By Seth Clevenger, Staff Reporter
This story appears in the May 14 print edition of Transport Topics. Navistar has issued a recall for 21,831 International brand trucks to check for a possible defect that could cause an alternator cable to chafe and potentially lead to an electrical short.
The recall involves certain 2010-13 model-year trucks equipped with MaxxForce 11 and MaxxForce 13 engines and Bosch alternators, Navistar said in a May 1 report to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Because of the defect, an alternator cable may potentially rub on the high-pressure power steering hose, possibly compromising its insulation and potentially causing an electrical short, Navistar spokesman Steve Schrier said in a statement.
An electrical short could cause a vehicle fire, according to the report, which describes the problem as “a defect in a vehicle level assembly controlled by Navistar.”
Nearly two-thirds of the vehicles identified for the recall are 2010-13 ProStar models.
The defect recall also potentially affects some TranStar, WorkStar and PayStar trucks, model years 2010-13, along with a small number of 2012-13 LoneStars.
The recall identifies a total of 19,264 trucks in the United States, 2,543 in Canada and 24 exports.
Schrier said the recall will involve the installation of a standoff bracket and improved harness routing to better route the alternator wires away from the power steering hose.
“At Navistar, we make every effort to ensure the safety of our vehicles, and we cooperate fully with NHTSA throughout the recall process,” Schrier said in the statement.
This recall supersedes a previous recall Navistar issued in August 2011 for the same defect. The new recall expands the scope of the original, which included 6,552 vehicles, according to NHTSA records.
The trucks identified in the new recall include the ones that were fixed during the 2011 recall.
“All owners that had their vehicles repaired under the earlier recall campaign will need to have their vehicle remedied under this one,” NHTSA said in a summary of the recall.
Jeff Kauffman, an analyst at Sterne Agee Group Inc. in New York, said he doesn’t expect the recall to have an effect on Navistar’s truck sales.
“Recalls happen,” he said. “That’s just a part of what happens with trucks.”
