Champion Buses Recalled for Potential Blower Motor Fire Risk
Champion Bus is recalling certain Defender and Challenger buses because a short circuit in the air conditioning evaporator could cause a fire.
What this means for you
Our assessment, not the agency’s: severity 4/5 (Severe).
The hazard poses a serious risk of illness, injury, or structural failure. Stop using the product immediately and contact the manufacturer for a refund or repair.
Our severity reasoning: The recall involves a risk of fire due to overheating components, which aligns with the rubric criterion for 'significant injury/property-damage reports' or high-risk vehicle defects.
Plain-English summary
Champion Bus, Inc. is recalling certain 2007-2008 International Defender and 2005-2008 Challenger buses equipped with Trans Air TA 73 evaporators. The recall involves 107 vehicles.
The evaporator uses a power resistor to regulate blower speed. If a short occurs in the low or medium speed circuit while the blower is in high speed, the supply voltage may feedback through the resistor to ground. This condition may not draw enough current to trip the fuse, causing the resistor temperature to rise until it melts. This overheating can potentially ignite the plastic blower housing to which the resistor is mounted, resulting in a fire.
Champion Bus, in cooperation with Trans Air, will install a thermal shutdown device in series with the speed resistors at no charge to owners. The safety recall began on December 6, 2010. Owners may contact Trans Air Warranty and Service Center at 1-800-673-2446 or the NHTSA Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236.
The recalled product
- Product
- CHAMPION INTERNATIONAL DEFENDER, CHALLENGER
- Brand
- CHAMPION
- Manufacturer
- CHAMPION BUS, INC.
- Category
- Vehicle — Bus
- Hazard
- Affected units
- 107
Is your product affected?
Check your packaging against the codes below. If any of them match, the product is part of this recall.
Model numbers (2)
- INTERNATIONAL DEFENDER
- CHALLENGER
Distribution
Distributed nationwide across the United States.
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