NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation
Preliminary Evaluation PE15-013: Accelerator Pedal Fails to Return
- Closed
NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation opened Preliminary Evaluation PE15-013 on April 17, 2015 and closed it on December 4, 2015. NHTSA's investigations file lists the 2012–2013 International Prostar for it and links recall 15V-776 to it.
Updated daily from NHTSA's investigations file
Key facts
- NHTSA number
- PE15-013 (also written PE15013)
- 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 December 4, 2015
- Opened
- Closed
- Vehicle or equipment manufacturer
- Navistar, Inc.
- Components
- Fuel System, Other; Vehicle Speed Control — Accelerator Pedal; Vehicle Speed Control — Linkages
- Recall linked by NHTSA
- 15V-776: Accelerator Position Sensor may Cause High Idle, reported
- Vehicles and equipment
- 2012–2013 International Prostar
NHTSA's summary
As NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation wrote it for Preliminary Evaluation PE15-013.
The Office of Defects Investigations (ODI) opened Preliminary Evaluation (PE15-013) on 2012-2013 model year (MY) Navistar Prostar vehicles for throttle pedals failing to return to the idle position after being depressed.
EWR field reports supplied by Navistar describe the non-returning throttle pedals as preventing the engine brake from activating and elevated engine speed making it difficult to stop the vehicle.
ODI contacted complainants who alleged the accelerator pedal didn?t return to the idle position.
Some drivers indicated they were annoyed, while others stated that at idle they were able to keep the vehicle stopped but need to apply more pressure to the brake pedal.
Some consumers indicated that the engine speed was so high with a manual transmission that the engine-brake would not work, while other stated they were able to pull the accelerator pedal back from underneath with their foot and bring the engine speed back to normal.
In Navistar?s response to an ODI information request letter, they made ODI aware of 24 consumer complaints concerning non-returning pedals, mostly on manual transmission vehicles.
There were no crashes, property damage, injuries or fatalities reported.
Navistar identified 1,233 warranty clams related to all accelerator pedal issues, with 70.3% of these claims were on manual transmission vehicles.
Navistar informed ODI that they became aware of an unauthorized part change to the throttle control unit assembly (manufactured by Williams Controls) from April 2012 to March 2013.
This unauthorized change was corrected and all vehicles were being retrofitted with the new/original designed part.
The design of the subject vehicle throttle pedal is a solid-state rotary position sensor device, which transfers voltage based on shaft rotation in either direction from a reference angle.
Shaft rotation is obtained by the driver stepping on the accelerator pedal or allowing the pedal to return back to closed throttle (CT) position.
Navistar has described how the throttle does not return completely to the CT position due to stack up tolerance issues and backlash in the pinion/lever arm gear set.
The accelerator pedal sensor stator can move slightly on the mounting bracket if the accelerator pedal is pushed with extra force.
On two separate occasions an ODI investigator drove several of the subject vehicles.
The vehicles that had a high idle with automatic transmissions were reasonable to stop even at the elevated engine speeds.
Due to the architecture of an automatic transmission, the engine speeds never got high enough to demonstrate a safety related defect while being driven by the ODI investigator.
However, the manual transmission vehicles showed a propensity to increase engine speeds in excess of 2,300 RPM?s while the vehicle was at rest.
This condition occurs when the clutch is depressed the engine can rise to the elevated governed RPM, resulting in difficulty selecting gears while shifting.
In the condition of a loaded vehicle going down a long grade, the inability to down shift could cause difficulty in maintaining or reducing vehicle speed with just the service brakes.
Navistar recognizes the pedal issue as a safety related defect and is preforming Safety Recall 15V-776.
The recall will only address vehicles with the manual transmission.
ODI believes the manual transmission population exhibits a failure mechanism that represents a safety defect and the automatic supplied transmissions vehicles are drivable without similar consequence.
The remedy involves recalibration of the engine Electronic Control Module (ECM) to eliminate the high idle condition caused by pedal housing tooling chan
Vehicles and equipment listed for this investigation
NHTSA's investigations file lists these vehicles and equipment for Preliminary Evaluation PE15-013. 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.
International
All International recallsWhat 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 PE15-013
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.