NHTSA Preliminary Evaluation PE14002

On January 30th 2014 the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened PE14-002 based on Vehicle Owner's Questionnaire (VOQ) No. 10554304 alleging that the front wheel completely separated on a model year 2008 American LaFrance Eagle aerial-ladder fire truck.During this investigation, ODI sent American LaFrance an Information Request (IR) letter seeking further information.After sending the IR, ODI learned that under direction from its owner Patriarch Partners LLC, American LaFrance had ceased operation and closed its manufacturing facilities.Subsequent communications with Patriarch Partners revealed that the records necessary to respond to ODI's IR could not be obtained.As a result of this information not being available, ODI was not able to conduct a complete investigation or locate the owners of existing vehicles.In an effort to notify owners of the vehicles about the potential safety issue, ODI released a consumer alert.This alert was distributed to the Emergency Responder community via the firstresponder.gov web site.Copies of both the alert and website where it was published can be found in the public file for this investigation.Information will continue to be collected from any operators who contact ODI who will be advised of the risks and how best to prevent future failures.Due to the inability to locate production, owner, and failure or warranty data, ODI is closing this Preliminary Evaluation.A safety-related defect trend has not been identified at this time and further use of agency resources does not appear to be warranted.The closing of this investigation does not constitute a finding by NHTSA that no safety-related defect exists. The agency reserves the right to take further action if additional data becomes available.