Garden State Structure: Escape/Egress/Exit

Garden State is recalling about 20 vehicles over a problem with the structure. If the emergency exit is located in the wrong location, it can cause a delay in exiting the vehicle in the event of an emergency, increasing the risk of injury.

Campaign
18V519000
Manufacturer
Garden State Bus Group
Reported
6 August 2018
Vehicles
20
Built between
Jan 2015 – Dec 2015
Models
1
Recall type
Vehicle
Initiated by
Manufacturer
Owners notified
5 October 2018
Repaired
0%
Unrepaired
20

Does this affect my vehicle?

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

  • 2015 Garden State Double Deck BUSBuilt January 2015 to December 2015

Repair progress

20 of 20 vehicles in this recall had still not been repaired as of Q1 2020.

0% repaired — 0 of 20 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

Garden State Bus Group (Garden State) is recalling certain 2015 Garden State Double Deck Buses. The roof emergency exit may be incorrectly located towards the center of the passenger compartment and not in the rear, as required. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 217, "Bus Emergency Exits and Window Retention and Release."

What could happen

If the emergency exit is located in the wrong location, it can cause a delay in exiting the vehicle in the event of an emergency, increasing the risk of injury.

What gets fixed

Garden State will notify owners, and dealers will install an additional emergency exit hatch in the rear portion of the lower level that opens to the upper level, free of charge. The manufacturer has not yet provided a notification schedule.

Timeline

  1. Vehicles builtJanuary 2015 to December 2015
  2. Recall reported to NHTSA6 August 2018
  3. Owners notified5 October 2018
  4. Latest repair reportQ1 2020 — 0% 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 6 August 2018.

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 Garden State customer service at 1-888-800-3779.

Official source

Recalling manufacturer
Garden State Bus Group
Safety standard
FMVSS 217
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.

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