2018 Van Hool CX45 problems

What is wrong

ABC BUS Inc is recalling certain 1999-2013 Van Hool C2045, 2004-2013 Van Hool T2145, 2013-2022 Van Hool TX45, 2013-2023 Van Hool CX45, and 2016-2022 Van Hool CX35 vehicles. The front entrance door may have the incorrect glaze on the lower curb view window. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 205, "Glazing Materials."

Risk

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

Remedy

Dealers will inspect and install a nontransparent vinyl cover over the window as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed April 20, 2026. Owners may contact ABC Bus customer service at 1‑877‑427‑7278. Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) involved in this recall will be searchable on beginning April 30, 2026.

Recall number 26V191000 · Recall details

What is wrong

Van Hool N.V. (Van Hool) is recalling certain 2018-2021 CX35, TDX25, 2018-2019 CX45, TX45, 2021 AG300, and 2018 TD925 vehicles. The sealing washer may not seat correctly in the pilot bore holes, allowing the high pressure fuel rail assembly to leak.

Risk

A fuel leak in the presence of an ignition source increases the risk of a fire.

Remedy

Dealers will inspect the rail threads, and replace the rail as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed on July 30, 2021. Owners may contact Van Hool customer service at 1‑877‑427‑7278 or 1‑407‑656‑7977. Van Hool's number for this recall is P1489.

Recall number 21V385000 · Recall details

What is wrong

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.

Risk

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.

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.

Recall number 18V209000 · Recall details

On March 30, 2018, Van Hool N.V. (Van Hool) notified the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) of a safety defect that exists in certain model year (MY) 2015-2018 CX45, TD925, TDX25, TX40, TX45, and 2016-2018 CX35 motorcoaches. The passenger seat belt buckle’s outer casing may fail, leaving the seat belt buckle mechanisms exposed. The exposed seat belt buckle mechanisms may reduce the seat occupants’ likelihood of using the seat belt, increasing the risk of injury in the event of a crash. This recall of vehicles with the subject seat belt buckle casings was designated recall 18V‑209. In its recall filing, Van Hool identified the component manufacturer as Fasching Salzburg. Based on Early Warning Reporting (EWR), field reports, and warranty claims aggregate data, the federal safety agency identified that the defective part in Van Hool’s recall was potentially used in vehicles manufactured by Volvo Bus Corporation (Volvo), Motor Coach Industries (MCI), and Prevost Car (US) Inc. (Prevost). the federal safety agency opened this Equipment Query (EQ) investigation, EQ19-001, to determine if the seat belt buckle casing at issue in recall 18V‑209 constituted a safety defect in Volvo, MCI or Prevost vehicles, thereby requiring additional recalls. On July 23, 2019, the federal safety agency sent an Information Request (IR) letter to Volvo requesting that for all of the seatbelt buckles Volvo uses, or has used, as original or replacement equipment on 2016 model year Volvo 9700 buses, that it provide the Volvo part number(s), the seatbelt manufacturer’s or supplier’s part number(s), the manufacturer’s or supplier’s name and their contact information. In the IR, the federal safety agency further requested that Volvo state the number of each of the above seatbelts that Volvo has distributed as replacement items for the original equipment seatbelts and provide the model and model year of the vehicle in which it is used and month/year of sale (including the cut-off date for sales, if applicable). Finally, the federal safety agency requested that Volvo provide two samples of each seat belt type/brand/part number identified by Volvo. On October 23, 2019, the federal safety agency sent an IR letter to Amaya-Astron Seating, the seat manufacturer that installed the subject Fasching Salzburg seat belt buckle assemblies on the seats supplied to Van Hool. The purpose of this letter was to obtain, in part, a list of purchasers that were sold the seatbelt buckles as individual replacements or part of a seat and a list of all customers/manufacturers that received the same or similarly affected seatbelt buckles. Amaya-Astron identified MCI, Prevost, and Volvo as the motorcoach manufacturers to which it supplied seats with subject seat belt buckle casings. the federal safety agency sent two IR Letters and Comprehensive Inquiry (CI) 21650H002 in support of EQ19-001 to MCI, Prevost, and Volvo Bus, in order to determine the relevant population. The IR letters and CI identified that the following vehicles used the subject seat belt buckle casings: 2016 Volvo Bus 9700 and 2018 Prevost X3-45. MCI reported that it had no vehicles with the suspected subject seat belt buckle casings. Prevost and Volvo Bus reported that they did not observe a trend of seat belt buckle casing failures as observed in recall 18V‑209. EWR, field reports, warranty claims data, and the information provided in the IR responses and CI similarly did not identify failure trends in the seat belt buckle casings. In addition, Prevost recalled the population of its vehicles subject to this investigation, containing the subject seat belt buckle casings, in recall 22V‑236 (2018 Prevost X3-45) based on a different safety defect of the seat belt buckle assembly. The recall addressed vehicles with seat belt buckles that may have exposed, frayed retaining cables. As a result, the seat belt assemblies may not secure the seat occupants in the event of a crash. The remedy for recall 22V‑236 was the replacement of the entire seat belt buckle, including its casing, with a different part. That remedy also obviated the potential concern regarding casing failure that was at issue in recall 18V‑209 and EQ19-001. ODI is closing this investigation. Duringthe course of this investigation, the agency reviewed the information that it received and also closely monitored the data over multiple years to see if any trends would emerge. During this time, a portion of the vehicles that were part of the original population of this investigation were recalled. the federal safety agency believes that enough time has now passed with such monitoring to consider the data as presenting no observable trends to suggest that the seat belt buckle casings subject to recall 18V‑209 similarly pose a safety defect in the remaining population of vehicles equipped with the seat belt buckle casings. The agency will continue to monitor the issue and will not hesitate to take appropriate action should such trends emerge in the future. The closing of this investigation does not constitute a finding by the federal safety agency that a safety-related defect does not exist, including 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.

EQ19001

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 the federal safety agency 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.

PE17006