Thomas Built Buses Steering: Hose, Piping, and Connections

Thomas Built Buses is recalling about 65 vehicles over a problem with the steering. If the hose separates from the steering gear, there may be a loss of steering assist which could result in a potentially disabled school bus.

Campaign
19V234000
Manufacturer
Daimler Trucks North America LLC
Reported
25 March 2019
Vehicles
65
Built between
Jun 2018 – Jan 2019
Models
1
Recall type
Vehicle
Initiated by
Manufacturer
Owners notified
10 May 2019
Repaired
71%
Unrepaired
19

Does this affect my vehicle?

This recall covers vehicles built between June 2018 and January 2019. If yours was built outside that window, it is not part of this recall.

  • 2019-2020 Thomas Built Buses SAF-T-Liner C2Built June 2018 to January 2019

Repair progress

19 of 65 vehicles in this recall had still not been repaired as of Q1 2021.

71% repaired — 46 of 65 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 2019-2020 Thomas Built C2 Saf-T-Liner school buses built on an FCCC chassis. The clamp for the steering gear return hose may have been improperly installed, allowing the hose to separate from the steering gear.

What could happen

If the hose separates from the steering gear, there may be a loss of steering assist which could result in a potentially disabled school bus. If the school bus is occupied when the steering assist is lost, the occupants would need to exit the vehicle and be transferred to another vehicle, increasing the risk of injury.

What gets fixed

DTNA will notify owners, and dealers will inspect and install power steering hose clamps as needed, free of charge. The recall began May 10, 2019.

Timeline

  1. Vehicles builtJune 2018 to January 2019
  2. Recall reported to NHTSA25 March 2019
  3. Owners notified10 May 2019
  4. Latest repair reportQ1 2021 — 71% 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 25 March 2019.

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-813.

Official source

Manufacturer's recall number
FL-813
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.

Same component

Same brand