Van-Con School Bus Recalls & Complaints by Model Year

NHTSA lists 4 safety recalls and 0 owner complaints across 11 model years of the Van-Con School Bus (1975–2005).

Pick your Van-Con School Bus model year

• 1975
• 1976
• 1977
• 1978
• 1979
• 1980
• 1998
• 2002
• 2003
• 2004
• 2005

All Van-Con School Bus recalls (4)

Every NHTSA safety campaign that lists a Van-Con School Bus, most recent first, with the model years each one covers.

1. School bus stop arm assembly (other)

   NHTSA 05V308000 Reported July 5, 2005 406 vehicles potentially affected VAN-CON, INCORPORATED

   Van-con 2002 through 2005 model year 15, 16, 20, 25, and 30 passenger school buses built on GMC, chevrolet, and ford chassis. In extremely cold weather, the microswitches used internally to position the stop arm sign in the open and closed positions may malfunction, causing the sign to open or close in an improper position, or to not…

   Remedy: Van-con will notify its customers and specialty mfg. Will provide free of charge a service kit (part number 005178) with a switch pack that is not sensitive to extreme cold weather and will inspect to ensure the…

   Model years: 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005

2. Labels (equipment)

   NHTSA 98V292000 Reported November 15, 1998 37 vehicles potentially affected VAN-CON, INCORPORATED

   Vehicle description: school buses. The certification label for these buses was incorrectly imprinted "multipurpose vehicle" instead of "bus/non school bus." this does not meet the requirements of part 567, "certification."

   Remedy: Owners will be mailed corrected certification labels and installation instructions.

   Model years: 1998

3. Anchorage (seat belts)

   NHTSA 81V070000 Reported June 8, 1981 150 vehicles potentially affected VAN-CON, INCORPORATED

   The involved school buses do not comply with federal motor vehicle safety standard no. 210, "seat belt assembly anchorages", in that the seat belt anchorages were not spaced 6.5 inches apart.

   Remedy: The owner is asked to inspect his/her seat belt anchorage for the required 6.5 inch clearance. Those that do not have the required clearance will be corrected at no charge. The owner also has the option to bring his…

   Model years: 1978, 1979, 1980

4. Buckle assembly (seat belts)

   NHTSA 79V223000 Reported October 1, 1979 2,400 vehicles potentially affected VAN-CON, INCORPORATED

   The involved vehicles do not conform to federal motor vehicle safety standard no. 209, "seat belt assemblies". The knurl bar in the buckle does not adequately hold the webbing in place under load.

   Remedy: Seat belts will be inspected and, if necessary, a v-shaped metal insert of 16 gauge steel will be fitted over the buckle webbing guide and welded to the inside buckle frame.

   Model years: 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978

Other Van-Con models

• Chevy38 complaints
• GMC Savana1 complaints
• 33803 Dual Rear-Wheel0 complaints
• Dual Rear Wheel0 complaints
• Type A0 complaints
• Wheelchair Lift Bus0 complaints

Source: NHTSA recall and complaint databases and EPA fuel economy data, October 2026. Complaint counts are owner reports to NHTSA, not verified defects. Recall counts are safety campaigns that list this model year; whether a particular car was already repaired depends on its VIN. How this data is compiled.