2012 Mci D4505 problems

What is wrong

Motor Coach Industries (MCI) is recalling certain 102DL3, 102D3, MC12PTV, E4500, D4000, 102D3ISTV, D4500, J4500, D4000ISTV, D4005, D4505, and J3500 transit buses. Please refer to MCI's recall report for specific model year information. The front door lower curb view glazing material is incorrect. As such, these vehicles fail to conform to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 205, "Glazing Materials."

Risk

The incorrect window glazing material may reduce the driver's visibility, increasing the risk of a crash.

Remedy

MCI will replace the glass, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed February 4, 2026. Owners may contact MCI customer service at 1‑800‑241‑2947. MCI's number for this recall is 22-005.

Recall number 25V853000 · Recall details

What is wrong

Motor Coach Industries (MCI) is recalling certain 2011-2016 D4500, D4505, D4000, D4005, and D4000 ISTV motor coaches equipped with ISX engines. Due to vibrations, the exhaust bellow pipes develop a hole.

Risk

If the pipe develops a hole, during a regeneration cycle, hot exhaust gases may leak out, increasing the risk of a fire.

Remedy

MCI will notify owners, and dealers will replace the bellows pipe assembly with an improved part, free of charge. The recall began July 10, 2018. Owners may contact MCI customer service at 1‑800‑241‑2947.

Recall number 18V309000 · Recall details

What is wrong

Motor Coach Industries (MCI) is recalling certain 2011-2012 MCI D4000, D4005, D4500 and D4505 coaches equipped with Cummins ISX 12 liter engines. The vehicles may have an incorrectly installed exhaust bellow pipe, resulting in a bend in the pipe which can cause its premature failure.

Risk

If the pipe fails and a diesel regeneration cycle occurs, the hot exhaust gases will increase the risk of a fire.

Remedy

MCI will notify owners and dealers will inspect and replace any deformed or failed bellow pipes if necessary, free of charge. The recall began on June 15, 2017. Owners may contact Motor Industries at 1‑800‑241‑2947. MCI's number for this recall is SB 397B.

Recall number 17V337000 · Recall details

What is wrong

Motor Coach Industries (MCI) is recalling certain model year 2011-2013 and 2015 J4500 coaches manufactured November 18, 2011, to July 10, 2015, 2011-2012 and 2014-2015 D4000 coaches manufactured manufactured September 24, 2010, to September 5, 2015, 2011-2013 and 2015-2016 D4005 coaches manufactured January 17, 2011, to November 23, 2015, 2012-2014 and 2016 D4000ISTV coaches manufactured July 18, 2012, to December 2, 2015, 2010-2016 D4500 coaches manufactured April 15, 2010, to December 18, 2015 and 2011-2016 D4505 coaches manufactured December 15, 2010, to December 4, 2015. The affected buses are equipped with certain Recaro Ergo-M Commercial Bus Driver Seats that have J-Brackets that may be missing welds which could allow the seat belt anchorage assembly to separate from the J-Bracket.

Risk

If the seatbelt anchorage assembly separates from the J-Bracket, the bus driver may not be properly restrained in the event of a crash increasing their risk of injury.

Remedy

MCI will notify owners and dealers will inspect the seats and determined if welds are missing. Any J-Bracket that is missing welds will be removed and replaced, free of charge. The recall began on February 15, 2016. Owners may contact MCI at 1‑800‑241‑2947. MCI's number for this recall is SB 431.

Recall number 16V020000 · Recall details

What is wrong

Motor Coach Industries (MCI) is recalling certain model year 2000-2012 D, E, G and J series coaches manufactured January 2000 through June 2011 and equipped with Sure Power battery equalizers containing a particular epoxy sealing, aka 'potting', compound. The specific potting compound used in the subject products for insulation was found to be capable of conducting electricity after being exposed to heat.

Risk

Once electrically conductive, the material is capable of melting and burning, increasing the risk of a fire.

Remedy

MCI will notify owners, and Sure Power will replace the equalizers, free of charge. Owners may contact MCI at 1‑847‑285‑2000. This campaign is MCI service bulletin 401.

Recall number 13V498000 · Recall details

What is wrong

Motor Coach Industries (MCI) is recalling certain model year 2012-2013 D4000, D4000ISTV, D4005, D4500, and D4505 motorcoaches manufactured from May 2012 through December 2012 and equipped with a Cummins ISX EPA 2010 engine. In the affected buses, the bellows pipe in the exhaust system may have been incorrectly assembled, which could result in a failure of the pipe during operation.

