The defect
Forest River, Inc. (Forest River) is recalling certain model year 2006-2014 Elkhart ECII transit buses manufactured January 1, 2006, to September 26, 2014, equipped with certain model S2005, S2010, S5005, S5010, S5505, and S5510 wheelchair lifts built by the Ricon Corporation. The affected lifts are equipped with folding link arms that may have pivot holes that are too big, allowing the bearings to move out of position.
The risk
If the bearings move out of position, the stowed platform may have excessive movement resulting in failure of the platform mounting. This failure could cause the wheel chair lift platform to fall out of the vehicle when the doors are opened, increasing the risk of injury for the lift operator.
The remedy
Forest River will notify owners, and Ricon dealers will inspect the link arms for damage or for displaced bearings. The platform will be inspected for cracks. Any damaged parts will be replaced, free of charge. The recall began on December 16, 2015. Owners may contact Forest River customer service at 574-264-5179 ext. 102 or Ricon Customer Service at 1-800-322-2884. Forest River's number for this recall is 51-11102015-0108. Note: These buses and wheelchair lifts were subject to a similar recall in 2014. All vehicles that received that recall remedy are still affected by this recall as well.
NHTSA's own wording · initiated by ODI
Vehicles covered
| Model | Model years |
|---|---|
| Elkhart Ecii | 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 |
Components: EQUIPMENT ADAPTIVE/MOBILITY
Model years in this recall
NHTSA complaints and the number of recall campaigns for each model year this recall covers.
| Model | Year | Complaints | Recalls |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elkhart Ecii | 2006 | 0 | 6 |
| Elkhart Ecii | 2007 | 0 | 6 |
| Elkhart Ecii | 2008 | 0 | 5 |
| Elkhart Ecii | 2009 | 0 | 6 |
| Elkhart Ecii | 2010 | 0 | 5 |
| Elkhart Ecii | 2011 | 0 | 2 |
| Elkhart Ecii | 2012 | 0 | 3 |
| Elkhart Ecii | 2013 | 0 | 3 |
| Elkhart Ecii | 2014 | 0 | 2 |
Other equipment adaptive/mobility recalls in 2015
30 of the 863 recall campaigns reported to NHTSA in 2015 concerned the equipment adaptive/mobility; Forest River, Inc. filed 592 campaigns in all.
| 15V870000 23 Dec 2015 | Navistar, Inc. |
| 15V868000 22 Dec 2015 | Navistar, Inc. |
| 15V827000 9 Dec 2015 | Ameritrans Bus, Inc. |
| 15V779000 20 Nov 2015 | New England Wheels |
| 15V772000 19 Nov 2015 | Kingmor Supply, Inc. |
| 15V770000 19 Nov 2015 | Corp. Micro Bird Inc. |
| 15V773000 19 Nov 2015 | Coach and Equipment Mfg Corp. |
| 15V766000 18 Nov 2015 | Forest River, Inc. |
NHTSA recalls (public domain) · all recalls of 2015