- Vehicles
- 701
- Built between
- Mar 2014 – Jun 2018
- Models
- 1
- Recall type
- Vehicle
- Initiated by
- Manufacturer
- Owners notified
- 28 June 2019
- Repaired
- 95%
- Unrepaired
- 38
Does this affect my vehicle?
This recall covers vehicles built between March 2014 and June 2018. If yours was built outside that window, it is not part of this recall.
- 2015-2019 Thomas Built Buses MinotourBuilt March 2014 to June 2018
Repair progress
38 of 701 vehicles in this recall had still not been repaired as of Q1 2021.
95% repaired — 663 of 701 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 2016-2019 Thomas Built Buses Minotour school buses with 36" or 39" wide seats. The rear emergency exit door may not open wide enough to meet the unobstructed emergency egress area requirements. 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 door does not open wide enough, it may limit the ability to exit the bus, increasing the risk of injury in the event of an emergency.
What gets fixed
DTNA will notify owners, and dealers will modify the rear door slide system, increasing the angle that the door can open, free of charge. DTNA issued owners an interim notification on November 8, 2018. The recall began June 28, 2019.
Timeline
- Vehicles builtMarch 2014 to June 2018
- Recall reported to NHTSA5 October 2018
- Owners notified28 June 2019
- Latest repair reportQ1 2021 — 95% 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 5 October 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 DTNA customer service at 1-800-547-0712. DTNA's number for this recall is FL-797.
Official source
- Manufacturer's recall number
- FL-797
- Recalling manufacturer
- Daimler Trucks North America LLC
- 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.