NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation
Equipment Query EQ10-004: Remy Alternator Fires
- Closed
NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation opened Equipment Query EQ10-004 on April 27, 2010 and closed it on September 27, 2010. NHTSA's investigations file lists the Remy Alternator for it and links recall 10E-036 to it.
Updated daily from NHTSA's investigations file
Key facts
- NHTSA number
- EQ10-004 (also written EQ10004)
- Investigation type
- Equipment Query An administrative investigation that reviews recall reports to confirm that the equipment suppliers and vehicle manufacturers involved in an equipment recall have filed the recall reports required of them.
- Status
- Closed September 27, 2010
- Opened
- Closed
- Vehicle or equipment manufacturer
- REMY POWER PRODUCTS, LLP
- Component
- Electrical System — Alternator/Generator/Regulator
- Recall linked by NHTSA
- 10E-036 (NHTSA record)
- Vehicles and equipment
- Remy Alternator
NHTSA's summary
As NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation wrote it for Equipment Query EQ10-004.
On April 2, 2010, Remy Power Products, LLC (Remy) reported that certain alternators, produced between December 19, 2009, and February 22, 2010, contain an internal voltage regulator that can become damaged by transient voltage that may occur when the regulator and the alternator are built, tested, and installed. Should the regulator's circuit be damaged, thermal degradation of the circuit can occur, increasing the risk of a fire or heat damage even when the vehicle is off. NHTSA assigned recall number 10E-010 to this matter.
On April 14, 2010, the Recall Management Division (RMD) requested Remy provide its customer list of all recipients that purchased the defective alternators.
Remy responded with an e-mail that contained insufficient contact information for those recipient, and accordingly mailed Remy and information request (IR) letter for the complete information on April 28, 2010.
That same day, RMD mailedDaimler Trucks and Knopf Automotive, who were listed as recipients and for which RMD had additional contact information.
Daimler Trucks responded that all defective alternators they received had been returned to Remy.
RMD never received a response from Knopf Automotive.
Previous EQ mailings have revealed that Knopf is a distributor that would not have an obligation to notify NHTSA of a safety defect or contact a recall campaign.
RMD received a more detailed customer list from Remy on June 3, 2010, listing 90 purchasers and over 20,000 alternators.
RMD then issued IR letters to those companies that re-sold the equipment under another brand/trademark, mostly automotive retail chains.
On July 21, 2010, RMD mailed IR letters to Associate Jobbers Warehouse, AutoZone Parts, PASCO, General Parts, O'Reilly Automotive, and Bosch Canada.
Only General Parts chose to recall the alternators (10E-036) they sold under their trademark, Proven Value.
The others, Associate Jobbers Warehouse, AutoZone, and O'Reilly, responded that they supplied Remy with customer lists of purchasers.
Bosch Canada sold their inventory only in Canada.
PASCO responded that they do not actually re-label their purchased alternators.
Our regulatory authority does not extend to products sold abroad or to distributors.
Additionally, We do not believe our regulations are sufficiently decisive as to whether re-branders of equipment (other than tires) must take responsibility for a defective product they sell under that brand name, to include conducting a recall campaign.
Accordingly, we decline at this time to pursue further those re-branders.
This EQ is closed.
IR responses can be found in the EQ repository. A working spreadsheet of response summaries can be found on the next page.
Vehicles and equipment listed for this investigation
NHTSA's investigations file lists these vehicles and equipment for Equipment Query EQ10-004. A listed model year means only that an investigation names it; it says nothing about any particular vehicle. Model years with a try.vin recall page link to that page's NHTSA investigations section.
Remy
Remy Alternator
- model year not given
What an NHTSA investigation is
NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) looks into possible safety defects in vehicles and equipment, often after owner complaints. An investigation usually starts as a Preliminary Evaluation, or as a Recall Query when it concerns whether an existing recall covers the right vehicles or fixes the problem, and ODI can upgrade it to a more detailed Engineering Analysis. A Defect Petition asks NHTSA to open an investigation, and Audit and Equipment Queries are administrative investigations into whether companies complied with federal vehicle safety requirements, such as reporting, recall and certification rules.
An open investigation is not a finding that a safety defect exists, and NHTSA can close one without a recall.
To see whether a specific vehicle has an open recall, enter its VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls.
Free VIN check: decode a VIN to see its year, make and model.
Sources
NHTSA's investigation record for EQ10-004
Investigation details come from NHTSA's investigations file, which try.vin imports once a day. The investigation types are described from the U.S. Department of Transportation Inspector General's May 2023 report on NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation, NHTSA's petition rules (49 CFR Parts 552 and 557) and NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation procedures. How try.vin reads NHTSA investigations.