Spartan Gladiator, Spartan K2, Spartan K3, Spartan K4, Spartan Metrostar, Spartan Mm, model years 2011 to 2018. Filed by Spartan Motors USA and reported to NHTSA on 13 March 2017. 2,783 vehicles potentially affected.
What the notice says Spartan Motors USA (Spartan) is recalling certain 2011-2017 Gladiator, 2016-2017 MetroStar, 2012-2018 K2, 2011-2018 K3, 2017-2018 K4, and 2011-2017 MM vehicles. The ball joints on the independent front suspension (IFS) modules can loosen and separate, leading to a partial loss of steering.
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.
Spartan's own number for this recall: 17004. That is the number on the owner letter and on the dealer paperwork. 17V160 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 17V160 cover?
- Spartan Gladiator, Spartan K2, Spartan K3, Spartan K4, Spartan Metrostar, Spartan MM, model years 2011-2018.
- What is wrong with them?
- Spartan Motors USA (Spartan) is recalling certain 2011-2017 Gladiator, 2016-2017 MetroStar, 2012-2018 K2, 2011-2018 K3, 2017-2018 K4, and 2011-2017 MM vehicles. The ball joints on the independent front suspension (IFS) modules can loosen and separate, leading to a partial loss of steering.
- What can happen if it is not put right?
- A separated ball joint can cause a loss of steering control, increasing the risk of a crash.
- Is there a fix yet?
- Yes, and it is free. Spartan will notify owners, and dealers will remove, clean, apply thread locker, and reinstall the properly torqued ball joint, free of charge. The recall began on March 24, 2017. Owners may contact Spartan customer service at 1-800-543-4277. Spartan's number for this recall is 17004.
- What should I do now?
- Check your own vehicle by its VIN with NHTSA, which is the record to act on. Spartan calls this recall 17004, 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 separated ball joint can cause a loss of steering control, increasing the risk of a crash.”
affected
in the notice
caught
| Campaign | 17V160 |
|---|---|
| Filed by | Spartan Motors USA |
| System at fault | Suspension:Front:Control Arm |
| Reported to NHTSA | 13 March 2017 |
| Model years | 2011-2018 |
| Vehicles named | SPARTAN GLADIATOR, SPARTAN K2, SPARTAN K3, SPARTAN K4, SPARTAN METROSTAR, SPARTAN MM |
What the notice says today
The consequence
A separated ball joint can cause a loss of steering control, increasing the risk of a crash.
The remedy
Spartan will notify owners, and dealers will remove, clean, apply thread locker, and reinstall the properly torqued ball joint, free of charge. The recall began on March 24, 2017. Owners may contact Spartan customer service at 1-800-543-4277. Spartan's number for this recall is 17004.
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 732 notices in the record whose component field names suspension. Across that group the median wait before owners were written to was 33 days.
Last checked . No change has been recorded in the wording.
The models named here, across their whole recall history
- Spartan Gladiator recalls: 57 US campaigns
- Spartan K2 recalls: 35 US campaigns
- Spartan K3 recalls: 32 US campaigns
- Spartan K4 recalls: 11 US campaigns
- Spartan Metrostar recalls: 47 US campaigns
- Spartan MM recalls: 19 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 17V160, wording as read on 16 September 2026. https://carsmultiverse.com/recall/17v160/
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 Spartan notices we hold
- 25V910: 2021-2023, 2025 Spartan Fire Legend, 2007, 2015-2026 Star Series, and 2019-2020 UST Body emergency
- 25V584: 2023-2026 Gladiator, Metrostar, FC-94, KME Panther, and 2024-2025 Predator
- 24V799: 2024-2025 Metro Star, FC-94, 2025 Gladiator, and KME Panther
- 20V492: one 2018 Gladiator vehicle equipped with Code 3 7x9 Stop-Tail-Turn Reverse All-in-One LED stop, tail, turn, and reverse lights
- 20V216: 2020-2021 FLT Utilimaster Truck Body
- 20V138: 2019-2020 Fire Gladiator and MetroStar Emergency
- 20V065: 2019 Utilimaster Sprinter
- 19V674: 2004-2020 Emergency Response Gladiator and Spartan
All 97 Spartan 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 17V160 on 23 August 2026, they were:
- Defect summary
587fb726 - Consequence
6b606df0 - Remedy
d6da0182
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 17V160 · 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 Spartan Gladiator, 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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