NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation
Preliminary Evaluation PE11-001: RPM's surging during pump mode
- Closed
NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation opened Preliminary Evaluation PE11-001 on January 10, 2011 and closed it on July 20, 2011. NHTSA's investigations file lists the 2007 Pierce Custom Contender for it and links recall 12V-523 to it.
Updated daily from NHTSA's investigations file
Key facts
- NHTSA number
- PE11-001 (also written PE11001)
- Investigation type
- Preliminary Evaluation The first stage of most defect investigations: NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation gathers basic information about a possible safety defect, including from the manufacturer.
- Status
- Closed July 20, 2011
- Opened
- Closed
- Vehicle or equipment manufacturer
- Pierce Manufacturing
- Components
- Engine and Engine Cooling — Engine; Engine and Engine Cooling — Engine — Diesel
- Recall linked by NHTSA
- 12V-523: Engine Software may cause Water Pressure Surge, reported
- Vehicles and equipment
- 2007 Pierce Custom Contender
NHTSA's summary
As NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation wrote it for Preliminary Evaluation PE11-001.
On January 10, 2011 the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened Preliminary Evaluation (PE11-001) based on a product improvement program (PIP) (ODI TSB # 10036912) submitted by Caterpillar dated August 18, 2010. The PIP was for engine RPM's that could surge while in a water pumping mode on 2005 through 2009 Pierce fire trucks equipped with a Caterpillar C9 engine.
This engine surge could cause a fluctuation in water pressure that is being directed onto a fire through a hose.
The bulletin states that this condition in conjunction with other factors or circumstances could result in a risk of personal injury or death.
Caterpillar's product improvement program released information involving the installation of new engine software on the subject vehicles.
On April 11, 2011 ODI received Pierce's response to ODI's Information Request (IR) letter.
Based on the information received, an ODI investigator contacted several fleets and complainants regarding this defect phenomena and everyone contacted expressedconcern related to the inherent danger involved with pressure oscillations in a fire hose.
Several fire fighters stated that the frequency of failure even after Software fixes have been performed per the PIP are still happening.
In a supplemental IR letter dated May 27, 2011 Pierce identified a total population of 241 vehicles with the C9 engine from MY 2005 - 2008. Pierce also specified that they had 15 unique complaints coupled with 2 complaints from Caterpillar; totaling 17 consumer complaints.
These consumer complaints were for MY 2006 through 2008 fire trucks.
Pierce had 2 warranty claims while Caterpillar had 19 warranty claims, totaling 21 warranty claims for this investigation.
ODI notes that the complaints applied to 5 vehicles and the warranty claims applied to 5 different vehicles (based on VIN).
There were multiple complaints or claims on one vehicle in some cases.
An ODI investigator spoke with a fire chief in Sherwood, AR who alleged a Caterpillar representative, on several occasions, came to his fire house to fix the problem of engine surge while in water pumping mode.
The Caterpillar technician installed several updates to modify the software which communicates with the engine and its fueling strategies (i.e. idle function).
Allegedly, after each attempt to fix the problem a fire fighter would alert the fire chief that the problem persisted in spite of constant updates.
The result of this malfunction puts fire fighters at risk. ODI is concerned that a fire hose that does nor function properly has safety ramifications to the user of the fire hose and others dependent on its performance.
This Preliminary Evaluation is being closed and upgraded to an Engineering Analysis (EA11-008).
Vehicles and equipment listed for this investigation
NHTSA's investigations file lists these vehicles and equipment for Preliminary Evaluation PE11-001. 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.
Pierce
Pierce Custom Contender
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 PE11-001
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.