Truck & Industry News

[Robinicus]

Thought you may find this interesting…I have some pretty strong opinions on some of their proposals but it is based on inside info I can’t share so I’ll just let you decide how legit you think driverless convoyed 80,000 lb loads feel on the highway…

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/locom ... -challenge

[Robinicus]

We talked about this one at the TMC meetings last week....just a tad bit embarrassing for Freightliner.....

https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls?nhtsaId=21V689

Code: Select all

September 2, 2021 NHTSA CAMPAIGN NUMBER: 21V689000
Drag Link May Separate
Drag link separation can cause a complete loss of steering control, increasing the risk of a crash.

NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V689000

Manufacturer Daimler Trucks North America, LLC

Components STEERING

Potential Number of Units Affected 105,183

Summary

Daimler Trucks North America, LLC (DTNA) is recalling certain 2019 Freightliner Classic Cascadia and 2019-2021 Freightliner Cascadia trucks. The drag link taper joint may not have been tightened sufficiently and could come loose, resulting in a complete separation of the drag link from the steering arm.

Remedy

DTNA will inspect the drag link taper joint and repair it as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed on October 31, 2021. Owners may contact DTNA's customer service at 1-800-547-0712. DTNA's number for this recall is FL-900.

Notes

Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), or go to www.nhtsa.gov.

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[pigbrother]

It’s just the steering, not a big deal.

[Some newbie driver]

Now the next news to be found was one investigating how many accidents could be suspiciously caused by this flaw in recent times...

[EllieODaire]

Thought you may find this interesting…I have some pretty strong opinions on some of their proposals but it is based on inside info I can’t share so I’ll just let you decide how legit you think driverless convoyed 80,000 lb loads feel on the highway…

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/locom ... -challenge

There's one thing I have seen repeatedly in the 5 years I've been in this industry:

Darrel Wilson makes very good bets.

[howey]

The question I have always asked is why the US solution is to add more trucks on the road to accommodate the extra freight demand when their are other alternatives that can prevent it to begin it. I know their has been talks within the senate of some of the northern states of proposing bills to allow trials or provisionary pass laws that will increase gross weights within their state to help alleviate the pressure of demand in fact their was word that either North or South Dakota were looking at adopting our triple road train setup on trials on selected routes just they weren't as long and were grossed a little bit less because of there fear of going to far out of the BWF model. But considering you look at Canada and how popular B-trains and rigid/straight trucks with 4 or 5 axle trailer behind are goes to show how good they are in handling the extra demand from what I'm seeing.

I just see the point that the US in particular want to cut emissions and reduce operational cost but yet want to pump out thousands of more vehicles to handle the demand when they could be running TPD's more often or adapting the B-train trailers to take over the STAA setups would be way more beneficial as a overall result and why they continue to ignore it beats the shit out of me.

[Robinicus]

One of the big differences are the road building standards; in Canada, there are federal guidelines that are followed for roadbeds, in the US it is a state by state approach.

[Some newbie driver]

@howey, as seen from my side of the pond, the more irrational part of all that you comment is that if they want an need to haul a lot more cargo for long distances, they have a very good railroad cargo system as far as I know.

If it would be Europe I would understand it a lot more, the train freight in Europe is way less relevant than in the US (specially in countries like Spain); we had put all the money in roads and trucks for looooong time.

Always that I see big logistic operations done in trucks and talking them about cutting costs I'm sure that in their innards they are talking about abuse more the drivers; something they can't do with railway companies. Otherwise, it has no sense. Everything else they said, for me, is BS to hide this fact.

Regards

[flight50]

Big trucks indeed tear the roads up pretty good here in the US in general. So weight is a huge factor. Roads deteriorate even more in the North because of Winter treatment vs the South. We don't use salts or chemicals down here for the most part. At least in DFW we don't. They use sand trucks. Roads and road maintenance just varies all over. More trucks/drivers on the road is due to changing laws making it harder to be a trucker from my understanding. So that adds to the driver shortage. Per the bridge formula though, I don't see why more lcv's aren't allowed in more states. If the amount of axles distribute weight, why not. Heavy haul in pretty much every state is allowed. They have multiple axles........so why not standar cargo loads. B-trains, triples and RMD's should be more of a standard just like pup doubles. TPD however is a bit more challenging.

[supersobes]

Well, bigger trucks won't do as much damage to the road if it's done properly. In Michigan, they allow trucks to gross 164,000 pounds will 11 axles and maximum of 13,000 pounds per axle. 13,000 pounds is way less than the federal standards. This is because studies cited by the Michigan DOT show that heavier trucks with more axles and less weight per axle actually do less damage to the road than lighter trucks with fewer axles and more weight per axle. It also allows them to reduce the amount trucks on the road, further reducing wear and tear on the road.