The original Call to action was a huge success!
It took a lot longer than I would have hoped, but today the recall campaign has become an official recall.
This entire experience should serve as a template on how the RV Community can work together to bring change. We have a huge voice, that once organized in a consistent manner, can bring major change to the industry.
More Details:
Newmar RSB# 556
NHTSA #20V 509
Affected Models:
2018 Essex, New Aire on Freightliner Chassis
2019 Ventana, Dutch Star, New Aire, Mountain Aire, London Aire, Essex on Freightliner Chasssis
December 3, 2018 I started a call to action for owners of the Freightliner digital dash to contact the NHTSA to issue a recall of this dangerous dash. This was after my many attempts to get Newmar and Freightliner to take action on their own.
Today I was contacted today from the NHTSA.
The rep I spoke with said that there is a clear pattern, with a total of 3 reports of this issue. He is going to take it to the next level by contacting Newmar to get a response from Newmar. I asked if Freightliner would be more appropriate, but he said this had to go thru Newmar, since they are the finished vehicle builder.
He said that if more complaints are registered, it will be routed to him.
If you have a 2018/2019 Freightliner with a digital dash that will not dim safely at night, please fill out the complaint. This took over a year to get to this point, but they are finally doing something about it!
https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/VehicleComplaint/
I have finally submitted the required NHTSA complaint regarding the digital dash in our 2019 Dutch Star.
The issue I am filing is in regards to the brightness while driving. Freightliner needs to offer the ability to dim the dash even further than it is now, and to change the background to a night friendly color scheme (aka: Dark Mode).
I do not know if this issue exists on Spartan digital dashes.
I encourage anyone else that has this problem to file the complaint on the NHTSA website
https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/VehicleComplaint/
In addition, you should send an email to Newmar and Freightliner documenting your case. It is my hope that we can work together as a community to bring an important change to this very dangerous display.
I have tried the 2 stop film cover, and this does help. A spare jacket or blanket helps too. Neither of these options are acceptable.
Freightliner Email: fcccservice@daimler.com
Once you have submitted your complaint to NHTSA, you will receive a issue number for tracking purposes. If we can get several of these in this week, it will trigger a faster investigation process.
For the purpose of the report, I used my last drive at night to document. It happens every time, but the report is going to ask for a single incident.
A fun place to find helpful information for your Newmar Motorhome