John Deere equipment query EQ12009

On July 9, 2012, Deere & Company notified the NHTSA that it had decided certain John Deere 8.1 liter compressed natural gas engines, manufactured from June 2002 through January 2008, contain a safety related defect. Failures can occur within the engine turbocharger. The turbine or compressor wheel may fail, resulting in subsequent damage to the engine and/or an oil leak. Failure of the turbine or compressor wheel may result in smoke, fire and stalling. This issue was assigned recall number 12E-026. At the opening of this EQ, Deere & Company had not yet supplied several pertinent pieces of information as to its 12E-026 safety recall. On August 15, 2012, the Recall Management Division (RMD) mailed an information request (IR) letter to Deere & Company requesting: The number of engines containing this defect; its recall remedy plan; its recall reimbursement plan; the estimated date on which owner notification letters would be mailed; and a list of customers that purchased the affected engines. On August 24, 2012, Deere & Company submitted its written response where it detailed that 600 engines were affected by the recall. Deere & Company also noted that its remedy plan and reimbursement plan would be forthcoming, but were not yet available. Deere and Company mailed interim owner notification letters to its affected customers on September 5, 2012, but as of the closing of this EQ, no final remedy plan has been submitted. Per a telephone conversation with Deere & Company's counsel on November 20, 2012, it is now estimated that the remedy should be available the first week of March 2013. RMD will continue to monitor this recall's remedy and notification schedule. A purchaser list was also submitted by Deere & Company with their August 24, 2012 letter. The majority of defective engines were sold to Daimler Bus North America, New Flyer, and Thor Industries. Vehicles affected by these engines were recalled under 12V-447 (Daimler Bus), 12V-466 (New Flyer), and 12V-469 (Thor) shortly after receiving notification from Deere & Company. An additional one hundred and thirty-eight (138) engines were sold to two distributors, Bell Power Systems and Western Power Products. In order to learn if any other vehicle manufacturers received defective engines, on October 3, 2012, RMD mailed IR letters to both companies requesting a list of purchasers. After receiving no response from either company, a second IR letter was mailed to each company on November 15, 2012. Both Bell Power Systems and Western Power Products responded promptly with their respective purchaser lists. Their engines were not sold to any other vehicle manufacturers for use as original motor vehicle equipment. As all defective engines installed as original equipment will be recalled, this Equipment Query is closed.