TSE Brakes, Inc. Hill Hold Requirements

On March 22, 2012, Spartan Motors Chassis, Inc. (Spartan) notified the NHTSA that it had decided a defect exists in certain model year 2012 K2 and MG chassis manufactured from December 15, 2011, through January 31, 2012, and equipped with 3030 brake chambers. These vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) Number 121, "Air Brake Systems" because they do not meet the park brake and draw bar requirements. The park brake may not hold the vehicle in place and if the vehicle moves, injury or property damage could occur without warning. NHTSA assigned recall number 12V-125 to this matter. Spartan reported that the manufacturer of the noncompliant brake chambers was TSE Brakes, Inc. (TSE). On April 9, 2012, the Recall Management Division (RMD) mailed an information request (IR) letter to TSE requesting a list of purchasers who received the noncompliant brake chambers, and also inquiring if TSE sold any affected brake chambers in the replacement market. In a letter dated April 20, 2012, TSE responded to RMD’s IR letter by explaining their non-concurrence with Spartan’s noncompliance decision. TSE noted that, to date, Spartan has provided three draw bar test results. The first test, dated November 29, 2011, “significantly failed” while two tests dated February 7, 2012, “significantly passed.” TSE concluded that these results “ruled out the TSE actuator as an explanation” due to the actuators displaying the same output force yet having different test results. Also, TSE made note that there is no FMVSS requirement for actuator performance as FMVSS 121 compliance only relates to vehicle braking performance. The actuators used on Spartan’s 13 recalled chassis, according to TSE, meet industry standards per SAE J2318. TSE noted that these brake chambers are “produced in Mexico and shipped to the U.S. for Spartan Motors only.” Irrespective of the differing views between TSE and Spartan, all chassis that could have been impacted b