- Vehicles
- 22
- Built between
- Sep 1999 – Jun 2000
- Models
- 1
- Recall type
- Vehicle
- Initiated by
- NHTSA investigation
- Owners notified
- Not yet
- Repaired
- Not reported
- Unrepaired
- Not reported
Does this affect my vehicle?
This recall covers vehicles built between September 1999 and June 2000. If yours was built outside that window, it is not part of this recall.
- 2000 Champion ContenderBuilt September 1999 to June 2000
What the defect is
On certain buses equipped with vapor bus connecting rods, when the connecting rod is subjected to certain load combinations and cumulative cycling, initiation and propagation of fatigue cracks are seen at the external thread roots. If the crack initiates and propagates through the cross section of the connecting rod, it may result in the bending or the connecting rod assembly and malfunction of the door actuation assembly.
What could happen
If the crack propagates through the entire cross section of the connecting rod, the connecting rod may break and the associated door panel may be able to move freely in an uncontrolled manner, leaving passengers inside the bus unprotected by the door panel and possibly enabling a protruding door panel to strike persons or objects outside the bus.
What gets fixed
VAPOR BUS IS CONDUCTING THIS RECALL (PLEASE SEE 05E-030). ALL BUSES INVOLVED IN THIS RECALL HAVE BEEN REPAIRED.
Timeline
- Vehicles builtSeptember 1999 to June 2000
- Recall reported to NHTSA27 September 2006
No owner-notification date has been published yet. Manufacturers normally write to registered owners within 60 days of reporting a recall.
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 27 September 2006.
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.
Official source
- Recalling manufacturer
- CHAMPION BUS, INC.
- 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
Customers may also contact the national highway traffic safety administration's vehicle safety hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (tty 1-800-424-9153), or go to http://www.safercar.gov.
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.