Investigations
REVERSE POLARITY ON BATTERY CABLE
NHTSA SQ SQ97002 - closed, opened 1997-01-09.
NHTSA investigation SQ97002 is a SQ opened on 1997-01-09 and currently closed. The subject is tracked inside the Office of Defects Investigation queue. Latest activity on this investigation was logged on 1997-01-11 - NHTSA updates that field whenever an Information Request goes out, a supplement is filed, or a status change is recorded in the public docket.
Investigators summarized the matter as follows: "EXCIDE HAS CONDUCT AN EXHAUSTIVE INTERNAL INVESTIGATION AND HAS INSPECTED OVER 150,000 SET OF CABLES. AS A RESULT OF THIS INVESTIGATION, A TOTAL OF 25 SETS OF CABLES HAVE BEEN FOUND IN ADDITION TO 5 SETS RETURNED AND A R..." Investigations are the early-warning layer of the federal auto-safety system, sitting upstream of formal recalls and defect orders. Whether this one closes without action or escalates into an Engineering Analysis, the full history stays in the ODI archive so researchers, litigators, and buyers can pull the paper trail at any time.
Investigation Summary
EXCIDE HAS CONDUCT AN EXHAUSTIVE INTERNAL INVESTIGATION AND HAS INSPECTED OVER 150,000 SET OF CABLES. AS A RESULT OF THIS INVESTIGATION, A TOTAL OF 25 SETS OF CABLES HAVE BEEN FOUND IN ADDITION TO 5 SETS RETURNED AND A REPORT OF A PROBLEM WITH 1 SET WHERE THE SPECIFIC NATURE OF THE PROBLEM IS UNKNOWN. ALL SETS WERE BUILT PRIOR TO NOVEMBER 1995. SINCE THAT TIME EXCIDE HAS IMPLEMENTED AUTOMATED CRIMPING, CURRENT POLARITY TESTING AND OPTICAL SCANNING. WITH OVER 1.2 MILLION CABLES SOLD EXCIDE IS AWARE OF ONLY TWO REPORTED INCIDENTS INVOLVING REVERSE POLARITY THE RESULTING FAILURE RATE IS .0000275. A SAFETY DEFET TREND HAS NOT BEEN IDENTIFIED AT THIS TIME AND FUTHER USE OF AGENCY RESOURCES DOES NOT APPEAR WARRANTED. THE CLOSING OF THIS INVESTIGATION DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A FINDING BY NHTSA THAT NO SAFETY-RELATED DEFECT EXITS. THE AGENCY RESERVES THE RIGHT TO TAKE FURTHER ACTION WHEN APPROPRIATE.
About This Investigation Type
Data from NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation. Cross-references: NHTSA recall campaign API and NHTSA FARS where fatality records overlap. PlainCars does not rate or recommend vehicles. about how PlainCars sources NHTSA data.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.