The defect
Blue Bird Body Company (Blue Bird) is recalling certain model year 2007-2015 All American and Vision, 2007-2011 Micro Bird, and 2007-2008 Conventional school buses equipped with certain model S2005, S2010, S5005, S5010, S5505, and S5510 wheelchair lifts manufactured by Ricon Corporation. The platform side plate of the affected wheelchair lifts may crack.
The risk
If the platform side plates crack, the lift platform can separate from the lift and come to rest against the vehicle's lift door. When the doors are opened, the platform may fall out, increasing the risk of injury to the lift operator.
The remedy
Blue Bird will notify owners to take buses to a Ricon dealer or service center who will install supplemental platform support bumpers. Any platform that has already started cracking will be replaced, free of charge. The recall began on October 1, 2014. Owners may contact Blue Bird customer service at 1-478-822-2242 or Ricon customer service at 1-800-322-2884. Blue Bird's number for this recall is R14XN.
NHTSA's own wording · initiated by MFR
Vehicles covered
| Model | Model years |
|---|---|
| Blue Bird ALL American | 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 |
| Blue Bird Conventional | 2007, 2008 |
| Blue Bird Micro Bird | 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 |
| Blue Bird Vision | 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 |
Components: EQUIPMENT ADAPTIVE/MOBILITY
Model years in this recall
NHTSA complaints and the number of recall campaigns for each model year this recall covers.
| Model | Year | Complaints | Recalls |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Bird ALL American | 2007 | 4 | 21 |
| Blue Bird ALL American | 2008 | 4 | 32 |
| Blue Bird ALL American | 2009 | 3 | 33 |
| Blue Bird ALL American | 2010 | 0 | 42 |
| Blue Bird ALL American | 2011 | 0 | 35 |
| Blue Bird ALL American | 2012 | 0 | 30 |
| Blue Bird ALL American | 2013 | 1 | 28 |
| Blue Bird ALL American | 2014 | 0 | 26 |
| Blue Bird ALL American | 2015 | 3 | 27 |
| Blue Bird Conventional | 2007 | 0 | 6 |
| Blue Bird Conventional | 2008 | 1 | 7 |
| Blue Bird Micro Bird | 2007 | 0 | 10 |
| Blue Bird Micro Bird | 2008 | 0 | 16 |
| Blue Bird Micro Bird | 2009 | 0 | 14 |
| Blue Bird Micro Bird | 2010 | 0 | 12 |
| Blue Bird Micro Bird | 2011 | 0 | 5 |
| Blue Bird Vision | 2007 | 3 | 21 |
| Blue Bird Vision | 2008 | 1 | 30 |
| Blue Bird Vision | 2009 | 6 | 28 |
| Blue Bird Vision | 2010 | 2 | 25 |
| Blue Bird Vision | 2011 | 0 | 22 |
| Blue Bird Vision | 2012 | 1 | 19 |
| Blue Bird Vision | 2013 | 2 | 25 |
| Blue Bird Vision | 2014 | 0 | 22 |
| Blue Bird Vision | 2015 | 4 | 27 |
Other equipment adaptive/mobility recalls in 2014
44 of the 770 recall campaigns reported to NHTSA in 2014 concerned the equipment adaptive/mobility; Blue Bird Body Company filed 162 campaigns in all.
| 14V825000 29 Dec 2014 | Dodgen Industries, Inc. |
| 14V799000 17 Dec 2014 | Farber Specialty Vehicles |
| 14V780000 8 Dec 2014 | Kingmor Supply, Inc. |
| 14V766000 2 Dec 2014 | Double K Inc. |
| 14V767000 2 Dec 2014 | Halcore Group, Inc. |
| 14V742000 19 Nov 2014 | Champion Bus, Inc. |
| 14V728000 13 Nov 2014 | Ameritrans Bus, Inc. |
| 14V729000 13 Nov 2014 | Forest River, Inc. |
NHTSA recalls (public domain) · all recalls of 2014