Freightliner Cascadia Complaints (2018)

11 consumer complaints on file.

#11718902February 18, 2026
SERVICE BRAKES, AIR, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE, VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
See attached document for complaint.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11645254February 27, 2025
TIRES
See attached document for complaint.
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11526068June 8, 2023
SERVICE BRAKES, VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
The Automatic Emergency Braking System has activated at least 3 different times while I was driving. At each occurrence there was nothing in the roadway or travel lane. The vehicle came to an abrupt stop twice and slammed the brakes on but then released them a moment later once. In each event a very near collision with other vehicles was almost caused. There are other drivers that use this truck that have reported similar events (5 or 6), but I cannot say for certain what the exact circumstances were in those events. This vehicle is available for inspection if requested. A dealer has not confirmed the problem, each time they report that the system in functioning correctly. The vehicle has not been inspected by any entity other than the dealer. No symptoms prior, only a red collision warning light in the gauge cluster and a warning beep at the immediate time of the event.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11519920May 1, 2023
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Unsure what system or component failed. Our driver was making a delivery on the morning of 4/29/23. He was parked at the consignee location, engine off, and reported hearing a loud pop sound from the tractor while he was offloading merchandise from the trailer. A fire started under the hood, he attempted to extinguish it with the fire extinguisher and failed. The tractor burned to the ground. If the driver had been in the cab when it started, he could've been killed in the fire. Per online articles I found, it seems there were recalls on this same tractor year/model where fires were involved, but this unit shows no open recalls. Wreckage is available for inspection. CHP came to the seen, but to my knowledge there has been no inspection performed by anyone in any official capacity yet. No warning lamps or messages, or symptoms reported in advance of incident, just the loud pop sound reported by the driver.
Crash:
No
Fire:
Yes
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11505821February 6, 2023
EXTERIOR LIGHTING:BRAKE LIGHTS
The contact owns a 2018 Freightliner Cascadia. The contact stated that while the vehicle was turned off, the brake lights remained illuminated. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11472396July 5, 2022
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
After experiencing numerous issues with Jost 5th wheels, specifically JSK36N model. The Wear ring bolts (NT0000005) are constantly getting loose making the Wear ring (SK 2105-19) move in the 5th wheel plate, what we consider unsafe. While working on hundreds of trucks we have noticed that this is this issue is very popular. The drivers have been complaining about the trailer king pin being loose in the 5th wheel, causing a hit/push on start/stop when driven in combination (truck + trailer). Because of not having the solid connection, the ‘’hits’’ are affecting the drivetrain (differentials and transmission) on the long run. Some on the drivers are panicking and not concentrated on the road, all because feeling unsafe due to the excessive 5th wheel free play. After the detailed inspection and understanding the problem, our technicians replaced hundreds of the Ring bolts, applied thread locker and torqued properly. Unfortunately the issue comes back again. The only way to get this issue resolved is to replace the whole 5th wheel assembly. This can get very pricy considering that the replacement of the 5th wheel costs thousands of dollars. It hardly hurts the bigger fleets. The situation described above was noticed mostly on 2017-2019 Freightliner Cascadia’s
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11434795September 28, 2021
EXTERIOR LIGHTING:BRAKE LIGHTS:SWITCH
Break lights stay on when truck is moving. It confuses drivers following the truck.other motorists would not know whether the truck is slowing down
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11366557October 26, 2020
ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC), ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
HAD SAME ISSUES ON 2018-2020 FREIGHTLINER CASCADIAS (7 DIFFERENT UNITS), CHASSIS HARNESS RUBBING AGAINST TRANSMISSION AND THE METAL BRACKET BY THE AIR COMPRESSOR. ACTIVE FAULT CODES FOR COOLANT LEVEL , TCS, TRANSMISSION ECU - DRIVERS NOT ABLE TO DRIVE ON AUTOMATIC MODE/ ONLY MANUAL MODE AVAILABLE. ONE TIME THE DRIVER WAS NOT EVEN ABLE TO START THE TRUCK IN THE MORNING, HAD TO GET THE UNIT TOWED TO THE DEALER AND HAVE THE HARNESS REPAIRED. ALL OF THE FAULTS PREVIOUSLY DESCRIBED COULD HAPPEN IN MOTION AND/OR WHEN VEHICLE WAS STATIONARY.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11366178October 24, 2020
EXTERIOR LIGHTING
THE BRAKE LIGHTS STAY ON CONTINUOUSLY, EVEN WHEN THE TRUCK IS SHUT DOWN
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11291975December 30, 2019
EXTERIOR LIGHTING
BRAKE LIGHTS REMAIN ON DUE TO A FAILING BRAKE PRESSURE SWITCH.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11140059October 12, 2018
AIR BAGS, SERVICE BRAKES, ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
SEMI WAS TRAVELING WESTBOUND ON INTERSTATE 80 WHEN IT ENTERED NORTH DITCH OF THE ROADWAY. SEMI ROLLED AT LEAST ONCE AFTER ENTERING DITCH. DRIVER WAS EJECTED FROM THE VEHICLE WHILE IT WAS ROLLING. IT CAME TO REST ON PASSENGER SIDE FACING WESTBOUND. DRIVER WAS PRONOUNCED DEAD AT HOSPITAL. AT THE SCENE OF THE ACCIDENT THE MECHANIC OF THE COMPANY MENTIONED THERE WAS A PROBLEM WITH THE BRAKES. THE AIR BAG DID NOT DEPLOY AND THE SEAT BELT ALARM CONTINUED TO SOUND EVEN WHEN THE BELT WAS CONNECTED. THIS HAPPENED ONLY SHORTLY AFTER DRIVER STARTED SHIFT. DRIVER DIED FROM BLUNT FORCE TRAUMA AND HAD NO MEDICAL ISSUES THAT WOULD HAVE IMPAIRED HIS DRIVING. THE TROOPER THAT COMPLETED THE ACCIDENT REPORT AND DID NOT ADVISE A TECHNICAL REPORT BECAUSE THE DRIVER AND HIS SEMI WERE ONLY EFFECTED BY THE INCIDENT. IT HAD BEEN A DRY MORNING WITH CLEAR VISIBILITY. THERE HAS BEEN RUMORS THE SEMI IN QUESTION HAD BEEN KNOWN FOR HAVING ISSUES WITH THE BRAKING SYSTEM AND WOULD HAVE BEEN GOING IN FOR DIAGNOSTIC THE FOLLOWING DAY WHEN DRIVER WAS TO TAKE A TWO WEEK VACATION. THE FAMILY SPOKE WITH THE COMPANIES ATTORNEY WHO AGREED TO PRESERVED THE SEMI UNTIL IT WAS FURTHER INVESTIGATION. THE SEMI IS CONTAINED ON THE COMPANIES PROPERTY AND HAS SIGNS OF TAMPER OR BEING DISASSEMBLED.
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
1

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