Community Forums

UMXHAULER · 09-10-2022, 10:31 AM

This is not good. I had the recall done-a reflash of the computer and have not had an outage since so I am crossing my fingers. I have also had the TPMS recall, and it still malfunctions all the time. These are both severe safety issues and FL needs to really be held accountable for recalls that don't really fix the issue. I am sensing class action law suits on the horizon since the ntsa doesn't seem to be doing their job!

tomato · 09-10-2022, 10:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UMXHAULER

This is not good. I had the recall done-a reflash of the computer and have not had an outage since so I am crossing my fingers. I have also had the TPMS recall, and it still malfunctions all the time. These are both severe safety issues and FL needs to really be held accountable for recalls that don't really fix the issue. I am sensing class action law suits on the horizon since the ntsa doesn't seem to be doing their job!

Definitely sucks. FL appointment isn't until 10/12, then I am sure it will be a wait for parts and the follow up appt.

Big question I have is whether or not all of the safety sensors and lockouts still function. I did not get the low air buzzer when I started it the other day, and I know the tanks were down. Obviously not safe to drive without those.

Winger2 · 09-10-2022, 11:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomato

Definitely sucks. FL appointment isn't until 10/12, then I am sure it will be a wait for parts and the follow up appt.

Big question I have is whether or not all of the safety sensors and lockouts still function. I did not get the low air buzzer when I started it the other day, and I know the tanks were down. Obviously not safe to drive without those.

I had all the buzzers and sounds. Its odd that you would have no buzzers and sounds as the only thing out is the dash, the gauges, buzzers and warnings still sound.
I did over 800 miles with no issue. Used GPS for speed and fuel guesstimate. I was also able to use every cruise control and such. Really not that difficult. And certainly no reason for a class action as someone posted.

tomato · 09-10-2022, 01:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Winger2

I had all the buzzers and sounds. Its odd that you would have no buzzers and sounds as the only thing out is the dash, the gauges, buzzers and warnings still sound.
I did over 800 miles with no issue. Used GPS for speed and fuel guesstimate. I was also able to use every cruise control and such. Really not that difficult. And certainly no reason for a class action as someone posted.

Was yours fixed with the recall / reflash, or did you need the Viper chassis module replaced? If the former, that could be the difference.

Winger2 · 09-10-2022, 02:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomato

Was yours fixed with the recall / reflash, or did you need the Viper chassis module replaced? If the former, that could be the difference.

I needed the module.

UMXHAULER · 09-10-2022, 02:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Winger2

I had all the buzzers and sounds. Its odd that you would have no buzzers and sounds as the only thing out is the dash, the gauges, buzzers and warnings still sound.
I did over 800 miles with no issue. Used GPS for speed and fuel guesstimate. I was also able to use every cruise control and such. Really not that difficult. And certainly no reason for a class action as someone posted.

Winger2, I don't like having to use the judicial system to achieve results. I wish that all manufacurers would step up to the plate and do the right thing. And when they do discover an issue and establish a recall to remedy, that recall should be effective. This forum is filled with first hand testimony from owners with all sorts of chassis issues on both FL and Spartan where the manufactures either did not admit there was a problem, or chose to just ignore it. But, when it comes to safety issues, that is where I personally draw the line and manufacturers should be held to account for it-I think the opti view dash recall and TPMS recall are both sufficient safety issues that warrant a rapid and effective response from the manufacturer to remedy, unfortunately the remedy/recall has not been effective by FL in either of these two cases. I am glad you drove over 800 miles without incident but what if there was one?

tomato · 09-10-2022, 03:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Winger2

I needed the module.

Interesting. My turn signals do not even click when activated (but they do work).

Winger2 · 09-11-2022, 03:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UMXHAULER

Winger2, I don't like having to use the judicial system to achieve results. I wish that all manufacurers would step up to the plate and do the right thing. And when they do discover an issue and establish a recall to remedy, that recall should be effective. This forum is filled with first hand testimony from owners with all sorts of chassis issues on both FL and Spartan where the manufactures either did not admit there was a problem, or chose to just ignore it. But, when it comes to safety issues, that is where I personally draw the line and manufacturers should be held to account for it-I think the opti view dash recall and TPMS recall are both sufficient safety issues that warrant a rapid and effective response from the manufacturer to remedy, unfortunately the remedy/recall has not been effective by FL in either of these two cases. I am glad you drove over 800 miles without incident but what if there was one?

