (Freedman) is recalling certain Foldaway Seat Assemblies, part numbers 43705, 45467, 26400, 26401, 82880, 82881, 82932, and 325, and 2pl Bench seat part number 315. The seat belt retractor block out zone may have not been set correctly, potentially resulting in a seat belt that may not properly secure the occupant. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 209, "Seat Belt Assemblies."
What could happen
An unsecured occupant has an increased risk of injury in the event of a crash.
What gets fixed
Freedman will notify the vehicle manufacturers that purchased the seats, and dealers for those companies will replace the retractors, free of charge. The manufacturer has not yet provided a notification schedule.
Timeline
- Recall reported to NHTSA6 February 2020
- Owners notified6 April 2020
- Latest repair reportQ1 2022 — 23% repaired
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 6 February 2020.
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 Freedman customer service at 1-800-443-4540.
Official source
- Recalling manufacturer
- Freedman Seating Company
- Safety standard
- FMVSS 209
- 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
Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), or go to 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.