NHTSA Complaint #10205340 — 2005 SPARTAN K2

THERE HAVE BEEN TWO SPARTAN K2 RECALLS ON STEERING RELATED ISSUES ON 2005 UNITS.05V283000 AND 07V300000 THESE ARE DEFECTS IN STEERING LINKAGE AND SPACERS THAT CAN CAUSE STEERING FAILURE. I AM TOLD BY SPARTAN THAT MY K2 IS NOT AFFECTED BY THE RECALLS. HOWEVER, MY UNIT HAS HAD A STEERING DEFECT SINCE DAY ONE. WHEN MAKING TURNS THERE IS OFTEN A LOUD BANG SOUNDS LIKE A BALL JOINT IS BAD. THEY FIRST TOLD ME IT WAS THE TIE ROD U BOLTS ON UPSIDE DOWN. CORRECTING DID NOT STOP THE LOUD BANG. THEY THEN TOLD ME IT WAS THE IFS AND THEY REPLACED A BELL CRANK ASSEMBLY IN IT. THE NOISE CONTINUED AND HAS BECOME MORE PRONOUNCED AND OCCURS MORE OFTEN AND IN LESS TURNING RADIUS. THEY HAVE TOLD ME THEY DO NOT KNOW WHAT THE CAUSE IS BUT THEY ARE SURE IT IS 100% SAFE SINCE IT HAS NOT YET CAUSED A CRASH OR INJURY TO ME OR OTHERS. THEY REFUSE TO MAKE ANY EFFORT TO DETERMINE THE CAUSE OF THE SOUND. I BELIEVE IT IS UNSAFE AND I AM AFRAID TO DRIVE IT. I BELIEVE THERE IS METAL FATIGUE OCCURRING WITH EACH LOUD POP AND THAT EVENTUALLY THE STEERING WILL FAIL AND CONTROL OF A ALMOST 50,000 LB COACH WILL BE LOST. YOU CAN EXPERIENCE A DEMO OF THIS DEFECT BY GOING TO THIS LINK TO A VIDEO POSTED ON GOOGLE. HTTP://VIDEO.GOOGLE.COM/VIDEOPLAY?DOCID=-8114109860308362131&HL=EN. *TR