1998 FREIGHTLINER FREIGHTLINER — Complaint #156857
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about SERVICE BRAKES, AIR:CONTROLS filed June 29, 1999
NHTSA complaint #156857 (ODI reference 707993) concerns a 1998 FREIGHTLINER FREIGHTLINER and was filed on June 29, 1999. The owner reports the failure occurred on April 2, 1999. The report was geocoded to Ohio based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as service brakes, air:controls, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: yes, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. A complaint that flags a crash, fire, or fatality is escalated on NHTSA's internal review queue and factors more heavily into any Preliminary Evaluation decision on this make and model. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same FREIGHTLINER FREIGHTLINER cohort independently describe similar service brakes, air:controls failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 1998 FREIGHTLINER FREIGHTLINER shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
THE BRAKE PEDAL IS SECURED TO THE FLOOR BY A CLEVIS PIN. THE CLEVIS PIN IS SECURED BY A COTTER PIN. THE COTTER PIN WAS NOT BENT OPEN AT THE FACTORY. THE COTTER PIN FELL OUT WHICH ALLOWED THE CLEVIS PIN TO COME OUT AND THE BRAKE PEDAL TO BECOME DISLODGED ,AND FALL OFF WHEREBY THERE WAS NO WAY TO APPLY THE BRAKES. THIS SAME DEFECT WAS FOUND IN A NEW FLEETWOOD BOUNDER MOTOR HOME IN MANASSAS VA TWO MONTHS AFTER FREIGHTLINER WAS NOTIFIED OF THE PROBLEM WHICH ALLOWS ME TO BELIEVE THAT FREIGHTLINER HAS NOT BEEN THOROUGH IN NOTIFYING THEIR DEALERS AND OWNERS OF THIS DEFECT. I AM NOT AWARE OF ANY RECALL NOTICE FROM FREIGHTLINER AT THIS TIME. *AK
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 156857 |
| ODI Number | 707993 |
| Date Filed | June 29, 1999 |
| Failure Date | April 2, 1999 |
| VIN | 4UZ6XFBCOWC |
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.