The defect
Daimler Trucks North America, LLC (DTNA) is recalling certain model year 2016-2017 Thomas Built Buses Saf-T-Liner C2, Saf-T-Liner HDX, Minotour DRW and Saf-T-Liner EFX school buses manufactured August 19, 2014, to October 22, 2015, and equipped with certain Syntec S3B Track Mounted Seats in 30", 36", 39" and 45" widths. In the event of a severe rear-end collision, the seats may tilt rearward. As such, these seats fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 222, "School Bus Passenger Seating and Crash Protection."
The risk
In the event of a severe rear-end collision, the seats may tilt rearward and result in injuries to the passenger's knees and/or impede the exiting of the bus.
The remedy
DTNA will notify owners, and dealers will install a toe-clamp on the front feet of the S3B track mounted seats, free of charge. The recall began on January 21, 2016. Owners may contact DTNA customer service at 1-800-745-8000, or Syntec customer service at 1-800-547-0712. DTNA's number for this recall is FL-698.
NHTSA's own wording · initiated by MFR
Vehicles covered
| Model | Model years |
|---|---|
| Thomas Built Buses Minotour | 2016, 2017 |
| Thomas Built Buses SAF-T-Liner C2 | 2016, 2017 |
| Thomas Built Buses SAF-T-Liner EFX | 2016, 2017 |
| Thomas Built Buses SAF-T-Liner HDX | 2016, 2017 |
Components: SEATS
Model years in this recall
NHTSA complaints and the number of recall campaigns for each model year this recall covers.
| Model | Year | Complaints | Recalls |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thomas Built Buses Minotour | 2016 | 0 | 20 |
| Thomas Built Buses Minotour | 2017 | 0 | 19 |
| Thomas Built Buses SAF-T-Liner C2 | 2016 | 0 | 25 |
| Thomas Built Buses SAF-T-Liner C2 | 2017 | 0 | 28 |
| Thomas Built Buses SAF-T-Liner EFX | 2016 | 0 | 12 |
| Thomas Built Buses SAF-T-Liner EFX | 2017 | 0 | 16 |
| Thomas Built Buses SAF-T-Liner HDX | 2016 | 0 | 29 |
| Thomas Built Buses SAF-T-Liner HDX | 2017 | 0 | 32 |
Other seats recalls in 2015
17 of the 863 recall campaigns reported to NHTSA in 2015 concerned the seats; Daimler Trucks North America LLC filed 213 campaigns in all.
| 15V862000 22 Dec 2015 | Motor Coach Industries |
| 15V833000 11 Dec 2015 | General Motors LLC |
| 15V824000 8 Dec 2015 | Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. |
| 15V653000 14 Oct 2015 | The RV Factory llc |
| 15V636000 9 Oct 2015 | General Motors LLC |
| 15V600000 25 Sept 2015 | Jaguar Land Rover North America, LLC |
| 15V503000 10 Aug 2015 | Goshen Coach |
| 15V397000 23 Jun 2015 | Forest River, Inc. |
NHTSA recalls (public domain) · all recalls of 2015