Freightliner Exterior Lighting: Brake Lights

Freightliner is recalling about 128,451 vehicles over a problem with the exterior lighting. If the brake lights remain illuminated, drivers may be unaware when the truck is actually slowing or stopping, increasing the risk of a crash.

Campaign
20V567000
Manufacturer
Daimler Trucks North America LLC
Reported
16 February 2022
Vehicles
128,451
Built between
Not published
Models
1
Recall type
Vehicle
Initiated by
Manufacturer
Owners notified
19 November 2021
Repaired
83%
Unrepaired
21,117

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.

  • 2017-2021 Freightliner Cascadia

Repair progress

21,117 of 128,451 vehicles in this recall had still not been repaired as of Q3 2023.

83% repaired — 107,229 of 128,451 reported

Scrapped or exported
105

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

Daimler Trucks North America LLC (DTNA) is recalling certain 2017-2021 Cascadia P4 vehicles. The brake lights may remain illuminated after the brake pedal has been released.

What could happen

If the brake lights remain illuminated, drivers may be unaware when the truck is actually slowing or stopping, increasing the risk of a crash.

What gets fixed

DTNA will notify owners, and dealers will replace the 3-pin brake pressure switch with a 2-pin brake pressure switch along with a jumper harness, free of charge. DTNA issued owners an interim notification on November 17, 2020. Owner notification letters were mailed on November 21, 2021.

Timeline

  1. Recall reported to NHTSA16 February 2022
  2. Owners notified19 November 2021
  3. Latest repair reportQ3 2023 — 83% 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 16 February 2022.

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 DTNA customer service at 1-800-547-0712. DTNA's number for this recall is FL-863.

Official source

Manufacturer's recall number
FL-863
Recalling manufacturer
Daimler Trucks North America LLC
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.

Same component

Same brand