Remy equipment query EQ10004
Remy Alternator Fires. NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation opened this equipment query about the alternator/generator/regulator. Opened Apr 27, 2010, closed Sep 27, 2010 after 5 months. It led to safety recall 10E036000. became a recall
What NHTSA says
Source: Office of Defects Investigation, as filedOn April 2, 2010, Remy Power Products, LLC (Remy) reported that certain alternators, produced between December 19, 2009, and February 22, 2010, contain an internal voltage regulator that can become damaged by transient voltage that may occur when the regulator and the alternator are built, tested, and installed. Should the regulator's circuit be damaged, thermal degradation of the circuit can occur, increasing the risk of a fire or heat damage even when the vehicle is off. NHTSA assigned recall number 10E-010 to this matter. On April 14, 2010, the Recall Management Division (RMD) requested Remy provide its customer list of all recipients that purchased the defective alternators. Remy responded with an e-mail that contained insufficient contact information for those recipient, and accordingly mailed Remy and information request (IR) letter for the complete information on April 28, 2010. That same day, RMD mailedDaimler Trucks and Knopf Automotive, who were listed as recipients and for which RMD had additional contact information. Daimler Trucks responded that all defective alternators they received had been returned to Remy. RMD never received a response from Knopf Automotive. Previous EQ mailings have revealed that Knopf is a distributor that would not have an obligation to notify NHTSA of a safety defect or contact a recall campaign. RMD received a more detailed customer list from Remy on June 3, 2010, listing 90 purchasers and over 20,000 alternators. RMD then issued IR letters to those companies that re-sold the equipment under another brand/trademark, mostly automotive retail chains. On July 21, 2010, RMD mailed IR letters to Associate Jobbers Warehouse, AutoZone Parts, PASCO, General Parts, O'Reilly Automotive, and Bosch Canada. Only General Parts chose to recall the alternators (10E-036) they sold under their trademark, Proven Value. The others, Associate Jobbers Warehouse, AutoZone, and O'Reilly, responded that they supplied Remy with customer lists of purchasers. Bosch Canada sold their inventory only in Canada. PASCO responded that they do not actually re-label their purchased alternators. Our regulatory authority does not extend to products sold abroad or to distributors. Additionally, We do not believe our regulations are sufficiently decisive as to whether re-branders of equipment (other than tires) must take responsibility for a defective product they sell under that brand name, to include conducting a recall campaign. Accordingly, we decline at this time to pursue further those re-branders. This EQ is closed. IR responses can be found in the EQ repository. A working spreadsheet of response summaries can be found on the next page.
A Equipment Query is a query about a piece of equipment — a component, a tire, a child seat — rather than a whole vehicle. The summary is the agency’s own text from its investigation file, unedited; the opening and closing resumes with the full reasoning are on NHTSA’s site under this number.
What this means for an owner
Source: and what happens nextAn investigation is not a finding that a defect exists, and it puts no duty on anyone. NHTSA opens a Preliminary Evaluation when complaints and other reports suggest a condition worth asking the manufacturer about; it upgrades to an Engineering Analysis when the answers warrant testing; it closes either when it recommends a recall, when the manufacturer recalls on its own, or when no defect trend is found. The agency’s own goals are about four months for a petition, eight for a Preliminary Evaluation or a Recall Query and eighteen for an Engineering Analysis; many run longer.
This one became a recall. The campaign page carries the manufacturer’s filed defect, risk and remedy, the build window and every model year covered; whether one specific vehicle is included is settled by VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls.
Model years it names
Source: as NHTSA filed themNHTSA filed this action against REMY POWER PRODUCTS, LLP without naming a model year — an equipment or manufacturer-level query.
Common questions
Source: NHTSA Office of Defects InvestigationIs EQ10004 a recall?
No — it is the investigation that led to one. Recall 10E036000 is the campaign; its page carries the remedy.
Is EQ10004 still open?
No. It closed on Sep 27, 2010 and led to recall 10E036000.
Which vehicles does EQ10004 cover?
NHTSA filed it against REMY POWER PRODUCTS, LLP without naming a model year.