What could have happened? A buzzer go off and I pull off the road? A skilled driver has the ability to drive without looking at the gauges or speedo. A lesser skilled can use a gps or a smart phone. The issue has happened limited times and FL has stepped up to the plate. Going local to a franchisee is suitable if you want to wait a month for a repair. I have the ability and driving sense to drive the Gaffney.
FL has done a recall on the pcm issue. Some are solved by that, some are not
You know why manufacturers prices and insurance prices are up? Because we are living in a society where some are ready to sue instead of working with the companies that are working with us.
Litigation is necessary in some cases, serious, live threatening cases, if there is no effort by a company to fix issues, but suing when a company is making a sincere effort and doing the the repairs, for the sake of suing hurts us all.

tomato · 09-11-2022, 03:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Winger2

What could have happened? A buzzer go off and I pull off the road? A skilled driver has the ability to drive without looking at the gauges or speedo. A lesser skilled can use a gps or a smart phone. The issue has happened limited times and FL has stepped up to the plate. Going local to a franchisee is suitable if you want to wait a month for a repair. I have the ability and driving sense to drive the Gaffney.
FL has done a recall on the pcm issue. Some are solved by that, some are not
You know why manufacturers prices and insurance prices are up? Because we are living in a society where some are ready to sue instead of working with the companies that are working with us.
Litigation is necessary in some cases, serious, live threatening cases, if there is no effort by a company to fix issues, but suing when a company is making a sincere effort and doing the the repairs, for the sake of suing hurts us all.

Not sure why the debate here. I read in the ,manual that it is the Optiview that provides the audible alarms for air pressure, parking brake and several other items. As I stated and confirmed again today, mine makes no sounds. Tested the parking brake in gear, no parking brake in neutral today - no sounds.

I have to assume there would be no warnings for high coolant temps, etc. No level of skill can get you through a mechanical situation (i.e. overheat, loss of air pressure) when you are unaware of its existence.

UMXHAULER · 09-11-2022, 07:13 PM

I will agree to disagree with you Winger2 on this one. The dash issue and TPMS are serious safely issues that need to be addressed asap and properly. I would say that they seem to have addressed it fairly quickly but not properly. This is unacceptable for a company like Mercedes. I am not sure if they would cover you under warranty for an engine replacement if it was damaged due to overheating or loss of oil pressure if you chose to drive it without functioning gauges and or notification devices-that may be on the owner. These are not small start up companies and "their" liability insurance rates could be much higher if any of these deficiencies actually result in accidents or death. I personally do not intend to file any litigation-I am just saying that they may be opening themselves up to potential litigation on issues such as these. Even asking owners to drive the rigs to service centers to fix the dash issue or tpms issue presents liability for them if it resulted in an accident that was caused by one of these malfunctioning systems. Just ask owners who went through the radiator bracket failures resulting in thousands of dollars in damage that FL did not fess up to for years. Or for that matter, all the def head issues we have all been dealing with for years. Suspension issues on Spartan etc. etc.

Goodro · 09-15-2022, 03:23 PM

Exact same thing happened to me. They changed some of the cat five cable and it worked for about five days and then it went blank again. It turns out that there was a defective viper module. Once this was changed out it’s worked perfectly sense. I’d check to see that the viper module is not the source of your problem. Any Freightliner facility should be able to fix this for you.
Good luck. Nothing worse than intermittent problems.

tomato · 09-27-2022, 07:39 PM

Hats off to Delta Truck Center! I called and kindly asked to get in sooner than 10/12. They accommodate, and I dropped off the coach on 9/21 for the dash issue, chassis service and rear PDM recall.

The Viper module was indeed toast. Fortunately, they now deal directly with the manufacturer versus Freightliner due to past experience/issues with programming and speed of parts delivery.

My coach is back home already/today!!! Very relieved, as I was worried it could have taken a lot longer for parts, etc.

Now we need to plan a trip.

GerardM · 10-05-2022, 08:37 AM

2021 Ventana 4037 here. At about 16K miles, my Optiview Dash went completely blank, while I was driving through New Mexico on the way home to California. I tried everything - even switched out the blue network cable going from the Viper module to the dash - to no avail. I learned about the odd shaped cover on top of the dash above the OptiView - it’s held on by Velcro and gives easy access to behind the dash wiring. So driving over 1,200 miles home with no dash, I used GPS as my speedometer, kept an eye on Blue Def by looking at the tank gauge, and just topped off the fuel everyday coming home. My FL dealer (TransWest) got me in the next week, and immediately knew what the problem was - they promptly replaced the Viper module at No Charge. I’ve driven about 7,000 miles since then with no hiccups - has worked perfectly.