Paccar recalled a series of Peterbilt and Kenworth trucks, affecting certain 2025 model year vehicles, because of a steering gear issue that can cause loss of control, according to a notice.
About 782 vehicles could have sector shaft gear teeth that can fracture because of an improper component manufacturing process, a recall report said.
The recall affects Peterbilt models 536, 548, 567 and 579 as well as model year 2025 Kenworth models T280, T380, T480, T680, T880 and W990.
“The steering gear sector shaft may have been improperly heat-treated,” the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s recall letter said.
Drivers may hear popping sounds when a tooth fractures, but there weren’t any reports of injuries or deaths due to the problem, the recall report said.
The problem came from a supplier’s heat treat oven. Component manufacturer R.H. Sheppard, based in Hanover, Pennsylvania, “explained that a lack of properly working controls on the heat treat oven allowed for some shafts in the batch to have lower than required hardness,” according to the report.
A repair and recertification in January 2024 has addressed the problem.
In another Paccar recall, a March letter noted potential issues with 116,000 vehicles due to a right-hand shifter stalk that could malfunction. That included the model year 2025 T680 and nine other trucks.
