Blue Bird Parking Brake

Blue Bird is recalling about 217 vehicles over a problem with the parking brake. If the park brake pedal arm fractures, the bus may unexpectedly roll increasing the risk of personal injury or a vehicle crash.

Campaign
13V643000
Manufacturer
Blue Bird Body Company
Reported
24 December 2013
Vehicles
217
Built between
Sep 2013 – Dec 2013
Models
2
Recall type
Vehicle
Initiated by
Manufacturer
Owners notified
31 December 2013
Repaired
79%
Unrepaired
56

Does this affect my vehicle?

This recall covers vehicles built between September 2013 and December 2013. If yours was built outside that window, it is not part of this recall.

  • 2014-2015 Blue Bird ALL AmericanBuilt September 2013 to December 2013
  • 2014-2015 Blue Bird VisionBuilt September 2013 to December 2013

Repair progress

56 of 263 vehicles in this recall had still not been repaired as of Q1 2015.

79% repaired — 207 of 263 reported

Manufacturers file these figures with NHTSA each quarter. Vehicles the manufacturer could not trace, or that have been scrapped or exported, are counted separately and are not included in the unrepaired figure.

What the defect is

Blue Bird Corporation is recalling certain 2014-2015 model year All American and Vision school buses manufactured from September 24, 2013, through December 6, 2013. In the affected vehicles, a component within the hydraulic park brake pedal arm may not have been properly heat treated and may fracture causing the parking brake to release without warning.

What could happen

If the park brake pedal arm fractures, the bus may unexpectedly roll increasing the risk of personal injury or a vehicle crash.

What gets fixed

Blue Bird has notified owners and dealers will install a new parking brake assembly, free of charge. The recall began on December 31, 2013.

Timeline

  1. Vehicles builtSeptember 2013 to December 2013
  2. Recall reported to NHTSA24 December 2013
  3. Owners notified31 December 2013
  4. Latest repair reportQ1 2015 — 79% repaired

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 24 December 2013.

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 Blue Bird at 1-478-822-2242. Blue Bird's number for this recall is R13WT.

Official source

Manufacturer's recall number
R13WT
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

Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), or go to www.safercar.gov.

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