LTSA orders urgent safety inspection of Mitsubishi Fuso trucks and buses

The Land Transport Safety Authority is today notifying registered owners of 843 used imported Mitsubishi Fuso trucks and buses that their vehicles require urgent safety inspections.

The action follows a recall in Japan relating to a design flaw in the wheel hubs of vehicles manufactured by Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation.

[The flaw may cause hubs and wheels to detach from vehicles. The fault is known to have led to an accident in Japan in 2002 resulting in one fatality and two injuries.

Despite originally treating the incidents as due to poor servicing, Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation has now concluded that the hub’s design was at fault and earlier this year issued a formal recall on more than 110,000 vehicles with the affected hubs in Japan.

Director of Land Transport Safety David Wright said that in the LTSA’s view, this was a serious public safety issue.

“The fact that these defective hubs are on more than 800 registered heavy vehicles in New Zealand, including 70 school buses, makes us extremely concerned.

“As such, we are advising owners not to operate these vehicles until they have had them inspected by an independent heavy motor vehicle service provider,” Mr Wright said.

Fuso recall two of three

Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation has provided a safety bulletin outlining the procedure required for the inspection. Any vehicles which fail the inspection will have their Certificate of Fitness (CoF) revoked and cannot be driven until the faulty hubs have been replaced.

The issue affects used Mitsubishi Fuso trucks and buses imported into New Zealand independently (i.e. not by Mitsubishi Motors New Zealand) between 1983-1998. Most can be identified through a chassis number containing any of the following combinations:

Trucks: FN4, FP4, FR4, FS4, FT4, FW4, FU4, and K3, or KS3 (Fuso Kato mobile cranes).

Buses: MM1, MM5, MP2, MP5, MP6, or MU5.

Owners of these vehicles should:

Cease operating the vehicle immediately

Take it to an independent workshop (a workshop not associated with the vehicle owner) to be inspected according to the procedure supplied by Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation (a copy of this will be sent out with notification but can be viewed at www.ltsa.govt.nz/vehicle-safety/alerts).

If the vehicle is within the wear limits established by Mitsubishi the vehicles is safe to drive subject to the inspection procedure being repeated every six months until the new hubs become available. A ‘record of vehicle inspection’ form must be signed by the person who is in control of the workshop undertaking the inspection and returned by the owner to the LTSA by 2 July 2004.

If the vehicle is found to be unsafe, the workshop is being asked to notify the LTSA immediately.

Any vehicles which have not been inspected and confirmation sent to LTSA by 2 July 2004 will have their Certificate of Fitness revoked and will not legally be allowed to be driven on road.

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