Blue Bird Engine and Engine Cooling: Engine

Blue Bird is recalling about 840 vehicles over a problem with the engine and engine cooling. If engine oil comes into contact with a hot surface, there is an increased risk of a fire.

Campaign
15V293000
Manufacturer
Blue Bird Body Company
Reported
19 May 2015
Vehicles
840
Built between
Dec 2008 – May 2015
Models
1
Recall type
Vehicle
Initiated by
Manufacturer
Owners notified
12 June 2015
Repaired
86%
Unrepaired
121

Does this affect my vehicle?

This recall covers vehicles built between December 2008 and May 2015. If yours was built outside that window, it is not part of this recall.

  • 2009-2016 Blue Bird ALL AmericanBuilt December 2008 to May 2015

Repair progress

121 of 840 vehicles in this recall had still not been repaired as of Q3 2016.

86% repaired — 719 of 840 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 Body Company (Blue Bird) is recalling certain model year 2009-2016 All American rear engine school buses manufactured December 7, 2008, to May 11, 2015, and equipped with certain Cummins Westport ISL G engines. Excessive engine crankcase pressures may cause the 90-degree elbow of the vent tube assembly to detach from the crankcase ventilation breather, possibly allowing engine oil to come into contact with hot surfaces.

What could happen

If engine oil comes into contact with a hot surface, there is an increased risk of a fire.

What gets fixed

Cummins will notify owners on behalf of Blue Bird, and Cummins service centers will administer the repairs which include securing the ends of the 90-degree elbow and reprogramming the electronic control module (ECM) with software that can adjust the engine output under misfire conditions to limit crankcase pressures. These repairs will be performed free of charge. The recall began on June 12, 2015.

Timeline

  1. Vehicles builtDecember 2008 to May 2015
  2. Recall reported to NHTSA19 May 2015
  3. Owners notified12 June 2015
  4. Latest repair reportQ3 2016 — 86% 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 19 May 2015.

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 customer service at 1-478-822-2242 or Cummins Inc. at 1-800-343-7357. Blue Bird's number for this recall is R15YE-SB.

Official source

Manufacturer's recall number
R15YE-SB
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