Seat Belt Buckle Casings may Fail – 2015-2018 Van Hool Motorcoaches

March 30, 2018 NHTSA CAMPAIGN NUMBER: 18V209000

Seat Belt Buckle Casings may Fail

The exposed seat belt buckles may reduce the seat occupants likelihood of using the seat belt, increasing the risk of injury in the event of a crash.

 

NHTSA Campaign Number: 18V209

Manufacturer Van Hool N.V.

Components SEAT BELTS

Potential Number of Units Affected 1,528

 

Summary

Van Hool N.V. (Van Hool) is recalling certain 2015-2018 CX45, TD925, TDX25, TX40, TX45, and 2016-2018 CX35 motorcoaches. The passenger seat belt buckles outer casing may fail leaving the seat belt buckles exposed.

 

Remedy

Van Hool will notify owners and dealers will replace the defective seatbelt buckles on the aisle side with flexible seatbelt buckles. The recall began on May 16, 2018. Owners may contact Van Hool customer service at 1-877-427-7278 or 1-407-656-7977.

 

Notes

Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), or go to www.safercar.gov.

 

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IMPORTANT SAFETY RECALL

This notice applies to your vehicle (s) with VIN: see attached list of affected VINS.
This notice is sent to you in accordance with the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act.

 

May 16, 2018

Customer Name
Address
City, State  Postal Code

Subject:	NHTSA Recall Campaign 18V-209 / Van Hool P941-SB1480
Defect:	Seat Belt Buckle Casings may Fail
Affected units:	Van Hool Motorcoaches Model Year 2015-2018

 

Van Hool NV has decided that a defect which relates to motor vehicle safety exists in the affected motorcoaches: subject vehicles have passenger seats equipped with buckles of which the outer casing may fail.  These casings are held in place by one plastic notch only.  When subjected to great pressure (e.g. by standing on the buckle or tampering the buckle) these casings may fail and consequently slide down thereby uncovering the buckle mechanism.  The exposed seat belt buckles may reduce the seat occupants’ likelihood of using the seat belt, increasing the risk of injury in the event of a crash.

To remedy this issue, Van Hool is recalling 2015-2018 affected motorcoaches, in order to have the rigid seat belt buckles of the aisle side passenger seats changed by flexible buckles: see service bulletin SB1480.

Please contact ABC Bus Inc. our designated agent in the United States to schedule to have the recall performed and to ensure that parts are available.

ABC Bus Inc., 17469 West Colonial Drive, Winter Garden, FL 34787

The replacement will take approximately 10 minutes per buckle replaced and will be performed at no charge to you. Liability of Van Hool NV and ABC Bus Inc. and subsidiaries will be limited to the taking at their charge of the cost of material and labor only, no additional reimbursement will be made.

If you believe that Van Hool NV and ABC Bus Inc. have failed to remedy the defect without charge, you may submit a complaint to the Administrator, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, S.E., Washington, D.C. 20590 or call the toll-free Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153) or go to https://www.safercar.gov.

Federal regulations require that any vehicle lessor receiving this recall notice must forward a copy of this notice to the lessee within ten days.

If you had this repair performed before you received this letter, you may be eligible to receive reimbursement for the cost of the pre-notification remedy of the problem associated with this recall.

If any additional information is needed, please feel free to contact ABC Bus Inc. at (407) 656 7977 or 1-877-427-7278 (toll free).

Van Hool NV and ABC Bus Inc. apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, however this action is taken in the interest of your safety and continued satisfaction with our vehicles.

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23 Affected Products

Vehicles

VAN HOOL	CX35	2016-2018
VAN HOOL	CX45	2015-2018
VAN HOOL	TD925	2015-2018
VAN HOOL	TDX25	2015-2018
VAN HOOL	TX40	2015-2018
VAN HOOL	TX45	2015-2018

 

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11 Associated Documents

Recall Acknowledgement

RCAK-18V209-7447.pdf 246.445KB

 

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Defect Notice 573 Report

RCLRPT-18V209-9652.PDF 216.115KB

 

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Recall 573 Report- Amendment 1

RCLRPT-18V209-4502.PDF 216.181KB

 

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Recall 573 Report-Amendment 2

RCLRPT-18V209-2473.PDF 217.918KB

 

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Recall 573 Report-Amendment 2

RCLRPT-18V209-5626.PDF 217.918KB

 

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Recall 573 Report- Amendment 3

RCLRPT-18V209-2384.PDF 217.925KB

 

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ISSUED Owner Notification Letter(Part 577)

RCONL-18V209-5004.pdf 106.258KB

 

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Remedy Instructions and TSB

RCRIT-18V209-4104.pdf 1274.863KB

 

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Recall Quarterly Report #2, 2018-3

RCLQRT-18V209-6258.PDF 211.217KB

 

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Recall 573 Report- Amendment 4

RCLRPT-18V209-4192.PDF 218.219KB

 

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Recall Quarterly Report #3, 2018-4

RCLQRT-18V209-0122.PDF 211.302KB

 

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1 Associated Investigation

Seat belt latch failure
NHTSA ID: PE17006
Dated opened: September 25, 2017

Through Early Warning Reporting (EWR) data review of 2016 Q1-Q3, several field reports were found that identified failures of seat belt latch casings on MY 2016 Van Hool motorcoaches.

While reviewing the EWR data related to the latch issue, ODI was contacted by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) regarding seat belt latch issues they discovered while investigating a crash between a train and a 2016 Van Hool bus in Biloxi, Mississippi. Through inspections of buses similar to the bus involved in the crash, the NTSB found that casing failures were occurring on seat belt latches manufactured by Fasching Salzburg. These concerns were forwarded to ODI suggesting the latch casing failures may be a wide spread problem found on MY 2016 Van Hool buses.

As a result of the information provided by the NTSB along with the related EWR field reports, ODI opened a defect investigation (PE17-006) on the subject vehicles. The intent of the investigation was to better understand if there was a safety related defect involving the latches.

During the investigation ODI reviewed warranty claims submitted by VAN Hool and found that many identified situations where passengers could not get the seat belt buckles to latch or in some case unlatch. This presented a situation where passengers were either unrestrained during a potential crash or could not get out of their seats to exit the vehicle in a potential emergency.

With recall action 18V-209 taken by Van Hool this investigation is closed. Further use of agency resources does not appear to be warranted. The closing of this investigation does not constitute a finding by NHTSA that a safety-related defect does not exists on other model or MY vehicles outside of the recall scope. The agency reserves the right to take further action if warranted by the circumstances.

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Latest Recalls Documents

https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/acms/cs/documentList.xhtml?docId=18V209&docType=RCL

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