Smeal Aerial, model years 2008 to 2020. Filed by Smeal Holding, LLC and reported to NHTSA on 28 January 2021. 343 vehicles potentially affected.
What the notice says Smeal Holding, LLC (Smeal) is recalling certain 2009-2020 Aerial Fire Apparatus vehicles equipped with a positional waterway trolley. If the operator attempts to both extend the ladder, and shift from one mode to the other at the same time, the locking tabs can be broken off the locking arms.
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.
Smeal's own number for this recall: 21-02. That is the number on the owner letter and on the dealer paperwork. 21V029 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 21V029 cover?
- Smeal Aerial, model years 2008-2020.
- What is wrong with them?
- Smeal Holding, LLC (Smeal) is recalling certain 2009-2020 Aerial Fire Apparatus vehicles equipped with a positional waterway trolley. If the operator attempts to both extend the ladder, and shift from one mode to the other at the same time, the locking tabs can be broken off the locking arms.
- What can happen if it is not put right?
- A damaged positional waterway trolley can become disconnected from the ladder and drop to the ground, increasing the risk of injury or death.
- Is there a fix yet?
- Yes, and it is free. Smeal will notify owners, and dealers will adjust the proximity switches for those units equipped with a positional waterway mode shift timer interlock system, free of charge. The recall began on March 25, 2021. Owners may contact Smeal customer service at 1-800-867-6478.
- What should I do now?
- Check your own vehicle by its VIN with NHTSA, which is the record to act on. Smeal calls this recall 21-02, 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 damaged positional waterway trolley can become disconnected from the ladder and drop to the ground, increasing the risk of injury or death.”
affected
in the notice
caught
| Campaign | 21V029 |
|---|---|
| Filed by | Smeal Holding, LLC |
| System at fault | Equipment:Mechanical:Boom/Crane/Ladder |
| Reported to NHTSA | 28 January 2021 |
| Model years | 2008-2020 |
| Vehicles named | SMEAL AERIAL |
What the notice says today
The consequence
A damaged positional waterway trolley can become disconnected from the ladder and drop to the ground, increasing the risk of injury or death.
The remedy
Smeal will notify owners, and dealers will adjust the proximity switches for those units equipped with a positional waterway mode shift timer interlock system, free of charge. The recall began on March 25, 2021. Owners may contact Smeal customer service at 1-800-867-6478.
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 2,632 notices in the record whose component field names equipment. Across that group the median wait before owners were written to was 29 days.
Last checked . No change has been recorded in the wording.
The models named here, across their whole recall history
How to cite this record
Quoting the wording on this page means quoting a version, so the date belongs in the citation:
CarsMultiverse, recall 21V029, wording as read on 16 September 2026. https://carsmultiverse.com/recall/21v029/
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
- 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
- 16V887: model year 1997-2016 Rear Mount Aerial Platform 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 21V029 on 23 August 2026, they were:
- Defect summary
e6d4319d - Consequence
1d96e4f2 - Remedy
ebd25226
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 21V029 · 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, 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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