Custom Fire Spartan Gladiator, Custom Fire Spartan Metrostar, model years 2019 to 2021. Filed by Custom Fire Apparatus, Inc. and reported to NHTSA on 6 August 2021. 8 vehicles potentially affected.
What the notice says Custom Fire Apparatus, Inc. (Custom Fire) is recalling certain 2019-2021 Spartan Gladiator and Metrostar emergency vehicles. Pressure may build in the power steering pump and break the shaft seal, resulting in a loss of power steering assist.
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.
Custom Fire's own number for this recall: 21V-252. That is the number on the owner letter and on the dealer paperwork. 21V618 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 21V618 cover?
- Custom Fire Spartan Gladiator, Custom Fire Spartan Metrostar, model years 2019-2021.
- What is wrong with them?
- Custom Fire Apparatus, Inc. (Custom Fire) is recalling certain 2019-2021 Spartan Gladiator and Metrostar emergency vehicles. Pressure may build in the power steering pump and break the shaft seal, resulting in a loss of power steering assist.
- What can happen if it is not put right?
- A loss of power steering assist may increase the risk of a crash.
- Is there a fix yet?
- Yes, and it is free. Spartan will remove and replace the power steering pump, free of charge. The manufacturer has not yet provided a schedule for recall notification. Owners may contact Custom Fire's customer service at 1-715-294-2555.
- What should I do now?
- Check your own vehicle by its VIN with NHTSA, which is the record to act on. Custom Fire calls this recall 21V-252, 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 loss of power steering assist may increase the risk of a crash.”
affected
in the notice
caught
| Campaign | 21V618 |
|---|---|
| Filed by | Custom Fire Apparatus, Inc. |
| System at fault | Steering:Hydraulic Power Assist:Pump |
| Reported to NHTSA | 6 August 2021 |
| Model years | 2019-2021 |
| Vehicles named | CUSTOM FIRE SPARTAN GLADIATOR, CUSTOM FIRE SPARTAN METROSTAR |
What the notice says today
The consequence
A loss of power steering assist may increase the risk of a crash.
The remedy
Spartan will remove and replace the power steering pump, free of charge. The manufacturer has not yet provided a schedule for recall notification. Owners may contact Custom Fire's customer service at 1-715-294-2555.
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.
The models named here, across their whole recall history
- Custom Fire Spartan Gladiator recalls: 4 US campaigns
- Custom Fire Spartan Metrostar recalls: 4 US campaigns
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 Custom Fire notices we hold
- 23V747: 2021-2024 Spartan Gladiator, MetroStar, and FC-94 emergency
- 23V316: 2022-2024 Gladiator, Metro Star, FC-94
- 22V461: one 2018 Peterbilt 348 fire truck
- 22V316: 2021-2022 Spartan Gladiator, MetroStar, and MetroStar-RT emergency
- 21V630: 2017-2021 Spartan Gladiator, MetroStar, and MetroStarX emergency
- 21V620: 2017-2021 Peterbilt 348, Freightliner M2, Kenworth T370, and T880 emergency
- 20V111: one2017 In Side Mount Pumper vehicle equipped with a Smart Foam 6
All 8 Custom Fire 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 21V618 on 23 August 2026, they were:
- Defect summary
033669f5 - Consequence
10c759e4 - Remedy
6ff2f772
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 21V618 · 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 Custom Fire Spartan Gladiator, 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.