Truck Problems

APWU Motor Vehicle Division officers are asking local officers to report problems with the 7- and 11-ton International and Freightliner trucks that the USPS purchased in 2004. Problems reported so far include failure to start in cold weather; rails and bumpers that are damaged while docking; door hinges that separate; leaks in cargo boxes; bent H brackets; and cracked frames.

A May 2, 2005, letter [PDF] to local and state MVS directors asked them to complete a survey [PDF] about their fleets.

According to the latest information received from the Postal Service, 1,816 cargo vans have been deployed, 326 cargo vans are still to be deployed, and 40 are still to be assembled.

Defects in the Leyman lift gates in both the International and Freightliner trucks were reported beginning in November 2004. A total of 240 trucks with Leyman rail-type lift gates were removed from service, and instructions were issued not to use the tuck-under lift gates on 416 other trucks. The problem trucks were identified and a procedure was established to repair them. However, there seems to be a problem identifying the unrepaired trucks, because the trucks produced after the defective valves were removed from production look exactly like unrepaired trucks. In addition, Leyman's record keeping has been shown on occasion to be inaccurate.