Outstanding Safety Recalls

I recently purchased a new(er) coach. In order to import it into Canada a "Recall Clearance Letter" is required. This is a letter from the manufacturer (Prevost) stating that there are no outstanding safety recalls on the vehicle to be imported.

I was quite surprised to find that there were three outstanding warranty safety recalls on the coach all of which were ten or more years old. Apparently the registered owner is notified and if no action is taken that is where it stops. I was told that if the coach had been serviced by Prevost that they would run the VIN and catch the missing recall. I personally find it hard to believe that in 13 years and three owners that this coach has never been in a Prevost service center. Much to my dismay two of these outstanding safety bulletins had to do with front end and steering components. I was assured by the tech that did the updates that he had never seen a failure of the affected components but also said that it had been some time since he had done one.

I don't blame Prevost but I wonder how many other coaches are out there with outstanding safety recalls. I am sure that mine is not the only one.

I was just at Prevost ML for safety recalls on the Air lines to the brakes. I have a 91 XL-40 and I think I am the 5 owner and since I bought it in 2003 I have been to Prevost Tennessee and Prevost ML for service. It wasn't until I made an inquiry to Prevost Canada about the "build sheet" for the bus that I got an email informing of the 3 safety recalls. Prevost did honor the recalls and fix them for nothing.

Lee, we own another Beaver Bus 40ft XL like GMC Buffalo. Ours is a 1992 shell and 1992 Beaver conversion, and we are the third owners. And YES, before we talked with Prevost, our coach in 17 years when we bought in 2009 never had been to a Prevost Service Center unitl we took it in Nov 2009 for the same brake line update that Greg had. So, I am not too surprised. Glad you got it taken care of and it is appreciated that Prevost deals with these issues way after the fact, altho law mandates it.

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Originally Posted by gmcbuffalo

I was just at Prevost ML for safety recalls on the Air lines to the brakes. I have a 91 XL-40 and I think I am the 5 owner and since I bought it in 2003 I have been to Prevost Tennessee and Prevost ML for service. It wasn't until I made an inquiry to Prevost Canada about the "build sheet" for the bus that I got an email informing of the 3 safety recalls. Prevost did honor the recalls and fix them for nothing.

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Greg,

That is interesting. I was told by Prevost in Tennessee that they run the VIN on every coach that comes through the door. And that if my coach had been serviced by them that the recalls would have been completed. I guess that their statement is BS.

There are at least 3 warranty bulletins that have not been completed on my coach. These are basically product improvement and I will complete them my self.

My concern is that SAFETY RECALLS were not completed. In your case it was brake lines and in mine it was steering. These are items that could have catastrophic results if they fail. I thought that everyone should be aware of these possible problems as I am sure that Prevost does not issue a recall unless they feel there is an issue.

Perhaps there is a way to find out. Does anyone know if Prevost has a contact person or an email address where an owner can send a VIN and find out the recall status of the coach?

We need Prevost to be a part of and to participate on our site.

The same Prevost story in Fort Worth. The shop supervisor stated that when the coach is in a Prevost service center for maintenance, the VIN is automatically checked for any outstanding recalls. Humm............

I would certainly be interested in the contact information also.

Hector

It is not unusual to have a older coach that has not been to a Prevost center. Many owners do not live close to a factory Prevost service facility. Prevost will generally catch any outstanding recalls when they input the vehicle Vin# to prepare the repair order. Sometimes this is done after the coach has left the facility, so it is possible for it to slip through the cracks. We have found that all of the Prevost centers will run a coach vin to see if anything needs to be done. We have always been able to get a recall letter for export to Canada quickly (something that is happening more frequently with the rise of the CA dollar to U.S.). Prevost is very good, generally about preforming any outstanding recalls, even on very old coaches.

I was at Prevost FW this past week. It seems that a lot of management changes are happening there. The branch manager has been terminated (finally) (he was about as customer friendly as a doorknob), and has been replaced in the interim by Don Arlet who was there at one time, also I think he was the branch manager at ML. Don is probably the most knowledgeable person I know on Prevost coaches. Also, David Jacobe is back at the branch until things are back to where they should be.
They are also opening the sites back up to Prevost owners passing through the area and want to overnight at the branch.
Hopefully, they can get the FW branch back to what it used to be.

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Originally Posted by Jon Wehrenberg

Perhaps there is a way to find out. Does anyone know if Prevost has a contact person or an email address where an owner can send a VIN and find out the recall status of the coach?

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Jon,

I believe that all of the Prevost service centers can check your VIN for recalls. What surprised me is that they don't seem to do it automatically. I am sure that when the recall is new they look for the problem on all the affected models. It seems if it is a older coach that has been missed they don't get caught later.

Prevost was great in taking care of me and performed the required repairs almost immediately at no cost. Once again I was surprised that it had not been done years earlier.

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Originally Posted by Jon Wehrenberg

Perhaps there is a way to find out. Does anyone know if Prevost has a contact person or an email address where an owner can send a VIN and find out the recall status of the coach?

We need Prevost to be a part of and to participate on our site.

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Before we bought our bus in October of 2009, I asked here for a contact email at Prevost, and I got one. I emailed maurice.gagne@volvo.com for a build sheet and he steered me to jean-christophe.demers@volvo.com for the question about any outstanding warranty or safety bulletins / recalls. They were both extremely quick in replying to my questions and gave me everything I wanted with no hassles at all..and this was before the purchase, so I would have to assume they would do the same for owners too.

As to the question of the branches checking this out by VIN at time of service, I know that the first thing they get is the VIN when you get there along with mileage, and it is entered into the computer for generating work orders and tracking parts and labor, but what I am not sure of is if they get any notification automatically of bulletins / recalls. I have never remembered to ask when I have been in the TN branch for warranty work. I will next time I go there (if I remember) <g>.

If you go on the prevost web site you can get a list of safety recalls and tech bulletins for a specific year and model coach. Not sure how you know with out contacting provost to run the vin but at least you will know what they are.

Some time in 2005 I broke the stems off the Tag axle lifters, over the phone Prevost told me I would have no problems except not being able to lift the tags. I got to Tennessee and they only had one part to fix one side so they told me when I got to California to have ML fix the other side. It was after POG VIII (2009) that I requested the build sheet from Quebec using the emails address stated earlier, and got the recall bulletins. So I don't think it is an automatic. The email address given earlier I think is the best way of finding out. They still will not tell you what work was done by an earlier owners request, which I think they should.

I had the distinct pleasure of seeing the other side of the Coach market (I forgot just how bad it is) by staying at Lazy-Days last week for two days while a friend took delivery of a new American Heritage. When I left, he had been there a week, still getting all the broken stuff fixed and the MSRP was only 749K. I then had to deal with an RV repair facility in Alabama to replace ANOTHER leaking HWH hydraulic slide fitting.

When my bus days come back, I will be running to Prevost with open arms!:rolleyes:

When I inquired with Prevost about what process is to be used when there are questions about outstanding recalls for a given coach, their response was:


There is 2 ways to know if there is any recalls left to be done on a vehicle.

1-Calling us at 1-866-870-2046 (Warranty Department) and provide us the complete serial # of your vehicle.

2-Or call the Warranty Department (1-866-870-2046) and get set up to do your Warranty Claim on the Web.
We will then give you a User Id and password, which will give you access to do your Warranty claims on the web
And also will give you access to see if there is any Recall left on your vehicle and
Give you access to notify us, if the owner of the vehicle has change.
We will then be in measure to update our system accordingly.

Dallas

Yay for Dallas Prevost!! Don Arlett and Dave Jacoby!!! Wonderful. I need to call Rosey Malcomb in the a.m.