Decmber 17, 2004

Tadano Ltd. has filed a recall of auxiliary steering system for its ROUGH TERRAIN CRANES on December 10th 2004 to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MLIT) in Japan.

The following Rough Terrain Cranes models are designed and delivered for Japanese Domestic Market, and overseas delivery of these cranes is not more than 100 units.

Part of Malfunction;
Steering device (Auxiliary steering system)

State of Malfunction;
This is an auxiliary steering system developed to help secure work efficiency in the job sites with the operator's seat turned in the rear direction of crane carrier, which is prohibited to use when traveling on public roads. Because of insufficient performance of the system concerned to deal with any possible misoperation, at times of the crane traveling on roads with operation switch (=reverse steering switch) of the system let activated, the crane, if steered, may turn in the opposite direction of the operator's steering direction should the boom rear-position detection switch be at fail for some reasons or other.

Measure for betterment;
To prevent any misoperation of the auxiliary steering system, we have made modifications to the system circuit so that operation of the system concerned can be automatically disabled when traveling with the reverse steering switch left activated to keep the crane from falling into a reverse steering state even in case of the occurrence of a system failure of the boom rear-position detection switch, and further that an alarm buzzer can sound to warn the operator of the reverse steering switch being left to the ON position. The system of all the applicable models will be replaced with new one.
In view of the time required for technical verification and parts supply in this relation, first we take the following measures and the new system will be provided as soon as possible (in early January 2005) after completion of the technical verification. To prevent misoperation of the system, we make the instructions for use known to every user and revise the operation manual accordingly.

Applicable model and serial number are as follows;

Type	MODEL NAME	CHASSIS MODEL, SERIAL NUMBER, PRODUCTION PERIOD	NUMBER OF VEHICLE
TR80	TR-80M	TR80-0001 to TR80-1425 31 MAY 1991 - 10 FEB 1995	1,425
TR100	TR-100M	TR100-0001 to TR100-1461 30 MAY 1994 - 04 JUNE 1998	1,461
TR161	TR-160M-2	TR161-0001 to TR161-0252 28 DEC 1988 - 29 JAN 1997	252
TR201	TR-200M-3	TR201-0200 to TR201-0743 27 DEC 1983 - 30 JAN 1989	544
TR202	TR-200M-4	TR202-0001 to TR202-0747 09 JAN 1989 - 21 NOV 1997	747
TR251	TR-250M-3	TR251-0200 to TR251-0918 30 APR 1983 - 16 SEP 1986	719
TR252	TR-250M-4	TR252-0200 to TR252-2620 23 JUNE 1987 - 26 APR 1991	2,420
TR253	TR-250M-5	TR253-0001 to TR253-3079 05 JUNE 1990 - 06 FEB 1998	3,079
TR255	TR-250M-6	TR255-0001 to TR255-1175 28 JULY 1995 - 22 MAY 1998	1,175
TR300	TR-350M-1	TR300-0200 to TR300-0883 26 MAR 1987 - 02 SEP 1992	683
TR351	TR-350M-2	TR351-0001 to TR351-0314 03 MAR 1992 - 02 FEB 1996	314
TR352	TR-350M-3	TR352-0001 to TR352-0160 30 AUG 1996 - 21 APR 1998	160
TR400	TR-400M	TR400-565001 to TR400-565033 19 JUNE 1984 - 28 AUG 1985	32
TR401	TR-400M	TR401-0200 to TR401-0343 15 MAY 1985 - 14 JUNE 1989	144
TR550	TR-500M-1	TR550-0001 to TR550-1447 23 AUG 1989 - 21 FEB 1995	1,447
TR551	TR-500M-2	TR551-0001 to TR551-0676 26 JUL 1994 - 01 APR 1998	676
Total			15,278

Regarding approximately 100 units of rough terrain cranes with the same auxiliary steering systems sold to the overseas market (This system is an optional item for export models), and used rough terrain cranes brought out of Japan to the overseas market, Tadano Ltd. will choose the best way in consideration of each market regulation and condition.

For your information, NO Tadano TRUCK CRANE models are equipped with auxiliary steering systems (this feature is not available even as an optional item).

If you have any questions, please free to contact to us.

International division
Tadano Ltd.
Sumida-ku, Tokyo
mail: tdnihq@tadano.co.jp