2004 FREIGHTLINER FLD — Complaint #533294
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about SUSPENSION:FRONT:KING PIN filed May 3, 2005
NHTSA complaint #533294 (ODI reference 10119642) concerns a 2004 FREIGHTLINER FLD and was filed on May 3, 2005. The owner reports the failure occurred on April 20, 2005. The vehicle had 200,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Texas based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as suspension:front:king pin, 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: 1, 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. No VIN was supplied by the filer, so this complaint contributes to model-year trend data but cannot be tied to a specific vehicle.
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 FLD cohort independently describe similar suspension:front:king pin 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 2004 FREIGHTLINER FLD shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
AS A MECHANICAL ENGINEER AND ACCIDENT RECONSTRUCTIONIST I WAS ASKED TO EXAMINE THE FRONT AXLE OF A LATE MODEL FREIGHTLINER TRUCK-TRACTOR THAT HAD BEEN IN A LOSS-OF-STEERING-CONTROL TYPE ACCIDENT. THE ACCIDENT RESULTED IN A TOTAL LOSS OF THE TRACTOR, THE TRAILER, THE TRAILER LOAD AND INJURY TO THE DRIVER. UPON EXAMINING THE LEFT FRONT STEERING SPINDLE I NOTICED IT HAD SEPARATED FROM THE AXLE. THE PLACE WHERE THE SPINDLE CONNECTS TO THE AXLE IS EFFECTED BY AN INTERFERENCE FIT BETWEEN A SOLID CYLINDER AND A CYLINDRICAL HOLE WITH NO OTHER MEANS OF JOINING THE TWO PARTS. THE HOLE WAS CRACKED WHICH CAUSED A PARTIAL LOSS OF INTERENCE FIT WHICH ALLOWED THE SPINDLE TO WORK ITS WAY OUT OF THE HOLE. WHEN THIS OCCURS THERE IS LOSS OF LOAD SUPPORT BY THE WHEEL AND A LOSS OF STEERING. THERE WAS NO IMPACT DAMAGE TO THE WHEEL SO THE SEPARATION WAS THE CAUSE OF THE ACCIDENT NOT A RESULT OF THE ACCIDENT. THIS WAS CLEARLY A DEFECTIVE FRONT AXLE BUT IT IS NOT KNOWN AT THIS TIME IF IT IS A (1) DESIGN DEFEC
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 533294 |
| ODI Number | 10119642 |
| Date Filed | May 3, 2005 |
| Failure Date | April 20, 2005 |
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.