- Vehicles
- 733
- Built between
- May 2007 – Mar 2008
- Models
- 1
- Recall type
- Vehicle
- Initiated by
- Manufacturer
- Owners notified
- 10 March 2016
- Repaired
- 47%
- Unrepaired
- 315
Does this affect my vehicle?
This recall covers vehicles built between May 2007 and March 2008. If yours was built outside that window, it is not part of this recall.
- 2008-2009 Blue Bird VisionBuilt May 2007 to March 2008
Repair progress
315 of 733 vehicles in this recall had still not been repaired as of Q2 2017.
47% repaired — 342 of 733 reported
- Owners not reachable
- 42
- Scrapped or exported
- 34
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 2008-2009 Vision school buses manufactured from May 10, 2007, through March 5, 2008 and equipped with Caterpillar C707 engines. In the affected buses, the positive starter cable may be incorrectly attached to the same Power Distribution Unit (PDU) stud as the battery cable, exposing the smaller battery cable to a higher current draw during cranking.
What could happen
Exposure to high current draw may cause the battery cable to overheat, melt the wire insulation and increase the risk of a short circuit and a fire.
What gets fixed
Blue Bird will notify owners, and dealers will relocate the starter cable to the chassis power stud. Any damaged battery cables will be replaced. These repairs will be made free of charge. The recall began on March 10, 2016.
Timeline
- Vehicles builtMay 2007 to March 2008
- Recall reported to NHTSA23 February 2016
- Owners notified10 March 2016
- Latest repair reportQ2 2017 — 47% 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 23 February 2016.
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. Blue Bird's recall number for this campaign is R16YL-SB.
Official source
- Manufacturer's recall number
- R16YL-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.