Blue Bird Equipment Adaptive/Mobility

Blue Bird is recalling about 23 vehicles over a problem with the equipment adaptive/mobility. The user of the lift could be injured should the lift move without the restraint belt properly buckled.

Campaign
10V134000
Manufacturer
BLUE BIRD BODY COMPANY
Reported
5 April 2010
Vehicles
23
Built between
Dec 2007 – Dec 2009
Models
3
Recall type
Vehicle
Initiated by
Manufacturer
Owners notified
27 April 2010
Repaired
Not reported
Unrepaired
Not reported

Does this affect my vehicle?

This recall covers vehicles built between December 2007 and December 2009. If yours was built outside that window, it is not part of this recall.

  • 2008-2010 Blue Bird ALL AmericanBuilt December 2007 to December 2009
  • 2008-2010 Blue Bird ConventionalBuilt December 2007 to December 2009
  • 2008-2010 Blue Bird Micro BirdBuilt December 2007 to December 2009

What the defect is

Blue bird has notified NHTSA about a defect in certain model year 2008 through 2010 all american, conventional, and micro bird transi buses manufactured from december 16, 2007 through december 21, 2009 equipped with ricon model s or k series public use wheelchair lifts. The restraint belt on these lifts was designed to prevent the lift from moving, unless the tongue of the belt is fully engaged and latched in the buckle. Ricon has discovered, however, that it is possible for the operator to insert the belt tongue into the buckle without fully engaging the latching mechanism. In this case, the restraint belt would appear to be latched, and the operator could run the lift. If the restraint belt tongue is not fully engaged into the restraint belt buckle, and latched, the lift may operate with an occupant on the platform.

What could happen

The user of the lift could be injured should the lift move without the restraint belt properly buckled.

What gets fixed

BLUE BIRD IS WORKING WITH RICON AND RICON WILL BE HANDLING THE REMEDY FOR THIS CAMPAIGN. PLEASE SEE RICON'S DEFECT REPORT 09E-060. RICON WILL PROVIDE CUSTOMERS WITH A WARNING DECAL AND A DVD-BASED TRAINING AID. THE SAFETY RECALL BEGAN ON APRIL 27, 2010.

Timeline

  1. Vehicles builtDecember 2007 to December 2009
  2. Recall reported to NHTSA5 April 2010
  3. Owners notified27 April 2010

Your rights

A safety recall repair is free. Under US federal law the manufacturer must fix a safety defect at no cost to you — no charge for parts, labor or diagnosis — whether or not you are the original owner. A dealer cannot charge you for recall work, and cannot require you to have bought the vehicle from them.

That entitlement is not unlimited. It applies where the vehicle was first sold less than 15 years before the recall was announced — 5 years for tires. Past that a manufacturer may still do the repair free of charge, and many do, but they are no longer obliged to. This recall was reported on 5 April 2010.

To arrange the repair, contact any franchised dealer for the brand. If a dealer refuses the work or tries to charge for it, you can report that to NHTSA at nhtsa.gov/recalls or on 1-888-327-4236.

Manufacturer contact

Owners may contact ricon at 1-818-267-3000 or blue bird at 1-478-822-2242.

Official source

Manufacturer's recall number
R10RT
Recalling manufacturer
BLUE BIRD BODY COMPANY
Recall initiated by
MFR

Everything on this page — the models listed, the build dates and the repair figures — comes from the manufacturer's filing to NHTSA and describes the vehicle line as a whole, not any individual car. Only the manufacturer can confirm whether a specific vehicle is affected, and whether its recall work has already been carried out. Check yours by VIN and read the official notice at nhtsa.gov/recalls.

Additional notes

Blue bird's recall campaign number is R10RT.OWNERS may also contact the national highway traffic safety administration's vehicle safety hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (tty 1-800-424-9153), or go to <a href=http://www.safercar.gov>http://www.safercar.gov</a> .

Check your own vehicle

This page describes the recall, not any one car. To see which recalls cover a specific vehicle, search by make, model and year.

A VIN lookup here identifies your vehicle and shows recalls issued for that make, model and year. It cannot tell you what is still open on your individual car - only the manufacturer knows that. Search by VIN instead, or check your VIN at nhtsa.gov for whether a recall is still open on your individual car.

Same component

Same brand