The defect
Champion Bus, Inc. (Champion) is recalling certain model year 2012-2014 American Crusader, Challenger, Crusader, CTS-FE, CTS-RE, Defender, EZ-Street, HC American, HCAC, LF Transport, M1235, Platinum Shuttle, Stacked Rail, and Federal Coach Premier, and Spirit transit buses manufactured January 1, 2012, to October 1, 2014, equipped with certain triangle warning signs manufactured by Imperial Supplies, LLC. Test reports indicate that the triangle warning signs, labeled C&J, may reflect an inadequate amount of light. As such, these triangle warning kits fail to comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 125, "Warning devices."
The risk
Warning triangles that do not properly reflect light may fail to warn others that a vehicle is parked, increasing the risk of a crash.
The remedy
Champion will notify owners to inspect their triangles for production dates between April 2011, to April 2014, and the affected triangles will be replaced, free of charge. The recall began on January 6, 2015. Owners may contact Champion customer service at 1-810-724-6474.
NHTSA's own wording · initiated by MFR
Vehicles covered
| Model | Model years |
|---|---|
| Champion American Crusader | 2012, 2013, 2014 |
| Champion Challenger | 2012, 2013, 2014 |
| Champion Crusader | 2012, 2013, 2014 |
| Champion CTS-FE | 2012, 2013, 2014 |
| Champion CTS-RE | 2012, 2013, 2014 |
| Champion Defender | 2012, 2013, 2014 |
| Champion EZ-Street | 2012, 2013, 2014 |
| Champion HC American | 2012, 2013, 2014 |
| Champion Hcac | 2012, 2013, 2014 |
| Champion LF Transport | 2012, 2013, 2014 |
| Champion M1235 | 2012, 2013, 2014 |
| Champion Platinum Shuttle | 2012, 2013, 2014 |
| Champion Stacked Rail | 2012, 2013, 2014 |
| Federal Coach Premier | 2012, 2013, 2014 |
| Federal Coach Spirit | 2012, 2013, 2014 |
Components: EQUIPMENT
Model years in this recall
NHTSA complaints and the number of recall campaigns for each model year this recall covers.
| Model | Year | Complaints | Recalls |
|---|---|---|---|
| Champion American Crusader | 2012 | 0 | 4 |
| Champion American Crusader | 2013 | 0 | 5 |
| Champion American Crusader | 2014 | 0 | 5 |
| Champion CTS-FE | 2012 | 0 | 3 |
| Champion CTS-FE | 2013 | 0 | 4 |
| Champion CTS-FE | 2014 | 0 | 4 |
| Champion CTS-RE | 2012 | 0 | 4 |
| Champion CTS-RE | 2013 | 0 | 5 |
| Champion CTS-RE | 2014 | 0 | 5 |
| Champion Challenger | 2012 | 1 | 5 |
| Champion Challenger | 2013 | 0 | 7 |
| Champion Challenger | 2014 | 1 | 6 |
| Champion Crusader | 2012 | 0 | 5 |
| Champion Crusader | 2013 | 0 | 6 |
| Champion Crusader | 2014 | 0 | 7 |
| Champion Defender | 2012 | 0 | 4 |
| Champion Defender | 2013 | 0 | 5 |
| Champion Defender | 2014 | 0 | 6 |
| Champion EZ-Street | 2012 | 0 | 1 |
| Champion EZ-Street | 2013 | 0 | 1 |
| Champion EZ-Street | 2014 | 0 | 1 |
| Champion HC American | 2012 | 0 | 3 |
| Champion HC American | 2013 | 0 | 3 |
| Champion HC American | 2014 | 0 | 3 |
| Champion Hcac | 2012 | 0 | 2 |
| Champion Hcac | 2013 | 0 | 3 |
| Champion Hcac | 2014 | 0 | 4 |
| Champion LF Transport | 2012 | 0 | 1 |
| Champion LF Transport | 2013 | 0 | 2 |
| Champion LF Transport | 2014 | 0 | 3 |
Other equipment recalls in 2014
107 of the 770 recall campaigns reported to NHTSA in 2014 concerned the equipment; Champion Bus, Inc. filed 16 campaigns in all.
| 14V828000 30 Dec 2014 | Southeast Toyota Distributors, LLC |
| 14V823000 29 Dec 2014 | Forest River, Inc. |
| 14V782000 9 Dec 2014 | Starcraft RV |
| 14V775000 5 Dec 2014 | Jayco, Inc. |
| 14V745000 21 Nov 2014 | Altec Industries Inc. |
| 14V734000 17 Nov 2014 | Allied Recreation Group, Inc. |
| 14V718000 10 Nov 2014 | Sutphen Corporation |
| 14V711000 7 Nov 2014 | Chrysler Group LLC |
NHTSA recalls (public domain) · all recalls of 2014