The Latest News About Bosch Brakes

[DriVer]

First of all although we have all seen this new resource, Workhorse does want to make all of you completely aware of the "Brake Recall Resource Center" . Everything that Workhorse has about the brakes will be posted here and updated when newer information becomes available.

From what has been seen here and all over the Internet Bosch has been getting calls from RV owners about their brakes and that is what is giving them the sense that what's going on deserves more than a casual look. In regard to Azzi he doesn't even work in the RV Group so you might as well talk to the guy that's working on the loading dock, you might get a better answer. Workhorse has a single point of contact at Bosch and they are working this case with them directly on a one on one basis and they have made significant progress in regard toward resolving the issues with their calipers.

Many RV'ers have an opinion that Workhorse has been complacent about this issue perhaps as far back and when folks began having troubles with their brakes. Well don't just hang that sign on Workhorse because Bosch was in the same boat. They even denied that there was anything wrong with their brakes. Now when the component manufacturer is adamant about accepting any responsibility it put everyone downstream into a defensive mode I would expect. The fact that the calipers began failing at an alarming rate brought this to the attention of NHTSA by owners which resulted in an investigation.

Workhorse and more importantly Navistar executives are pushing hard on Bosch to turn the corner on moving this process forward. If you look at the Interim Repair Procedure, any brakes that present in the manner shown in the pictures are being replaced at no cost to the owner and this has been ongoing. Workhorse has also stated that absent the evidence, that brakes only exhibiting wear and tear characteristics are not subject to reimbursement or resolution under the terms of the Interim Repair Procedure. That said all the brake calipers and collaterally damaged components are going to be replaced.

What is moving this effort from the top down with all weight that can be brought to bear is that replacing the current brakes is waste of money and effort since all of those Interim Brakes are going to be ultimately replaced and thrown away. So regardless if an individual owner bought the calipers or if Workhorse supplied the replacement caliper they will all have to be replaced.

Now here's some good News .... "The Fix Is In!" The engineering changes that have been brought to bear on the newly designed caliper are 3 fold.

• The new caliper bore has been enlarged by only ten thousandths of an inch however those machining changes have been made.
• The caliper piston as been resized to accommodate the change in the caliper bore again the changes are into the ten thousandths of an inch of dimension.
• The pistons themselves have been reformulated and are being produced using a different Phenolic compound. The primary benefit of the new piston is that it has been made to have significantly higher resistance to absorbing moisture.

The newly designed calipers have been extensively tested using laboratory procedures that cycle the materials on an accelerated schedule. Over 200 samples were tested. Bosch has stated that that the fix has been verified.

One thing that had not been mentioned here in all of this is that Bosch is going to retool wide scale and begin distribution of these new calipers ... to all their customers, not just RV applications or Workhorse. Bosch had to get these new specs out to all their customers so they could all test and sign off on the new permanent fix. That is ongoing I believe however this phase seems to be coming to closure.

Workhorse is still expecting to want 1/2 of all the needed calipers on hand in order to begin the recall so that is progressing. The best information as of 1:08pm today is that it is expected that a late-summer launch date is being pushed for quite hard by Workhorse.

[dezertcamper]

More new news. So when will what you posted on here be posted officially on the Workhorse Brake Recall Resource Center web page? Because it is not that I don't believe you were given this info from Workhorse, but I think it will hold more weight once it is posted on there official web page. As you stated all newer news will be updated on the Brake Resource page as it becomes available.

I would think the info regarding Bosch's 3 engineering changes to the 66mm caliper would be needed news, and same with the news of Bosch doing a wide scale re-tooling of the 66mm caliper for all its customers. And then the late summer launch date to start recalling RV's would be pretty important news to post.

[bill dean1]

Hi:

After reading Driver comments I tend to agree with desertcamper, the information is great since I have a W22 but it is not from Workhorse. Maybe he should relay back to them that there is a need to have source of information be Workhorse directly.

Thanks

[Spoonman]

HOPEFULLY, this is the beginning of the end of this.

[DriVer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dezertcamper Because it is not that I don't believe you were given this info from Workhorse.

I didn't have anything better to do today, so I made it all up. Perhaps you have better News that would be more appropriate to print? I'm listening ...

[Photog]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DriVer In regard to Azzi he doesn't even work in the RV Group so you might as well talk to the guy that's working on the loading dock, you might get a better answer.

Azzi's claim was that Bosch hadn't started to retool. I guess you didn't like his statement so you put him down, but, based on what you said above it would appear that his claim was accurate.

I will be waiting with baited breath to hear that retooling and production have finally started. Hopefully that info along with a date certain as to the availability of new calipers will be along soon.

Thanks for the update.

[DriVer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Photog Azzi's claim was that Bosch hadn't started to retool..

According to Azzi, By telling us that Bosch has not tooled up leaves most people to believe that Bosch had not done anything where that is not accurate at all. Bosch has accomplished a fair amount of work on this issue and most of it is in the background off the radar screen. Slow as that may be .... The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream shall never die.

