TSB's
Technical Article Contributor
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 6,509
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From: Georgia on my mind...
TSBs, or Technical Service Bulletins, are documents released at the dealer level intended for use by service technicians to address a complaint that engineering worked out and (hopefully) fixed. For instance, there's several TSBs floating around about vibration concerns on '04-'05 F150s. Ford Engineering took a bunch of affected trucks, drove them, tested them, figured out some things to try that may fix them, and published a bulletin for dealership personel to use. The repairs of said TSBs are free, assuming the vehicle is still under factory warranty. This is where TSBs and recalls get mixed up.
A recall is a program instigated either by the manufacturer or NHTSA to address a defect in a vehicle. If it's a safety related concern, more than likely NHTSA pushed for the manufacturer to investigate and launch the campaign. Recalls are no charge repairs as long as the recall campaign is open. In Ford speak, there's several different types of recall campaigns. S, or safety recalls, which are numbered like 05S18 or 04S20, have no expiration date. M, B, N recalls, numbered like 99M03, 00B03, or 00N19, are "service only if concern is present" recalls and/or customer satisfaction recalls. The dealership is supposed to inspect the vehicle, and if the concern in question is present, perform a repair per the recall directions. Some of these are also extended coverage recalls, like 00M03 (I think), which increases coverage of the tube mounted DPFE sensor on several Ford vehicles since it's a common failure item. There's E recalls, like 00E18 (all these numbers are examples; there's so many, I'm not sure whether these are actual recalls or not), which are emissions related recalls. These usually don't have expiration dates either.
So, to recap, a TSB is a service bulletin, intended for use by dealer technicians to attempt repairs of concerns that engineering was aware of. Procedures and parts used in these TSBs will typically be covered under warranty, as long as the repair is done within the factory warranty period.
A recall is a program launched by the manufacturer or the gummint to correct a safety concern or to provided extended coverages for certain items or for customer satisfaction purposes. Some recalls have expiration dates, some don't. Recalls are performed for free, as long as the recall is done before the campaign's expiration date (if any).
A recall is a program instigated either by the manufacturer or NHTSA to address a defect in a vehicle. If it's a safety related concern, more than likely NHTSA pushed for the manufacturer to investigate and launch the campaign. Recalls are no charge repairs as long as the recall campaign is open. In Ford speak, there's several different types of recall campaigns. S, or safety recalls, which are numbered like 05S18 or 04S20, have no expiration date. M, B, N recalls, numbered like 99M03, 00B03, or 00N19, are "service only if concern is present" recalls and/or customer satisfaction recalls. The dealership is supposed to inspect the vehicle, and if the concern in question is present, perform a repair per the recall directions. Some of these are also extended coverage recalls, like 00M03 (I think), which increases coverage of the tube mounted DPFE sensor on several Ford vehicles since it's a common failure item. There's E recalls, like 00E18 (all these numbers are examples; there's so many, I'm not sure whether these are actual recalls or not), which are emissions related recalls. These usually don't have expiration dates either.
So, to recap, a TSB is a service bulletin, intended for use by dealer technicians to attempt repairs of concerns that engineering was aware of. Procedures and parts used in these TSBs will typically be covered under warranty, as long as the repair is done within the factory warranty period.
A recall is a program launched by the manufacturer or the gummint to correct a safety concern or to provided extended coverages for certain items or for customer satisfaction purposes. Some recalls have expiration dates, some don't. Recalls are performed for free, as long as the recall is done before the campaign's expiration date (if any).