2026 Freightliner Cascadia Problems

On May 24, 2026, while driving home from the Ocotillo Wells OHV Recreation Area toward San Diego, California, a drive of roughly 90 miles, a dashboard warning reading "Stability Controls Not Working" illuminated on [XXX] near Warner Springs in San Diego County. The vehicle is a 2026 Freightliner Cascadia chassis carrying a Renegade Classic 43CMD Super C motorhome body. The vehicle was approximately six weeks old with about 3,100 miles. I stopped the vehicle and attempted to clear the fault by cycling the chassis power; the warning did not clear. I completed the drive home with a passenger aboard, aware that the stability control system was reporting itself inoperative. On XXX I delivered the vehicle to Velocity Truck Centers, an authorized Freightliner service center in San Diego, California, recorded at 3,189 miles under service invoice XXX and warranty claim XXX. The technician recorded the cause as "ABS ECU SHORTED." His written correction states that he verified the ESC light was on, ran end-of-line code 1810/2 which did not clear the fault, confirmed the ESC module was mounted level and tight, unplugged the connector and drag tested all four pins and found them good, and concluded that the ESC module was shorted out. He removed the old module and installed a new one, which required calibration on a road test; the unit passed the road test. The replacement part is listed as ECU-ESC6, part number 446 065 095 0. An internally shorted electronic stability control module on a six-week-old vehicle with roughly 3,100 miles, on a motorhome of this size and weight carrying occupants at highway speed, is a safety concern. I am filing this complaint so the failure is documented for safety-trend and potential recall analysis. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

On August 1st, I was travelling on I-44 (a toll road with an 80 mph speed) near Claremont Oklahoma. I was doing 68 mph when a red warning message came up on my dash. It read...KINGPIN RELEASE ACTIVATED. STOP IMMEDIATELY! KINGPIN RELEASED WITHOUT REQUEST. I did not touch my brakes. I gently moved to the the shoulder and coasted to a stop...so as not to put any pressure on the kingpin or fifth-wheel and hoping the weight of the trailer would hold it in place til I could stop. I checked under my truck and the lock was perfectly across the jaws. It did NOT turn loose, thankfully. Our road breakdown dept and Tulsa Freightliner could not say what the problem was. Freightliner replaced the kingpin release button on the dash and hoped that was the fix. The service manager told me if it happened again, they would have to keep the truck at least a week and Dahmler would be opening a file on the problem. I know that means they don't know what happened.

On May 24, 2026, while driving home from the Ocotillo Wells OHV Recreation Area toward San Diego, California, a drive of roughly 90 miles, a dashboard warning reading "Stability Controls Not Working" illuminated on [XXX] near Warner Springs in San Diego County. The vehicle is a 2026 Freightliner Cascadia chassis carrying a Renegade Classic 43CMD Super C motorhome body. The vehicle was approximately six weeks old with about 3,100 miles. I stopped the vehicle and attempted to clear the fault by cycling the chassis power; the warning did not clear. I completed the drive home with a passenger aboard, aware that the stability control system was reporting itself inoperative. On XXX I delivered the vehicle to Velocity Truck Centers, an authorized Freightliner service center in San Diego, California, recorded at 3,189 miles under service invoice XXX and warranty claim XXX. The technician recorded the cause as "ABS ECU SHORTED." His written correction states that he verified the ESC light was on, ran end-of-line code 1810/2 which did not clear the fault, confirmed the ESC module was mounted level and tight, unplugged the connector and drag tested all four pins and found them good, and concluded that the ESC module was shorted out. He removed the old module and installed a new one, which required calibration on a road test; the unit passed the road test. The replacement part is listed as ECU-ESC6, part number 446 065 095 0. An internally shorted electronic stability control module on a six-week-old vehicle with roughly 3,100 miles, on a motorhome of this size and weight carrying occupants at highway speed, is a safety concern. I am filing this complaint so the failure is documented for safety-trend and potential recall analysis. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

The contact owns a 2026 Freightliner Cascadia equipped with Goodyear Tires, Tire Line: Endurance LHS, Tire Size: 11R22.5, DOT Number: (N/A). The contact owns a fleet service and stated that within the last 50 days, 18 similar tires had sustained sidewall splitting. The contact stated that the failures were exclusively on the inner dually positions on the vehicles. The cause of the failures was not yet determined. The dealer was notified of the failure. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The tire failure mileage was unknown. The VIN was not available.