The defect
Blue Bird Body Company (Blue Bird) is recalling certain 2018-2021 All-American and 2019-2021 Vision school buses. The three-point seatbelt assembly may have been installed without reinforcing washers under the floor at the anchorage point, possibly preventing the assembly from remaining anchored in the event of a crash. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 210, "Seat Belt Assembly Anchorages."
The risk
In the event of a crash, seat belt anchorages that do not remain secured increase the risk of injury to those seat occupants.
The remedy
Blue Bird will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the seat belt anchorage point hardware and install any missing hardware as needed, free of charge. This recall began August 11, 2020. Owners may contact Blue Bird customer service at 1-478-822-2242. Blue Bird's number for this recall is R20AX.
NHTSA's own wording · initiated by MFR
Vehicles covered
| Model | Model years |
|---|---|
| Blue Bird ALL American | 2018, 2019 |
| Blue Bird ALL American School Bus | 2020, 2021 |
| Blue Bird Vision | 2019 |
| Blue Bird Vision School Bus | 2020, 2021 |
Components: SEAT BELTS:FRONT:ANCHORAGE
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 | 2018 | 0 | 19 |
| Blue Bird ALL American | 2019 | 2 | 26 |
| Blue Bird ALL American School Bus | 2020 | 4 | 20 |
| Blue Bird ALL American School Bus | 2021 | 0 | 18 |
| Blue Bird Vision | 2019 | 0 | 41 |
| Blue Bird Vision School Bus | 2020 | 0 | 29 |
| Blue Bird Vision School Bus | 2021 | 1 | 26 |
Other seat belts recalls in 2020
38 of the 782 recall campaigns reported to NHTSA in 2020 concerned the seat belts; Blue Bird Body Company filed 162 campaigns in all.
| 20V811000 23 Dec 2020 | General Motors, LLC |
| 20V792000 17 Dec 2020 | General Motors, LLC |
| 20V793000 17 Dec 2020 | Jaguar Land Rover North America, LLC |
| 20V724000 20 Nov 2020 | Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. |
| 20V697000 12 Nov 2020 | Lion Electric Company |
| 20V671000 30 Oct 2020 | Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC. |
| 20V659000 27 Oct 2020 | Winnebago Industries, Inc |
| 20V661000 27 Oct 2020 | Braun Ambulances |
NHTSA recalls (public domain) · all recalls of 2020