Smeal Aerial, Smeal Aerial Fire Apparatus, Smeal Pumper, model years 2015 to 2016. Filed by Smeal Fire Apparatus Co., Inc. and reported to NHTSA on 4 August 2016. 88 vehicles potentially affected.
What the notice says Smeal Fire Apparatus Co., Inc. (Smeal) is recalling certain model year 2015-2016 Smeal Aerial and Pumper fire trucks manufactured July 16, 2015, to August 1, 2016. The affected vehicles may be equipped with certain C20 and C21 split-shaft transmissions from Waterous. This transmission sends power to the wheels of an …
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.
What owners ask about this recall
- Which vehicles does recall 16V583 cover?
- Smeal Aerial, Smeal Aerial Fire Apparatus, Smeal Pumper, model years 2015-2016.
- What is wrong with them?
- Smeal Fire Apparatus Co., Inc. (Smeal) is recalling certain model year 2015-2016 Smeal Aerial and Pumper fire trucks manufactured July 16, 2015, to August 1, 2016. The affected vehicles may be equipped with certain C20 and C21 split-shaft transmissions from Waterous.
- What can happen if it is not put right?
- If the power output cannot be changed, once the fire truck arrives at the scene, it may not be able to pump water to aid in extinguishing the fire, increasing the risk of injury.
- Is there a fix yet?
- Yes, and it is free. Smeal will notify owners, and dealers will remove the shift unit assembly and replace the clevis pin and retaining rings, free of charge. The recall began on September 12, 2016. Owners may contact Smeal customer service at 1-877-415-8628.
- What should I do now?
- Check your own vehicle by its VIN with NHTSA, which is the record to act on.
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: “If the power output cannot be changed, once the fire truck arrives at the scene, it may not be able to pump water to aid in extinguishing the fire, increasing the risk of injury.”
affected
in the notice
caught
| Campaign | 16V583 |
|---|---|
| Filed by | Smeal Fire Apparatus Co., Inc. |
| System at fault | Power Train:Manual Transmission |
| Reported to NHTSA | 4 August 2016 |
| Model years | 2015-2016 |
| Vehicles named | SMEAL AERIAL, SMEAL AERIAL FIRE APPARATUS, SMEAL PUMPER |
What the notice says today
The consequence
If the power output cannot be changed, once the fire truck arrives at the scene, it may not be able to pump water to aid in extinguishing the fire, increasing the risk of injury.
The remedy
Smeal will notify owners, and dealers will remove the shift unit assembly and replace the clevis pin and retaining rings, free of charge. The recall began on September 12, 2016. Owners may contact Smeal customer service at 1-877-415-8628.
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 816 notices in the record whose component field names power train. Across that group the median wait before owners were written to was 42 days.
Last checked . No change has been recorded in the wording.
The models named here, across their whole recall history
- Smeal Aerial recalls: 9 US campaigns
- Smeal Aerial Fire Apparatus recalls: 5 US campaigns
- Smeal Pumper recalls: 4 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 16V583, wording as read on 16 September 2026. https://carsmultiverse.com/recall/16v583/
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 Smeal notices we hold
- 25V742: 2024-2025 Rear Mount Platform, Mid Mount Platform Aerial, and 2024, 2026 125' Aerial emergency response
- 21V810: one 2021 Pumper Fire Apparatus fire truck equipped with a Cummins generator set
- 21V029: 2009-2020 Aerial Fire Apparatus
- 21V005: 2020 Aerial and Pumper
- 19V337: 2017-2019 Aerial Fire Apparatus
- 17V721: 2013-2017 Aerial and Pumper Fire Apparatus
- 17V656: 2010-2017 Aerial Fire Apparatus
- 17V463: 2016-2017 Aerial Fire Apparatus emergency
All 11 Smeal 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 16V583 on 23 August 2026, they were:
- Defect summary
e0c5b605 - Consequence
5e6e6c19 - Remedy
b0882c53
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 16V583 · 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 Smeal Aerial Fire Apparatus, in all seven, is kept on that vehicle's own page, with the newest in each.
Put this notice on your site
A small badge that links here and names the register's reference. It costs one line of HTML and needs no key.
The badge is free to use. It links to this page and nowhere else, and it never shows advertising.
Owners of these cars
No register publishes what happens after the letter. Owners do: tell us, in two taps.
Anonymous: no account, no cookie, nothing you type is stored beyond these choices. Figures appear once 3 owners have answered, and are published with the record under CC BY 4.0.