The defect
Blue Bird Body Company (Blue Bird) is recalling certain model year 2013-2016 All American A3FE, A3RE, T3FE, T3RE, and D3RE school buses manufactured June 28, 2012, to September 25, 2014, and 2013-2016 Vision BBCV school buses manufactured June 9, 2012, to September 30, 2014. Incorrect fasteners may have been used to secure the seat gusset reinforcement to the side wall resulting in the seat belts being improperly anchored. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 210, "Seat Belt Assembly Anchorages."
The risk
If the seat belts are improperly anchored, there is an increased risk of occupant injury in the event of a crash.
The remedy
Blue Bird will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the the seat gusset reinforcement mounting fasteners, and will install an additional gusset reinforcement bracket, as necessary, free of charge. The recall began on April 2, 2015. Owners may contact Blue Bird customer service at 1-478-822-2242. Blue Birds number for this recall is R15YC-SB.
NHTSA's own wording · initiated by MFR
Vehicles covered
| Model | Model years |
|---|---|
| Blue Bird ALL American | 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 |
| Blue Bird Vision | 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 |
Components: SEAT BELTS
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 | 2013 | 1 | 28 |
| Blue Bird ALL American | 2014 | 0 | 26 |
| Blue Bird ALL American | 2015 | 3 | 27 |
| Blue Bird ALL American | 2016 | 1 | 20 |
| Blue Bird Vision | 2013 | 2 | 25 |
| Blue Bird Vision | 2014 | 0 | 22 |
| Blue Bird Vision | 2015 | 4 | 27 |
| Blue Bird Vision | 2016 | 2 | 27 |
Other seat belts recalls in 2015
26 of the 863 recall campaigns reported to NHTSA in 2015 concerned the seat belts; Blue Bird Body Company filed 162 campaigns in all.
| 15V876000 23 Dec 2015 | General Motors LLC |
| 15V867000 22 Dec 2015 | Ford Motor Company |
| 15V848000 17 Dec 2015 | Jayco, Inc. |
| 15V820000 7 Dec 2015 | Polaris Industries, Inc. |
| 15V806000 30 Nov 2015 | Forest River, Inc. |
| 15V780000 23 Nov 2015 | Tesla Motors, Inc. |
| 15V694000 23 Oct 2015 | Halcore Group, Inc. |
| 15V657000 14 Oct 2015 | Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC. |
NHTSA recalls (public domain) · all recalls of 2015