Kme Arff, Kme Panther, Kme Panther Ii, Kme Predator, Kme Predator Ss, model years 2009 to 2013. Filed by Kovatch Mobile Equipment Corp. and reported to NHTSA on 9 May 2013. 695 vehicles potentially affected.
What the notice says Kovatch Mobile Equipment Corp. (Kovatch) is recalling certain model year 2009-2013 Predator, Predator SS, Panther; 2010-2011 ARFF; and model year 2010-2013 Panther II emergency vehicles. The grease fitting in the steering column shaft may get caught in the column cover. The grease fitting could tear the cover which …
Is your vehicle included? Check with your VIN at NHTSA, or ask a dealer. This page is an independent copy of the notice, kept so you can see what changed after it was published. It is not the authority, and the authority’s own text is the one to act on.
Kme's own number for this recall: 2013-E01. That is the number on the owner letter and on the dealer paperwork. 13V187 is the number NHTSA gave the same campaign, and the number this page is filed under. They are one recall, written two ways.
What owners ask about this recall
- Which vehicles does recall 13V187 cover?
- Kme Arff, Kme Panther, Kme Panther Ii, Kme Predator, Kme Predator SS, model years 2009-2013.
- What is wrong with them?
- Kovatch Mobile Equipment Corp. (Kovatch) is recalling certain model year 2009-2013 Predator, Predator SS, Panther; 2010-2011 ARFF; and model year 2010-2013 Panther II emergency vehicles. The grease fitting in the steering column shaft may get caught in the column cover.
- What can happen if it is not put right?
- A sudden loss of steering control may increase the risk of a crash.
- Is there a fix yet?
- Yes, and it is free. Kovatch will notify owners and dealers will remove the grease fitting, free of charge. The safety recall began on May 20, 2013. Owners may contact Kovatch at 1-570-669-5173. Kovatch's recall campaign number is 2013-E01.
- What should I do now?
- Check your own vehicle by its VIN with NHTSA, which is the record to act on. Kme calls this recall 2013-E01, which is the number on the owner letter and the dealer paperwork.
Answered from the register this site holds. NHTSA is the record to act on.
What the authority says can happen if this is not fixed: “A sudden loss of steering control may increase the risk of a crash.”
affected
in the notice
caught
| Campaign | 13V187 |
|---|---|
| Filed by | Kovatch Mobile Equipment Corp. |
| System at fault | Steering |
| Reported to NHTSA | 9 May 2013 |
| Model years | 2009-2013 |
| Vehicles named | KME ARFF, KME PANTHER, KME PANTHER II, KME PREDATOR, KME PREDATOR SS |
What the notice says today
The consequence
A sudden loss of steering control may increase the risk of a crash.
The remedy
Kovatch will notify owners and dealers will remove the grease fitting, free of charge. The safety recall began on May 20, 2013. Owners may contact Kovatch at 1-570-669-5173. Kovatch's recall campaign number is 2013-E01.
What it said before
This campaign is in the register but not yet in the dated wording archive, so we cannot yet say whether its text has moved. It enters the archive on the next pass.
This is one of 745 notices in the record whose component field names steering. Across that group the median wait before owners were written to was 39 days.
Last checked . No change has been recorded in the wording.
The models named here, across their whole recall history
- Kme Panther recalls: 9 US campaigns
- Kme Predator recalls: 20 US campaigns
- Kme Predator SS recalls: 11 US campaigns
How to cite this record
Quoting the wording on this page means quoting a version, so the date belongs in the citation:
CarsMultiverse, recall 13V187, wording as read on 17 September 2026. https://carsmultiverse.com/recall/13v187/
The cross-border matches used on this site are deposited as a citable dataset: doi:10.5281/zenodo.22087136. The recall wording itself is published by the national authority named above and is theirs, not ours.
The recall record and its wording are published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and are US Government public domain. The dated archive, the comparison and any before-and-after above are CarsMultiverse. How fresh every engine behind this page is, is public on the status page. To check a specific vehicle, use NHTSA’s own VIN lookup.
Other Kme notices we hold
- 14V455: model year 2013-2014 Predator and 2014 Panther fire fighting
- 13V137: model year 2012-2013 Predator, Predator SS, Panther, and model year 2011 Panther II emergency
All 3 Kme campaigns we hold · Every manufacturer in the record
The fingerprint of this notice
We take a SHA-256 of each of the three blocks of text the authority publishes and keep the first eight characters. As we last read campaign 13V187 on 23 August 2026, they were:
- Defect summary
4caa4d6a - Consequence
06b58c06 - Remedy
159ffd04
We first read this notice on 21 August 2026. It has not moved since. If it ever does, these characters will not match, and the change will be dated here.
The wording we hold for 13V187 · how the whole register is watched
This notice names one vehicle among several registers that have written about it. Every notice this site holds for the Kme Predator SS, in all seven, is kept on that vehicle's own page, with the newest in each.
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Owners of these cars
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