When the Same Part Keeps Failing, Maybe the Problem Isn’t the Part You’re Buying, It’s the Part Everyone’s Selling.

By Brett Delp

Every fleet maintenance manager knows the frustration. You replace a part, and it fails again in six months, and you’re back to square one. The truck goes down, work gets delayed, and you’re writing another check for the same component that just failed.

For fleets operating aging work trucks, this cycle has become increasingly common. Economic pressures and other factors have pushed many operations to extend vehicle service life rather than invest in new equipment. The result is an aging population of work trucks encountering failure patterns that existing aftermarket options simply cannot solve.

Spending the first years of my career as a diesel technician, I found myself wrenching on trucks and wondering why engineers designed certain parts the way they did. Later in my career, I saw problems from the supplier side. Now, at ACC Heavy Duty, I’m in a position to do something about it. That’s the premise behind ACC Fleet Solutions, a new program designed to help work truck fleets eliminate chronically failing components by engineering better replacement parts.

The Growing Problem of Aging Fleets

The economics are straightforward. New Class 8 work trucks can cost $150,000 or more, with medium-duty vehicles ranging from $50,000 to $100,000 depending on configuration. Even light-duty work trucks have become significantly more expensive. When capital is tight, fleets naturally extend the service life of existing equipment.

This creates a maintenance challenge that grows more acute each year. Parts that performed adequately when a truck is three years old may not hold up when that same truck is eight or 10 years old. Duty cycles that were within design parameters for newer vehicles push aging components past their limits.

Manufacturers concentrate their resources on future platforms and new technology. The parts failing repeatedly in a 2018 model year truck are not getting redesigned because the engineering team is focused on 2027 specifications. This is not criticism; it’s simply the reality of how product development resources are allocated.

Engineers evaluate a control sample as part of the company’s development process, which begins with analyzing failed components to identify design weaknesses before engineering improved replacements for fleet customers.

However, for the fleet maintenance manager dealing with recurring failures today, the practical reality of the situation offers little comfort.

Why Traditional Aftermarket Options Fall Short

The conventional aftermarket response to a failing part is to source original equipment (OE) replacement or an equivalent replacement. If the OE part fails, you buy an aftermarket version built to the same specifications. The problem is that “same specifications” often means “same design weaknesses.”

Consider any number of parts that fail prematurely under certain operating conditions. If every replacement option on the market replicates the original design, you’re simply delaying until the next failure. You’re not solving the problem; you’re prolonging it, along with your suffering.

Some suppliers offer upgraded or heavy-duty versions of common failure items, and these can be excellent solutions when they exist. However, what happens when no upgraded option is available? What happens when the failure pattern is specific to your operating environment, your duty cycle, or the application your trucks perform?

This is where fleets have historically hit a wall. Engineering a better part requires capabilities that most operations simply do not have: design engineers, testing equipment, manufacturing relationships, and quality control systems. Building those capabilities in-house is neither practical nor cost-effective for operations focused on their core business.

Engineering Solutions for Fleets

ACC Fleet Solutions takes a different approach. Rather than accepting that fleets must live with chronic failures, they partner with them to engineer better replacement parts.

The process works like this: a fleet identifies a component that fails repeatedly despite normal maintenance practices. They bring the problem to ACC, along with failed samples and information about operating conditions. The engineering team, which includes mechanical, electrical, and materials science specialists, analyzes the failures to identify root causes. They then design an improved replacement that addresses those specific weaknesses.

The development timeline typically runs six to 12 months, and sometimes longer, depending on component complexity. During that period, they work with the fleet to place test parts on vehicles operating in different conditions, collecting real-world data to validate the solution before full production.

Here’s what makes the model work economically: ACC absorbs the engineering costs. In exchange, they add the new part to their portfolio of aftermarket parts. The fleet gets a solution to their problem at no upfront engineering cost. ACC gets a product with documented performance data. Both parties benefit.

Not Just for Heavy-Duty Applications

The Fleet Solutions program is not limited to heavy-duty applications. Work trucks span the full range from Class 1 pickups to Class 8 vocational vehicles, and chronic failure problems exist across all weight classes.

A landscaping company running a fleet of Class 3 trucks may encounter the same frustration with a repeatedly failing component as a construction operation with Class 7 dump trucks. The engineering methodology applies regardless of vehicle size. What matters is whether a failure pattern exists that current market options cannot adequately address.

This is particularly relevant for readers whose fleets often include a mix of vehicle classes serving different operational needs. A single operation might run light-duty service trucks, medium-duty delivery vehicles, and heavy-duty equipment haulers. Maintenance challenges do not respect weight class boundaries.

Real-World Applications

To illustrate how this works in practice, consider two examples from pilot programs. A major national fleet had a chronic pump component failure. These were not random incidents but a consistent pattern across their operation. ACC collected failed units, analyzed them, and identified design characteristics that were contributing to premature failure under the specific conditions this fleet operated in. Their engineers developed an improved replacement that addressed those weaknesses. The solution is now entering production.

A separate project involved switches, a legacy component design that is over 40 years old. The fleet was experiencing failures related to thermal cycling that the original design simply was not built to handle. ACC engineered an updated version with improved reliability. Again, the solution came from understanding why the failures were occurring, not just accepting them as inevitable.

Neither of these projects required the fleet to invest capital in engineering services. They contributed knowledge about their operations and access to failed components. ACC contributed engineering capability and took the solution to market.

The Broader Industry Context

This model arrives at an opportune moment. Beyond the economic pressures driving extended vehicle life, the industry is watching legislative developments that could reshape how aftermarket parts are developed and distributed.

The Repair Act, currently before Congress with bipartisan support, would ensure that aftermarket suppliers and independent repairers have access to vehicle diagnostic data, calibration tools, and repair information. Recent testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee highlighted that independent aftermarket repairs are 36 percent less expensive than dealer alternatives and that the roughly 5,600 heavy-duty truck dealer franchises nationwide cannot be the sole option for maintaining commercial fleets.

As vehicles become more technologically complex, the ability to develop aftermarket solutions depends increasingly on access to vehicle systems data. Legislation like the Repair Act could expand opportunities for engineering-driven aftermarket solutions.

What This Means for Fleet Operations

For fleet managers evaluating whether ACC Fleet Solutions might address their challenges, the threshold question is simple: Do you have a part that fails repeatedly despite proper maintenance, and do current market options fail to solve the problem?

If the answer is yes, there may be an engineering solution. The part could be on a Class 2 service van or a Class 8 tractor. It could be an electrical component, a mechanical part, or something in between. What matters is whether a genuine failure pattern exists and whether addressing it would deliver meaningful operational value.

The trucks that keep your business running deserve parts that keep them running too.

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About the Author

Brett Delp is commercial fleet sales manager for ACC Heavy Duty, a division of Multi Parts Solutions. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from DeSales University and an associate degree in diesel technology from WyoTech. He is a graduate of the Technology & Maintenance Council’s Leaders of Tomorrow program (Class of 2022) and currently serves as second vice chair of that program.