- Vehicles
- 94
- Built between
- Apr 2010 – Apr 2016
- Models
- 1
- Recall type
- Vehicle
- Initiated by
- Manufacturer
- Owners notified
- 20 September 2016
- Repaired
- 64%
- Unrepaired
- 34
Does this affect my vehicle?
This recall covers vehicles built between April 2010 and April 2016. If yours was built outside that window, it is not part of this recall.
- 2011-2017 Thomas Built Buses SAF-T-Liner HDXBuilt April 2010 to April 2016
Repair progress
34 of 94 vehicles in this recall had still not been repaired as of Q4 2017.
64% repaired — 60 of 94 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 2011-2017 Thomas Built Buses Saf-T-Liner HDX school buses manufactured April 28, 2010, to April 15, 2016. The affected vehicles have a transmission retarder that may increase coolant system pressure high enough to cause hose fatigue and lead to premature failure of the hose, resulting in a coolant leak inside the bus body.
What could happen
If the heater hose fails, hot coolant may leak inside the bus body increasing risk of injury to the passengers.
What gets fixed
DTNA will notify owners, and dealers will replace the heater hose, free of charge. An interim notice was mailed on July 6, 2016. The recall began on September 20, 2016.
Timeline
- Vehicles builtApril 2010 to April 2016
- Recall reported to NHTSA19 May 2016
- Owners notified20 September 2016
- Latest repair reportQ4 2017 — 64% 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 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 DTNA customer service at 1-800-547-0712. DTNA's number for this recall is FL-709.
Official source
- Manufacturer's recall number
- FL-709
- Recalling manufacturer
- Daimler Trucks North America LLC
- 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.