- Vehicles
- 669
- Built between
- Feb 1999 – Dec 2000
- Models
- 4
- Recall type
- Vehicle
- Initiated by
- NHTSA investigation
- Owners notified
- 27 April 2001
- Repaired
- Not reported
- Unrepaired
- Not reported
Does this affect my vehicle?
This recall covers vehicles built between February 1999 and December 2000. If yours was built outside that window, it is not part of this recall.
- 1998-2000 Neoplan AN116Built February 1999 to December 2000
- 1998-2000 Neoplan AN440Built February 1999 to December 2000
- 1998-2000 Neoplan AN440LBuilt February 1999 to December 2000
- 1999-2000 Neoplan AN460Built February 1999 to December 2000
What the defect is
Vehicle description: transit buses equipped with vanner 60 series battery equalizers. The equalizer could fail to operate properly and cause malfunction of the battery charging system.
What could happen
Without fusing, the equalizer may melt, burn, or smoke, possibly resulting in a fire or a smoke filled bus, thus necessitating a passenger evacuation of the bus. The failure mode can cause operator distraction, and/or possible personal injury.
What gets fixed
DEALERS WILL INSPECT THE BUSES FOR CERTAIN EQUALIZERS BY THE DATE CODE. THE AFFECTED EQUALIZERS WILL BE REPLACED BY VANNER.
Timeline
- Vehicles builtFebruary 1999 to December 2000
- Recall reported to NHTSA1 August 2001
- Owners notified27 April 2001
Your rights
A safety recall repair is free. Under US federal law the manufacturer must fix a safety defect at no cost to you — no charge for parts, labor or diagnosis — whether or not you are the original owner. A dealer cannot charge you for recall work, and cannot require you to have bought the vehicle from them.
That entitlement is not unlimited. It applies where the vehicle was first sold less than 15 years before the recall was announced — 5 years for tires. Past that a manufacturer may still do the repair free of charge, and many do, but they are no longer obliged to. This recall was reported on 1 August 2001.
To arrange the repair, contact any franchised dealer for the brand. If a dealer refuses the work or tries to charge for it, you can report that to NHTSA at nhtsa.gov/recalls or on 1-888-327-4236.
Manufacturer contact
Owners who take their vehicles to an authorized dealer on an agreed upon service date and do not receive the free remedy within a reasonable time should contact vanner at 1-800-227-6937 or neoplan at 1-719-336-3256.
Official source
- Recalling manufacturer
- NEOPLAN USA CORP.
- Recall initiated by
- ODI
Everything on this page — the models listed, the build dates and the repair figures — comes from the manufacturer's filing to NHTSA and describes the vehicle line as a whole, not any individual car. Only the manufacturer can confirm whether a specific vehicle is affected, and whether its recall work has already been carried out. Check yours by VIN and read the official notice at nhtsa.gov/recalls.
Additional notes
Also contact the national highway traffic safety administration's auto safety hotline at 1-888-DASH-2-DOT (1-888-327-4236).
Check your own vehicle
This page describes the recall, not any one car. To see which recalls cover a specific vehicle, search by make, model and year.
A VIN lookup here identifies your vehicle and shows recalls issued for that make, model and year. It cannot tell you what is still open on your individual car - only the manufacturer knows that. Search by VIN instead, or check your VIN at nhtsa.gov for whether a recall is still open on your individual car.