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"Smart" truck false critical events

Discussion in 'Freightliner Forum' started by Pirate_Freder, Jun 21, 2015.

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  1. Jun 21, 2015 #1
    Pirate_Freder

    Pirate_Freder Light Load Member

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    Apr 18, 2015
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    Hey everyone, I've lurked on the forum a bit and decided to post about this as I am quite frustrated, upset, and worried about losing my job. I started out driving for Halliburton doing fracking. I spent tons of time driving on terrible tight, bumpy, dangerous roads with lots of tight corners. I was primarily hauling frac pumps, blenders, dry gel blenders, LMS, and once pulled an non-baffled tank(isotainer) These are all extremely dangerous loads with the equipment being very top heavy and unbalanced but I never had any problems.

    I got laid off and got on with Swift for a dedicated local flatbed account. 45cpm plus $15 a stop and $35 hook-up(under 300mi). It's a pretty good gig an my boss is great so I'm happy for the time being. Here's the clincher....they put me in a new Freightliner Cascadia "smart" truck. It's an automated manual and can be extremely jerky. I've done some research and apparently they notorious for setting off false alarms on stability management. I've also heard similar stories from people who have driven them for Swift. In my case it has now given me 3 critical events for stability management but the system never even kicked in....one of them was even driving in a straight line. I read that these trucks are programmed to trigger a warning if the truck feel that you are going faster than it thinks you should be even if doesn't need to take any action(throttle cut-out or braking). I'm not sure if that's triggering it or if there is something wrong with the sensors and/or Qualcomm.

    I took the truck into the shop on Friday and gave the pre-qual guy a full page list of problems with the truck. He said it will most likely have to go to the dealer so I am waiting to see what happens. My concern is that the higher ups in safety are trying to say that it's clearly my fault and I may end up getting bumped from the account or fired. Hand on heart I haven't done anything dangerous. I also had zero problems driving my mentors normal Cascadia 8-speed with the same Qualcomm etc.

    Sorry for the long winded story, I simply wanted to give you all a bit of history in that I am a safe driver. I haven't had a ticket or an accident(4-wheeler or truck) in many years(minus bumping the rub rail on a pole in a very tight city turn with traffic being new to this 300" wheelbase truck). Has anyone had any experience with these Smart trucks or anything similar? Any advice on what to do in this situation? I'm worried that they may say that the truck is fine and try to pin it on me as the higher-ups have been extremely rude/disrespectful while I have been nothing short of cordial. Oh and Swift is aware of this being a problem with these trucks(claims department told me) but the higher ups aren't admitting to knowing of anything.

    Thanks in advance for any input.
     
    Pirate_Freder, Jun 21, 2015
    Pirate_Freder, Jun 21, 2015
    #1
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  3. Jun 21, 2015 #2
    hunted

    hunted Medium Load Member

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    May 15, 2014
    Somewhere between here or there
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    If what you say is true I would think that it has to be a sensor problem somewhere. But what you need to do is get out of swift and find something else
     
    hunted, Jun 21, 2015
    hunted, Jun 21, 2015
    #2
  4. Jun 21, 2015 #3
    Pirate_Freder

    Pirate_Freder Light Load Member

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    Apr 18, 2015
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    That's what a mechanic told me and being a mechanic myself makes sense to me. I believe it's also possible that the jerkiness of the transmission plus it's frequent incorrect shifts might be causing it. As I said though, it's apparently a common problem with these trucks and I'm concerned that the wrong mechanic looking at it might say that the truck is operating normally.

    Yeah I have been wondering that, I just figured that this dedicated deal was good even though it's for Swift. It's also no tarp, home every night, weekends off, and annual gross is around $62k. There's a crude oil hauling job open that claims similar pay but I'm hesitant to jump ship, especially with the volatility of the oil market and stability in hauling lumber(that's what I'm doing now) in a rapidly growing area. Otherwise it's been difficult finding similar pay. Swift has been nothing but BS and drama from day one though, except my only boss I deal with regularly(driver manager at the account) is fantastic.
     
    Pirate_Freder, Jun 21, 2015
    Pirate_Freder, Jun 21, 2015
    #3
  6. Jul 26, 2017 #5
    Natewhisman

    Natewhisman Bobtail Member

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    Jul 26, 2017
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    Found this thread interesting, and if anyone knows about the location of those stability sensors, and how theyre connected and what alarms theyd set off within the system for .... not being connected... id love to know about it. Im another driver with an 18 year history of no rollovers and i spent six of those years hauling fuel, mc306 class tankers are topheavy and so are end dump trailers and ive never rolled one over but this ridiculous system is a nuisance and it generates data on people that makes them appear to be a danger. I think it's one more means of covertly alienating the older generation of drivers from the industry.
     
