Larry Gilliam returned to Norfolk, Virginia, after a hauling race in Georgia on Monday to locate one of his trucks with a hole drilled in the passenger-side window. It occurred to him that a thief was looking to steal the radio of his 2015 Freightliner Cascadia.
Then he took a closer look. The board had been forced. The wiring protruded from an open gap where the truck’s powertrain module (CPC) was located.
Brute-force brain surgery left Gilliam’s truck motionless. This is one of many flights that affected the latest generation of Freightliner Cascadia 2014-2017 domestically and in Canada. Proprietary operators. Small trucking companies. A used SelecTrucks dealership in Iowa. An auction court in Pennsylvania. No one is exempt.
That’s a factor important enough for Daimler Truck North America to consider a press release Monday detailing the factor. The exchange of bad news has drawn attention to scams. The market-leading Class 8 truck manufacturer is committed to doing everything it can to help dealers and law enforcement take strong action.
But there’s not much I can do. Theft is a criminal reaction to the global shortage of semiconductors that force truck functions. The chips’ internal CPCs are so sought after that black market costs exceed $8,000 per part of DTNA’s $1,400 lists.
“I saw a fist-sized hole in the passenger window. . . It looked like it had been destroyed,” Gilliam told FreightWaves. My ELD pill was missing and the starter cables I had just bought were missing.
He didn’t even know the CPC existed in his Freightliner Cascadia.
“I think it was that they ripped off the board instead of the radio,” Gilliam said. “I knew there were those 4 shots, so I went online and [read] about stealing those things from the computer. “
The 2015 Freightliner Cascadia is the last of 4 trucks and 3 drivers that make up Lane Jockey Transport in Norfolk.
“This truck is like a clipboard,” Gilliam said. There is literally nothing I can do with it now. “
After filing a police report, he paid to have the truck towed to a rental area in a safe backyard in Chesapeake, Virginia.
Gilliam reports that so far he has not gone looking for a spare component.
“Every Freightliner Cascadia dealer I’ve called so far has told me they have around 50 orders for those things that have been out of stock since April 2021. Step to pass where they had one. Step to fly and get it. behind. Literally no one I called has it.
The few computers found online are suspicious because they can be stolen or counterfeited. They are also expensive.
Gilliam withdrew her own authority and introduced her business a year ago after driving for others since 2009. Now her business is in jeopardy. His 2007 Freightliner Columbia is in the shop awaiting more parts, leaving Gilliam with his 2013 Kenworth T660 and a 2011 Navistar International.
“I got a big blow because I only have two trucks left. Freightliner ’07 is evolving and I want parts for that. This 2015 Freightliner was my last and most productive truck. There are contracts that I’m going to have to cancel because I probably wouldn’t have the extra strength [units] to do it.
Volvo Trucks North America and Peterbilt said they were not experiencing thefts. Navistar said he had “nothing to share” on the issue. Kenworth did not respond to a request from FreightWaves.
The SelecTrucks of Omaha dealership in Council Bluffs, Iowa, across the Missouri River from Nebraska, 17 used robberies in Cascadia without CPC on May 8.
Truck Center Companies owns the store, one of 17 in 4 states. SelecTrucks is a brand of DTNA, which gives it priority in the purchase of the company.
“They’re rushing what they can and getting other suppliers to supply us with enough portions in a timely manner,” Rob Cygan, president of Truck Center Companies, told FreightWaves. “We had trucks waiting for weeks. We make it our most productive to take care of customers. “
A visitor planned to pick up one of the trucks on the day the CPC flights were discovered.
“Since I got here, we’ve had random things like [stolen] tires. Copper was a very elegant detail a few years ago. We have security at our dealerships, so something like this is a very rare event. “Cygan said.
The runner scam has circulated in Internet. Al except one Michigan brokerage organization alerted workers to take precautions.
The well-known CPC flight took up position at Hess Auctioneers in Marietta, Pennsylvania. Two dozen trucks waiting to pass on the line lost modules in one incident.
Hess Auctioneers has security and surveillance cameras on site, according to a report from WGAL-TV in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The company passed the video to the Susquehanna Regional Police.
“It would be pretty cheeky to take that off the board,” Bill Troop, general manager of Hess Auctioneers, told the TV station.
But the modules are easily accessible, according to a diesel technician in the Los Angeles area. He refused to use his name.
DTNA has moved the location of the CPC to the new Cascadia, which debuted as a 2020 model.
“It’s easy to access. It’s still on the board,” the coach said. “You remove an awning from the passenger side held through clips, unscrew the fuse box and look at your face. “
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