Challenger Door Latches/Locks/Linkages: Latch

Challenger Door is recalling about 1,579 vehicles over a problem with the latches/locks/linkages. In the event of an emergency, the vehicle occupants may be unable to open the rear door, which would hinder egress of the bus, possibly resulting in injury to the vehicle occupants.

Campaign
11E043000
Manufacturer
CHALLENGER DOOR, LLC
Reported
14 October 2011
Vehicles
1,579
Built between
Not published
Models
1
Recall type
Equipment
Initiated by
NHTSA compliance test
Owners notified
10 October 2011
Repaired
Not reported
Unrepaired
Not reported

Does this affect my vehicle?

The manufacturer did not publish a build-date range for this recall, so the model and year list below is the only way to tell whether your vehicle is covered.

  • Challenger Door Rear Emergency Exit Door

What the defect is

Challenger door is recalling certain rear emergency exit doors, model number 1251 and 1252, produced from 2009 through 2011 and sold as original equipment for certain starcraft school buses. Due to insufficient lubrication on the rear door handle latch mechanism, the handle may bind.

What could happen

In the event of an emergency, the vehicle occupants may be unable to open the rear door, which would hinder egress of the bus, possibly resulting in injury to the vehicle occupants.

What gets fixed

CHALLENGER DOOR IS WORKING WITH STARCRAFT TO IDENTIFY AND NOTIFY OWNERS OF THE AFFECTED BUSES.

Timeline

  1. Recall reported to NHTSA14 October 2011
  2. Owners notified10 October 2011

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 14 October 2011.

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 may contact challenger door at 1-574-773-8115 or starcraft for more information.

Official source

Recalling manufacturer
CHALLENGER DOOR, LLC
Recall initiated by
OVSC

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

Owners may also contact the national highway traffic safety administration's vehicle safety outline at 1-888-327-4236 (tty 1-800-424-9153), or go to <a href=http://www.safercar.gov>http://www.safercar.gov</a> .

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.

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