Altec Industries shipped 1,053 work trucks in 2026 without the backup camera that came with the chassis packages their owners had selected. The company filed the omission with NHTSA on Oct. 9, 2026 as campaign 26V666000. Altec estimates that every one of the trucks is affected, because the camera was never put back after it was taken out.
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The vehicles are aerial devices, digger derricks, service bodies and one crane, all built between March 2 and Aug. 3, 2026. By the filing’s count, 670 are aerial devices, 370 are digger derricks, 12 are service bodies and one is an AC Series crane. NHTSA files the defect under the component heading Back Over Prevention.
A camera removed during upfit and never reinstalled
Altec’s Part 573 defect report describes a process failure, not a broken part. During final-stage assembly, the company removed the manufacturer-installed backup cameras so it could fit its own components, and the trucks left the plant before anyone reinstalled them. The cameras were part of the chassis option packages the owners chose. On a truck affected by the omission, the dash monitor shows a message that the backup camera is not connected, so a driver or fleet inspector can confirm the problem from the cab in seconds.
NHTSA’s dataset entry records the defect as vehicles that may be built without a rearview camera, and gives the affected set as certain 2026 Service Body, Aerial Device, Digger Derrick and AC Series Crane trucks. The consequence it lists is reduced rear visibility, which increases the risk of a crash. Altec’s report says there have been no accidents, injuries or deaths connected to the issue, and that it identified no other warranty claims or field reports.
From an Aug. 3 discovery to an Oct. 9 filing
The chronology is short and entirely internal. On Aug. 3, 2026, Altec found trucks that had shipped without backup cameras and opened a root cause investigation. A potential field action investigation followed on Sept. 8. On Oct. 1 the company updated its production work instructions and audit processes to keep the omission from recurring, and on Oct. 2 it decided owner notification was necessary and planned a product notice. NHTSA received the report on Oct. 9.
Notably, the discovery date matches the last day of the build window. Whatever Altec found on Aug. 3, no truck covered by the recall was built after it, and the fix to the work instructions came nearly two months later.
The rear-visibility standard and a camera that was never there
NHTSA’s rear visibility rule, published in the Federal Register in April 2014, requires covered vehicles to show the driver, when in reverse, a zone 20 feet long and 10 feet wide directly behind the vehicle. It applies to cars, trucks, buses and multipurpose vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating of 10,000 pounds or less, and full compliance was required by May 1, 2018. In the rulemaking, NHTSA put the toll of back-over crashes at about 267 deaths and 15,000 injuries a year across all vehicle types. The material reviewed for this recall does not give the weight ratings of the Altec trucks, so it does not settle which of them fall inside that rule; the recall itself classes the defect as back-over prevention.
What the record does establish is the safety logic. NHTSA’s listing of the campaign files the defect under Back Over Prevention, and the consequence it records is the same one the rule was written to reduce: a driver reversing without a view of what is behind. The cameras were part of the options the buyers selected, which means each truck was ordered, priced and delivered as a vehicle with a camera, and then shipped without one.
The numbers show where the omission sat. Aerial devices, the bucket trucks that lift crews to power lines, make up 670 of the 1,053; digger derricks, the trucks that set utility poles, account for another 370. The twelve service bodies and the single AC Series crane are a rounding error by comparison, and Altec’s estimate that all 1,053 are affected means the recall is a complete census of the March-to-August production run rather than a sample drawn from it.
A free camera kit, delivered by mail
The remedy is built around the owner. Altec tells owners to inspect the truck for the missing camera; if it is not installed, they can receive a camera kit free of charge and install it themselves, or schedule a free repair at an Altec Service Center. Altec has no dealer network, so notification goes by letter only, and the letters are planned for Dec. 4, 2026 as a phased recall. Altec customer service is at 1-877-462-5832. The schedule puts the letters about eight weeks after the Oct. 9 filing and four months after the Aug. 3 discovery, so a fleet that wants the camera sooner has to inspect its own trucks, which the monitor message makes simple, and contact Altec customer service directly. The company’s updated work instructions and audit processes, in place since Oct. 1, apply to trucks built from that point on; the 1,053 already delivered depend entirely on the owner-side fix. NHTSA’s recall page for the campaign is the place to look up the record.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
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