Risk

During a regeneration process to clean exhaust emissions, if the bellows pipe has failed, the hot exhaust gases may not be contained, resulting in a fire.

Remedy

MCI will notify owners and dealers will inspect and replace the bellows pipes, as necessary, free of charge. The recall began on April 29, 2013. Customers may contact MCI at 1‑847‑285‑2000.

Recall number 13V142000 · Recall details

What is wrong

Motor coach industries, inc (mci) is recalling certain model year 2012 d4505, d4500, and d4000istv motor coaches, equipped with a sedan style entrance door and an actia multiplex system. Thirty minutes after the park brake is set and the ignition is turned off, the entrance door will close without warning.

Risk

The entrance door will close without warning, increasing the risk of personal injury to people entering or exiting the bus.

Remedy

Mci will notify owners, and remedy the affected coaches by reprogramming the multiplex system, free of charge. The recall began on april 11, 2012. Owners may contact mci at 1‑800‑241‑2947.

Recall number 12V086000 · Recall details

What is wrong

Motor coach industries (mci) is recalling certain model year 2003, and 2007-2012 e and j models along with model year 2007-2012 d4000, d4005, d4500, d4505, d4000istv motor coaches equipped with meritor wabco electronic stability control (ESC) modules, manufactured from october 2002, through october 2011. Under certain road and driving conditions, vehicle body roll and road inclination characteristics may adversely affect the slip angle calculation of the electronic stability control (ESC) system. This might cause the ESC to perceive an over steering situation and therefore apply the outer wheel brake on the front axle until the vehicle is perceived to be stable.

Risk

If the driver is slow to react during this ESC intervention, the vehicle may deviate from the intended line of travel, increasing the risk of a crash.

Remedy

Mci will notify owners and replace the control module free of charge. The safety recall began on january 4, 2012. Owners may contact mci customer service at 1‑800‑241‑2947.

Recall number 11V524000 · Recall details

During the review of Motor Coach Industries (MCI) Early Warning Reporting (EWR) 2016 Q4 data, field reports were identified that described fires on 2 buses from different regions of the country.These fires were alleged to have occurred as a result of a loose clamp allowing the tailpipe to separate from the exhaust after treatment assembly.During exhaust after treatment regeneration high temperature gases were directed at the plastic rear bumper.Prior to the fires, there were no indications (such as soot trails) that the clamps were loose.When contacted, the fleet maintenance manager stated all maintenance schedules and DOT inspections had been performed without a failure citation of the exhaust systems. MCI addressed the issue by installing additional brackets to the pipe on all the other buses in the fleet ensuring the tailpipe stayed intact should the clamp lose torque.In correspondence with another fleet using the same style bus, the fleet safety manager described having loose clamps resulting in fires.The MCI fix for the second fleet was to install a shield at the rear bumper to deflect the high temperature exhaust gases in the event of the tailpipe separated from the exhaust after treatment system.This fix was different from the first fleet.During review of communications submitted in March 2017, the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) identified MCI Service Bulletin No. 309 regarding a maintenance procedure of the exhaust system Torca Accuseal clamp.This bulletin instructed that a new clamp must be utilized after any service or maintenance is performed in which the existing clamp was loosened or removed.ODI requested further information on this bulletin and received warranty claims showing loose tailpipes.MCI has taken the position that fires at the clamp location were due to improper maintenance by the fleets.After analysis of data, provided by MCI to ODI in response to an information request letter, ODI found there was not an increasing number (claim rate of 1.1%) of failures and fires even with portions of the fleet having over seven years in service.The 4 fires identified were from 2 fleets.ODI contacted the fleets with fire incidents and was informed that one of the two buses involved in the fire incidents was sold in 2016 and other fleet does not have maintenance records since they only keep records for one year.ODI is closing the investigation as no actionable trend has been identified.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 the federal safety agency that a safety-related defect does not exist. The agency reserves the right to take further action if warranted by the circumstances.