    Natewhisman, Jul 26, 2017
    Natewhisman, Jul 26, 2017
    #5
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  7. Sep 30, 2017 #6
    Metalmike

    Metalmike Bobtail Member

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    Sep 30, 2017
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    Yep
     
    Metalmike, Sep 30, 2017
    Metalmike, Sep 30, 2017
    #6
  8. Sep 30, 2017 #7
    Metalmike

    Metalmike Bobtail Member

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    Sep 30, 2017
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    Yeah..they say even the wind can give you a critical event iam about to get fired from cr England for having 10 events
     
    Metalmike, Sep 30, 2017
    Metalmike, Sep 30, 2017
    #7
  9. Sep 30, 2017 #7
    QuietStorm

    QuietStorm Heavy Load Member

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    1,416
    Dec 11, 2016
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    A CMS system turns a rig into an instant death trap and all that critical event crap is just another way for them to make drivers look bad.

    I will tell you when I've had a critical event mother####er, you'll know cause I'll need a wrecker.
     
    QuietStorm, Sep 30, 2017
    QuietStorm, Sep 30, 2017
    #7
    Gearjammin' Penguin, Roberts450, Rackpass 85 and 1 other person Thank this.
  10. Oct 1, 2017 #8
    skellr

    skellr Road Train Member

    8,737
    12,187
    Jul 17, 2011
    The Village, Portmeirion
    0
    I think it's the Qualcomm spewing bad data into the data bus and messing up the system.

    My last truck was issued to me new and with the cruise set it would whip around corners at a good moderate speed. Probably about as fast as you'd want to pull a tall load of pvc pipe around a corner before starting to "push it". Not a peep from the stability control, didn't even derate the motor to slow down.

    Two weeks later it was derating the motor and slowing down for the most stupid things. Derating in corners every time there was a small bump in the road or small dips in the concrete. The ones you just just feel, nothing big at all.

    Truck started getting really gutless, engine break with the cruise on didn't work right when a vehicle moved over in front of you. Foot throttle wouldn't override the cruise right. Lots of odd quirky behavior.

    Unplug the Qualcomm and remove the backup battery and things started returning to normal...

    It will also run normal when they have a laptop hooked up to the diagnostic port. So when you take it into a shop they will never see the issues!
    Maybe there is a bad ground.

    People will tell you it isn't the QC because it only reads data and can't possibly be the problem... Like talking to a brick wall with these people. Nobody wants to spend time chasing down the problem because it isn't obvious what's wrong.
     
    skellr, Oct 1, 2017
    skellr, Oct 1, 2017
    #8
  11. Oct 3, 2017 #9
    RocketyMan

    RocketyMan Medium Load Member

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    Jun 5, 2015
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    I wouldn't blame a truck for a potentially faulty QUALCOMM. I hate them, personally. But at any rate, I think there's more information needed to get an idea of what's really going on with the controls and function of the vehicle.

    Does this unit have an AUTOVUE camera installed as well? What about OnGuard? Detroit Assurance?

    In addition, it's not really fair to bag on a vehicle with aftermarket, 3rd party, telematics crap that interferes with it's operation. Especially when fleet's tech's don't know how to hook up a telematics properly--they just LOVE using scotch-locks. They really have no business working on truck's electronics if they don't even know what they're doing. Knowing SWIFT, they most likely have some sort of "safety" system installed on the truck like LDW, ACC, RDF, MPC, etc. in addition to their telematics.

    Part of being a driver is knowing your terrain and all the equipment installed on your vehicle. Maybe you weren't given the full rundown from SWIFT.

    For instance, if you vehicle has an RDF installed, you can--and will, pick up false targets when driving around town or even in a straight line on the highway. The RDF functions by detecting "metal" objects "in front of it." And these "false" events can be caused by driving in a straight line but scaling a hill with a bridge just behind it. Or driving around a turn on the highway with a road sign off the side of the road.

    You're not a bad driver--but rather it's limitations on the CMS systems that inhibit your driving...JUST IN CASE there is a "safety event." It's a pain in the butt...I know. Because I get TONS of units coming in shops that have a complaint of "My brakes just LOCKED up OTR for no reason at all!" Then it comes to find out the "bull bar" on the front of the truck was loose causing the RDF to pick it up because it thinks there's a huge metal object about to hit your truck!

    I hope that helps...
     
    RocketyMan, Oct 3, 2017
    RocketyMan, Oct 3, 2017
    #9
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  12. Oct 3, 2017 #10
    RocketyMan

    RocketyMan Medium Load Member

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    Jun 5, 2015
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    ...just realized this thread OP was over a year old. haha
     
    RocketyMan, Oct 3, 2017
    RocketyMan, Oct 3, 2017
    #10
    QUALITYTRUCK Thanks this.
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