- Vehicles
- 508
- Built between
- Aug 2014 – Oct 2015
- Models
- 4
- Recall type
- Vehicle
- Initiated by
- Manufacturer
- Owners notified
- 21 January 2016
- Repaired
- 96%
- Unrepaired
- 20
Does this affect my vehicle?
This recall covers vehicles built between August 2014 and October 2015. If yours was built outside that window, it is not part of this recall.
- 2016-2017 Thomas Built Buses MinotourBuilt August 2014 to October 2015
- 2016-2017 Thomas Built Buses SAF-T-Liner C2Built August 2014 to October 2015
- 2016-2017 Thomas Built Buses SAF-T-Liner EFXBuilt August 2014 to August 2014
- 2016-2017 Thomas Built Buses SAF-T-Liner HDXBuilt August 2014 to October 2015
Repair progress
20 of 508 vehicles in this recall had still not been repaired as of Q2 2017.
96% repaired — 488 of 508 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
Daimler Trucks North America, LLC (DTNA) is recalling certain model year 2016-2017 Thomas Built Buses Saf-T-Liner C2, Saf-T-Liner HDX, Minotour DRW and Saf-T-Liner EFX school buses manufactured August 19, 2014, to October 22, 2015, and equipped with certain Syntec S3B Track Mounted Seats in 30", 36", 39" and 45" widths. In the event of a severe rear-end collision, the seats may tilt rearward. As such, these seats fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 222, "School Bus Passenger Seating and Crash Protection."
What could happen
In the event of a severe rear-end collision, the seats may tilt rearward and result in injuries to the passenger's knees and/or impede the exiting of the bus.
What gets fixed
DTNA will notify owners, and dealers will install a toe-clamp on the front feet of the S3B track mounted seats, free of charge. The recall began on January 21, 2016.
Timeline
- Vehicles builtAugust 2014 to October 2015
- Recall reported to NHTSA15 December 2015
- Owners notified21 January 2016
- Latest repair reportQ2 2017 — 96% 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 15 December 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 DTNA customer service at 1-800-745-8000, or Syntec customer service at 1-800-547-0712. DTNA's number for this recall is FL-698.
Official source
- Manufacturer's recall number
- FL-698
- Recalling manufacturer
- Daimler Trucks North America LLC
- Safety standard
- FMVSS 222
- 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.