PE17008

By letter dated April 15, 2013, Motor Coach Industries (MCI) notified the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) of a safety defect that may exist in certain model year (MY) 2012 and 2013 MCI D-model coaches built from December 22, 2011 to May 19, 2012 equipped with the Cummins 2010 EPA ISX 12 Liter engine.These vehicles may have had an incorrect installation of the exhaust pipe.If installed incorrectly, the elbow pipe may prematurely fail and if a Diesel Particulate Filter regeneration event occurs, the hot exhaust gases could cause a fire, resulting in injury to persons and/or damage to property.MCI conducted an inspect and repair if necessary recall campaign identified by the federal safety agency Recall No: 13V‑142. At the time MCI believed that 13V‑142 covered all the vehicles potentially having the safety defect. However, ODI review of EWR data indicated that other vehicles outside the scope of 13V‑142 also experienced the same defect condition. Subsequently, in May 2017, MCI expanded the scope of the previous recall to include certain MY 2011-2012 MCI D-model coaches manufactured from January 31, 2011 to May 19, 2012, identified by the federal safety agency Recall No: 17V‑337.In April 2013 when MCI conducted recall 13V‑142 to remedy incorrectly installed bellows pipes on certain MCI model year 2012 and 2013 D model vehicles they also changed the bellows pipe assembly process in then current production.With recall 17V‑337 MCI expanded the first recall by an additional 178 vehicles they felt also had not had the bellows pipe properly installed.Following the receipt of complaints and EWR data alleging bellows pipe failures on vehicles built after the implementation of the improved assembly process, the federal safety agency opened this Recall Query to assess the scope and adequacy of these two safety recalls and MCI's recall decision making process.Analysis of the failure data provided by MCI to this investigation found that the improved assembly process reduced the failure rate but did not eliminate the defect all together.In response to this investigation, MCI agreed to conduct recall 18V‑309. This latest recall includes and expands upon the vehicle population of the prior recalls, and implements a new remedy that adds a mesh component to the bellows assembly to reduce vibration.This remedy was also implemented in production in 2015.Vehicles built after this date do not have an elevated failure rate even with a significant amount of time in service.With recall action 18V‑309 taken by MCI 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 the federal safety agency that a safety-related defect does not exist 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.

RQ17007

In the fall of 2011, network contacts made ODI aware of four (4) incidents of drive shaft failure on the subject buses involving a loss of vehicle control.Two of the incidents were relatively low speed non-crash events; and two resulted in motor coach rollovers.All four events showed signs of a common failure mode.The incidents and crashes studied during this investigation all resulted from a series of complex events that began with the the yoke journal ears on the drive shafts fracturing.Once the drive shaft failed. it was not adequately contained by a drive shaft safety loop or structure.The spinning and unrestrained drive shaft caused severe damage to components on the steerable tag axle at the rear of the vehicle and created a forced steering condition.Once the rear of the bus was being forcibly steered by the tag axle, the driver lost control of the vehicle.These conclusions are based on the forensics evidence and testing conducted by the Vehicle Research and Test Center (VRTC).The VRTC test report is attached to this closing resume that provides details on how the test center was able to conclusively identify the defective components on the buses and demonstrate the sequence of events that caused the buses to crash.Prior to the drive shaft failure events, there were no indications of improper maintenance or that maintenance was required that would have prevented the incidents.Additionally, the U-joints on the incident vehicles were found to be in good working condition at the time of the failure. Finally, records of driver interviews indicated a sudden onset of the failure with no warning.Following the VRTC testing, MCI issued recall 14V‑335 involving certain model year 1993-1995 102DL3 motor coaches manufactured November 1992 to January 1995, and 2006 and 2008 D4505 motor coaches manufactured June 2005 to April 2008.The affected buses are equipped with a drive shaft with a compressed length of 30 inches or less (allowing it to escape containment if it fails), a steerable trailing tag axle equipped with a system that changes the axle caster when the vehicle is in reverse travel and no electronic stability control (ESC).Recall 14V‑335 addresses the concerns of this investigation.The ODI report cited above can be viewed at www-odi.the federal safety agency.dot.gov/owners/Searchreference: ODI Number 10447575.

EA12007

ODI has identified certain MCI coaches with powertrain configurations that may allow a driveshaft separated at the rearward universal joint to escape the guardian structure of the steerable tag axle and damage steering and braking components.The damaged components may increase the risk of a loss of vehicle control. The subject coaches include 806 model year 1992 through 2012 MCI D and E series motor coaches with steerable tag axles.This Preliminary Evaluation is being upgraded to an Engineering Analysis (EA12-007) to further study the alleged defect and to determine if a safety defect exists. The ODI report cited above can be viewed at www-odi.the federal safety agency.dot.gov/owners/Searchreference: ODI Number 10447575.

PE12007