High pressure fuel pump failure

The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened PE21-021 on October 14, 2021 to investigate allegations of stall/loss of motive power as a result of high pressure fuel pump failures in certain model year (MY) 2019-2020 RAM 2500, 3500, 4500, and 5500 heavy duty trucks equipped with 6.7L Cummins turbodiesel engines. On November 12, 2021, FCA filed vehicle recall 21V-880 and equipment recall 21E-094 on the subject population, identifying an ‘internally failed component’ of the high pressure fuel pump equipped on the 6.7L Cummins Turbodiesel engine that introduced debris into the fuel system potentially causing fuel starvation and consequently an unexpected loss of motive power. Discussions with FCA identified the high pressure fuel pump equipped on these vehicles as the Bosch-supplied CP4. On December 16, 2021, Bosch filed recall 21E-101, stating the pump failure was a consequence of a manufacturer application-specific fuel system design. NHTSA subsequently identified recall 21V-586 involving loss of motive power due to failed CP4 fuel pumps on certain BMW vehicles. As a result of having received multiple recalls related to a common component, from two separate vehicle manufacturers, NHTSA’s focus shifted to determine if the related defect allegation was limited in scope to the recalled population. In early 2022, information request letters were sent to FCA and BMW to determine the root cause and consequentially identify the proper scope of potentially defective vehicles. After ODI received their information request response, FCA filed recalls 22V-406, 22E-048, 22V-767, and 22E-087. During review of information request response materials, NHTSA determined that sufficient information to identify a comprehensive recall population could not be produced by FCA or BMW. On March 17, 2023, this Preliminary Evaluation was upgraded to an Engineering Analysis (EA23-001), expanding the scope to include the Tier-one supplier and any manufacturer who equipped or installed similar