The defect
Daimler Trucks North America LLC (DTNA) is recalling certain 2019-2020 Thomas Built Minotour, Saf-T Liner C2, Saf-T Liner EFX, and Saf-T Liner HDX school buses equipped with Safe Fleet Prolo Roof Escape hatches. Due to a manufacturing issue, the roof hatch external handle may unexpectedly break under reasonable use.
The risk
If the roof hatch external handle breaks, in the event of an emergency, the hatch cannot be easily opened from outside the vehicle, increasing the risk of injury.
The remedy
DTNA will notify owners, and dealers will install a new handle, free of charge. Owners were issued an interim notification on September 13, 2019. The recall began November 15, 2019. Owners may contact DTNA customer service at 1-800-547-0712. DTNA's number for this recall is FL-819.
NHTSA's own wording · initiated by MFR
Vehicles covered
| Model | Model years |
|---|---|
| Thomas Built Buses Minotour | 2019, 2020 |
| Thomas Built Buses SAF-T-Liner C2 | 2019, 2020 |
| Thomas Built Buses SAF-T-Liner EFX | 2019, 2020 |
| Thomas Built Buses SAF-T-Liner HDX | 2019, 2020 |
Components: STRUCTURE:EMERGENCY:ESCAPE/EGRESS/EXIT
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 | 2019 | 0 | 6 |
| Thomas Built Buses Minotour | 2020 | 0 | 7 |
| Thomas Built Buses SAF-T-Liner C2 | 2019 | 0 | 24 |
| Thomas Built Buses SAF-T-Liner C2 | 2020 | 1 | 16 |
| Thomas Built Buses SAF-T-Liner EFX | 2019 | 0 | 10 |
| Thomas Built Buses SAF-T-Liner EFX | 2020 | 0 | 8 |
| Thomas Built Buses SAF-T-Liner HDX | 2019 | 1 | 21 |
| Thomas Built Buses SAF-T-Liner HDX | 2020 | 0 | 18 |
Other structure recalls in 2019
58 of the 880 recall campaigns reported to NHTSA in 2019 concerned the structure; Daimler Trucks North America LLC filed 213 campaigns in all.
| 19V873000 10 Dec 2019 | Jayco, Inc. |
| 19V870000 9 Dec 2019 | ARBOC Specialty Vehicles, LLC |
| 19V865000 5 Dec 2019 | Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) |
| 19V842000 22 Nov 2019 | Transportation Collaborative, Inc. |
| 19V840000 21 Nov 2019 | Jaguar Land Rover North America, LLC |
| 19V836000 20 Nov 2019 | Temsa |
| 19V825000 18 Nov 2019 | Ducati North America |
| 19V824000 18 Nov 2019 | Forest River, Inc. |
NHTSA recalls (public domain) · all recalls of 2019