FreightlinerModel report

Freightliner Cascadia Problems by Model Year

NHTSA recorded 245 consumer complaints across the 17 model years of the Freightliner Cascadia (2008–2024) that have at least 5 complaints. 2019 has the most, with 29. Across all years, the part named most often is electrical system (52 mentions). Pick a model year below to see its parts, mileage, recalls and service bulletins.

All Cascadia model years

Years with fewer than 5 complaints are not listed. The score compares years of the same model, allowing for the era and for how long each year has collected complaints: 50 is a typical year, lower means fewer complaints. It is not adjusted for sales volume.

Year	Complaints	Median mi	Recalls	TSBs	Score (50 = typical)	Trend
2024	14	92,500	2	255	—	Too new
2023	12	—	7	266	—	Too new
2022	13	138,056	19	389	—	Not enough data
2021	16	270,584	21	509	—	Falling
2020	26	51,600	21	661	Not compared (fewer than 3 comparable model years)	Falling
2019	29	50,000	29	771	Not compared (fewer than 3 comparable model years)	Stable
2018	11	209,000	26	1,044	—	Not enough data
2017	9	220,000	20	1,143	—	Not enough data
2016	12	150,000	12	953	—	Not enough data
2015	16	55,000	18	837	—	Stable
2014	12	71,108	21	904	—	Not enough data
2013	7	149,500	19	880	—	Not enough data
2012	17	263,175	19	812	—	Falling
2011	12	111,300	23	736	—	Not enough data
2010	12	170,333	23	763	—	Not enough data
2009	19	250,633	24	596	—	Stable
2008	8	8,000	22	494	—	Not enough data

Parts named most often, all years

Counts add up complaint mentions across the listed years. A complaint can name several parts.

Electrical system52 19%
Forward collision avoidance50 18%
Brakes45 16%
Steering44 16%
Other or unknown23 8.4%
Vehicle speed control21 7.6%
Engine21 7.6%
Fuel system19 6.9%

Example complaints

One per model year, chosen for length and detail. Personal details are removed. They are consumer reports, not findings.

2020: “When my truck driving on the high way with 70 miles per hour. The clutch fan kick in - cruise control automatically cancel - gear in and out. Rpm rose up and down fast from idle to the current speed. It brought to dealer twice but they said my truck is running fine. There is no light come on. 1st time took to dealer at 54000 mile, 2nd at 63000. Now it is 70,000 miles.”

NHTSA complaint #11329834, filed 2020-06, 20 miles

2016: “I am a fire investigator with onondaga county fire investigation unit. Recently I had two fires with similar vehicles both were 2016 freightliners Cascadia 125 both were parked and not running at the time of the fire events. Both origin and cause investigations appeared to reveal a failure/malfunction at the what has been described to me as being the power distribution modular (pdm). Both resulted in the vehicles being destroyed by fire.”

NHTSA complaint #11390543, filed 2021-01, 313,882 miles

2011: “On 5-24-19, I was traveling west on hwy 56, 4 miles east of herington ks. Suddenly without notice, my engine shut off, I was left with a dead truck, traveling at 62 MPH, and my tanker was fully loaded, I could not hold the truck on the road, the right front tire caught the soft edge of the road, and I was pulled into the ditch, my semi rolled and I was pinned inside the cab, ems personal worked for over 90 minutes to free me from the wreckage. Im very lucky to be alive, recovery will take months. …”

NHTSA complaint #11218765, filed 2019-06, 172,600 miles

Other Freightliner models

Freightliner Freightliner
112 complaints Freightliner Columbia
86 complaints Freightliner Conventional
58 complaints Freightliner Century
36 complaints Freightliner Business Class M2
31 complaints Freightliner FS-65
29 complaints Freightliner FL-70
24 complaints Freightliner FLD120
18 complaints

All Freightliner models →

About this data. Data from NHTSA (ODI) complaints, recalls, TSBs and investigations, updated Oct 27, 2026. Complaints are unverified consumer reports and may be duplicated or inaccurate. Methodology