The defect
Blue Bird Body Company (Blue Bird) is recalling certain 2021-2024 All American and 2021-2022 Vision school buses. A software error in the instrument cluster may cause the air pressure gauges and the visual and audio low air warnings to not function. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 121, "Air Brake Systems."
The risk
Air gauges and warnings that do not alert the driver to air pressure loss can result in driving without functioning brakes, increasing the risk of a crash.
The remedy
Dealers will update the instrument cluster software, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed July 27, 2023, 2023. Owners may contact Blue Bird's customer service at 1-478-822-2242. Blue Bird's number for this recall is R23CH (School Bus).
NHTSA's own wording · initiated by MFR
Vehicles covered
| Model | Model years |
|---|---|
| Blue Bird ALL American School Bus | 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 |
| Blue Bird Vision School Bus | 2021, 2022 |
Components: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM: INSTRUMENT CLUSTER/PANEL | SERVICE BRAKES, AIR
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 School Bus | 2021 | 0 | 18 |
| Blue Bird ALL American School Bus | 2022 | 2 | 10 |
| Blue Bird ALL American School Bus | 2023 | 2 | 6 |
| Blue Bird ALL American School Bus | 2024 | 0 | 4 |
| Blue Bird Vision School Bus | 2021 | 1 | 26 |
| Blue Bird Vision School Bus | 2022 | 0 | 17 |
Other electrical system recalls in 2023
178 of the 894 recall campaigns reported to NHTSA in 2023 concerned the electrical system; Blue Bird Body Company filed 162 campaigns in all.
| 23V904000 29 Dec 2023 | Cake 0 Emission USA Inc |
| 23V901000 26 Dec 2023 | Hyundai Motor America |
| 23V888000 22 Dec 2023 | Prevost Car (US) Inc. |
| 23V894000 22 Dec 2023 | Rosenbauer America |
| 23V879000 21 Dec 2023 | Daimler Trucks North America, LLC |
| 23V873000 21 Dec 2023 | REV Ambulance Group Orlando, Inc. |
| 23V867000 20 Dec 2023 | Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. |
| 23V864000 20 Dec 2023 | Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing |
NHTSA recalls (public domain) · all recalls of 2023