[EngineerMike]

DriVer- do you write speeches for presidential campaigns?
Glory, Glory, Hallelujah...

[dezertcamper]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DriVer I didn't have anything better to do today, so I made it all up. Perhaps you have better News that would be more appropriate to print? I'm listening ...

Like I said its not that I dont believe you (I do!) But I think what you are saying will hold more weight with Workhorse chassis owners if this new info regarding what the Bosch engineers are changing to the 66mm caliper. And what Workhorse is proposing for a release date, when and if it gets posted on the Workhorse Brake Recall Center page. Because as we all know this Mr. Azzi's guy who is from Bosch has stated a completely different story then what you are telling. Both stories are posted on website forums and not on any official websites.

So for the average reader, who are they suppose to believe? A supposed Director of Product Warranty with Bosch or a a Workhorse Ambassador on a RV forum? I have no reason to think you just made this up. But for the 98% of the WH owners who do not visit this site and dont know who Driver the WH ambassador is, why would they believe what you are posting vs what they might have read on another forum by a Bosch employee?

If Bosch posted on there website backing up Mr.Azzi's statement I would believe it over you. Same with Workhorse. If they posted on their official Brake Recall page what you are stating then it would snuff out any question regarding what Mr. Azzi was claiming.

I thank you for the update, but you have to understand that even WH would consider this news unofficial until they formally announce it on there site or in a letter.

[Captain Bud]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DriVer According to Azzi, By telling us that Bosch has not tooled up leaves most people to believe that Bosch had not done anything where that is not accurate at all. Bosch has accomplished a fair amount of work on this issue and most of it is in the background off the radar screen. Slow as that may be .... The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream shall never die.

Maybe the last sentence should be painted on all RVs with a workhorse chassis. C'mon Mike this is not answering our concerns, I want to know when I can be assured that my brakes are in first class condition and I don't have to worry about a problem. Please knock off the rah-rah and get some information out to the thousands of WH owners. When, How, and Where is this going to be resolved? If these answers are not available then someone is dodging the issues....

[max49]

" Slow as that may be .... The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream shall never die. " Driver, that was awesome, these words will probably be repeated and plagerized for many generations.


Why do they have to have 1/2 of all needed new calipers before they start shipping them. Isn't that about a 100,000 calipers? 25,000 MH owners getting in line at the same time? More punishment?
Gee whiz just send the svc sntrs that want them about a hundred each. That's 25 MHs each that could have optimistic owners posting on here about their care free adventures and how happy they are with the new brakes.

[TrekPR]

Thanks Driver

[edgray]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dezertcamper Like I said its not that I dont believe you (I do!)......... Because as we all know this Mr. Azzi's guy who is from Bosch has stated a completely different story then what you are telling. Both stories are posted on website forums and not on any official websites. So for the average reader, who are they suppose to believe? ....... why would they believe what you are posting vs what they might have read on another forum by a Bosch employee?

This is a classic example of how these things take on a life of their own out here in cyberspace. Please allow me to explain:

The post "on another forum" was NOT made by Mr. Azzi. It was simply a post by "somebody" (hiding behind a screen name), who posted what he claims he was told by Mr. Azzi.

Now, others have already posted here that there really is a Mr. Azzi and that he is employed by Bosch, so that should debunk my original contention that for all we KNOW the whole thing could be a hoax. In addition, others have also posted that they talked to Mr. Azzi (subsequent to the original post) and that he told them that in fact Bosch and Workhorse ARE working together. Two different statements "reportedly" from the same man. My point is that all of this is "he said-she said" and NOTHING has been posted by Mr. Azzi nor Bosch.

What we do have is the "official" word from Workhorse in their new "resource center" and the many documents listed in the "library".

I absolutely agree this new info, as posted by Mike, will be more meaningful if it becomes part of the resource center. What DriVer has posted above is not there (yet) and I'll bet the official version of what he has posted won't be in exactly the words he used when (or if) it ever gets there. But I do know this: Mike has "sources" that provide information, and he has no reason, nor anything to gain, by posting info which isn't true. If that info is later proved to be incorrect, I believe he will post a correction or retraction.

Just remember Mike, "No good deed goes unpunished!" Ed

[dezertcamper]

Quote:

Originally Posted by edgray I absolutely agree this new info, as posted by Mike, will be more meaningful if it becomes part of the resource center. What DriVer has posted above is not there (yet) and I'll bet the official version of what he has posted won't be in exactly the words he used when (or if) it ever gets there.

That's all I was saying in my first post. The info Driver posted about the 3 engineering design changes, the fact that Bosch is re-tooling all the 66mm calipers, and not only the RV ones. And that it looks like WH expects a late summer start on distributing the calipers to dealers is good info. We just need to see it on the WH website for it to be considered official.

Because we all know if I or anyone else repeats this info to other WH customers or post it on other sites, and then we later find out this was not accurate info. People will start by saying WH is going back on there word and blowing smoke. Sort of like 99% of us have felt over the last year or so.