Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
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JACK ROBERTS is Executive Editor of Commercial Carrier Journal. E-mail jroberts@ccjmagazine.com or call (205) 248-1358. the industry as a whole. As we all know today, those prognosticators were sorely disappointed. While the second Bush White House was one of the most business-friendly administrations in recent memory, it did nothing to alleviate or moderate EPA's emissions regulations. As I noted in this column last month, the industry now is faced with a whole slew of regulations coming its way in the next year or so. Even though the Republicans cur- rently hold the House of Representatives and could – in theory, anyway – propose legislation to alter or moderate these regulations in ways beneficial to the industry, don't hold your breath. That's because politicians of both parties understand one thing with unwavering clarity: Voters are afraid of trucks. I hate to sound a discouraging note, but we all know this. It doesn't matter about the effectiveness of a fleet's maintenance program, the strength of its safety record or how many mil- lions of safe miles a driver has under his belt; when a voter in a minivan merges onto a highway at 60 mph and finds a Class 8 tractor with a 53-foot trailer thundering alongside, it scares the hell of them. Unlike dealing with a chemical company or a Wall Street institution, this is an interaction and reaction that occurs among the driving public countless times a day. The bottom line? Trucking is an easy target – perhaps the easiest target in the country – for politicians to "protect the public" by throwing regulations at it. So I hope you're a voter. And I hope you vote your convictions in the mid- term elections later this year. But if you're in the trucking industry, don't expect much regulatory relief – no matter which party wins. CONSERVATIVE INDUSTRY: Republicans oppose regulations that constrain businesses like trucking. IT DOESN'T MATTER: Whoever's in charge, trucking won't catch a break on the regulatory front. PUBLIC OPINION: Voters deal with trucks every day, which keeps them fresh on their minds. COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | FEBRUARY 2014 17 WANT MORE EQUIPMENT NEWS? Scan the barcode to sign up for the CCJ Equipment Weekly e-mail newsletter or go to www.goo.gl/Ph9JK. Navistar, Paccar, Daimler issue recalls N avistar announced it is recalling nearly 3,000 model-year 2013-14 International ProStar sleeper cab trucks manu- factured Dec. 12, 2012, through Aug. 8, 2013, equipped with feature code 16XSA, 16XSB, 16XSC or 16XSD chassis skirts. The company said the rear chassis skirt upper horizontal support S-bracket may rub the fuel tank and create a hole in affected units. Navistar said it will notify owners and that dealers will re- install the chassis skirt with proper clearance at no charge; the fuel tank also will be replaced if needed. The recall – number 13517 – was set to begin Jan. 20. Paccar also issued a recall for 2014 model-year Kenworth T170, T270, T370, T440, T470, T660, T680, T700, T800, T880, C500 and W900 trucks built last year between July 1 and Sept. 17 due to a plastic housing defect in the rear lights that can cause the stop, tail and turn light bulbs to fall out and not work. Kenworth said it will notify truck owners and that deal- ers can replace the lamps with new ones for free. Daimler Trucks North America also issued a recall for 2013- 14 Freightliner Cascadia trucks built between Dec. 11, 2012, and Nov. 27, 2013. The trucks are equipped with a Meritor Wabco electronically controlled air suspension, for which the wiring harness could be reversed, possibly leading to incorrect adjustment of the suspension axle height. Daimler said it will notify truck owners and that dealers can inspect the wiring and correct if needed for free. – Jack Roberts and James Jaillet Cummins to halt development of 15-liter NG engine C ummins last month confirmed plans to put development of its 15-liter spark-ignited natural gas engine – the ISX 15 G – on hold "as a result of market timing uncertainty," said Christy House, On-Highway marketing commu- nications director. Cummins follows Westport – at least temporarily – out of the marketplace in building 15-liter natural gas engines. Westport bowed out in October 2013, halting orders for its 15-liter engine, and unveiled its next-generation technology in December, which largely will entail working directly with vertically integrated OEMs. Cummins' ISX 15 G was announced in mid-2012 and was expected to enter limited production later this year. However, fuel tank technology and public fueling infrastructure have been slower to develop, House said. – Jason Cannon