Freightliner preliminary evaluation PE14020
CNG Fuel System Integrity. NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation opened this preliminary evaluation about the fuel system, other on 1 model year (2014). Opened Jul 7, 2014, closed Feb 5, 2016 after 19 months without a recall. closed
What NHTSA says
Source: Office of Defects Investigation, as filedOn April 3, 2014 in Howard, Wisconsin, a model year 2014 Freightliner Business Class M2 truck manufactured by Daimler Trucks North America LLC (DNTA) experienced a catastrophic CNG fuel container burst when it was struck by an unsecured forklift being transported inside the truck's cargo compartment. A contractor working for the National Center for Statistics and Analysis (NCSA) Special Crash Investigations (SCI) Program conducted a field examination of the incident vehicle and the incident scene (SCI Case Number: IN14016). The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) subsequently sent an information request letter to DTNA and received two responses dated January 23, 2015 and June 24, 2015, respectively. ODI continues to evaluate the CNG fuel system integrity on the subject vehicles and other medium- & heavy-duty CNG vehicles. ODI also continues to investigate CNG fuel system integrity related incidents as they arise. ODI has engaged industry on this subject at various meetings, seminars and conferences, and through involvement in committees hosted by industry and standards development organizations including the Natural Gas Vehicles for America (NGVAmerica) national trade association and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI)/ CSA Group. This Preliminary Evaluation has been upgraded to an Engineering Analysis (EA16-001) so that ODI may gather additional information about CNG fuel system integrity from additional vehicle manufacturers, fuel system integrators and component suppliers and continue to engage with stakeholders to better understand the industry state of the art and the hazard potential.
A Preliminary Evaluation is the first formal stage: NHTSA has decided the complaints and other information it screened are worth a closer look, and asks the manufacturer for its own data on the condition. 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 closed without a recall. That means NHTSA found no defect trend it chose to act on at the time, or the manufacturer addressed the condition another way (a service campaign or a bulletin, which have their own pages). A closed file can be reopened if new reports arrive.
Model years it names
Source: as NHTSA filed themAlso named: 2014 Freightliner Business Class M2.
A vehicle page’s investigation list carries the same action; a name here is the scope NHTSA opened, not a list of affected VINs.
Common questions
Source: NHTSA Office of Defects InvestigationIs PE14020 a recall?
No. A preliminary evaluation is NHTSA asking questions, not a recall. A safety recall carries an NHTSA campaign number and a duty to repair for free; this one closed without one. Whether one particular vehicle has an open recall is a VIN question at nhtsa.gov/recalls.
Is PE14020 still open?
No. It closed on Feb 5, 2016 without a recall.
Which vehicles does PE14020 cover?
NHTSA opened it on 1 model year: 2014 Freightliner Business Class M2. That is the scope of the inquiry, not a list of affected vehicles; a recall, if one follows, defines its own population by VIN.