- Vehicles
- 53,528
- Built between
- Jul 2013 – Aug 2019
- Models
- 4
- Recall type
- Vehicle
- Initiated by
- Manufacturer
- Owners notified
- 22 June 2020
- Repaired
- 65%
- Unrepaired
- 18,639
Does this affect my vehicle?
This recall covers vehicles built between July 2013 and August 2019. If yours was built outside that window, it is not part of this recall.
- 2014-2020 Thomas Built Buses MinotourBuilt July 2013 to August 2019
- 2014-2020 Thomas Built Buses SAF-T-Liner C2Built July 2013 to August 2019
- 2014-2020 Thomas Built Buses SAF-T-Liner EFXBuilt July 2013 to August 2019
- 2014-2020 Thomas Built Buses SAF-T-Liner HDXBuilt July 2013 to August 2019
Repair progress
18,639 of 53,528 vehicles in this recall had still not been repaired as of Q1 2022.
65% repaired — 34,889 of 53,528 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 2014-2020 Thomas Built Saf-T-Liner EFX, Minotour, Saf-T-Liner C2, and Saf-T-Liner HDX school buses equipped with SynTec S3B or S3C seats. The seats may have been manufactured with styrene blocks that may not provide sufficient impact absorption in certain specific areas around the steel seat frame of the back support. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 222, "School Bus Passenger Seating and Crash Protection."
What could happen
The lack of impact absorption increases the risk of injury in the event of a crash.
What gets fixed
DTNA will notify owners, and dealers will install additional impact material between the re-bond back and the vinyl back cover to increase the amount of absorption, free of charge. DTNA issued owners an interim notification on November 29, 2019. The recall began June 22, 2020.
Timeline
- Vehicles builtJuly 2013 to August 2019
- Recall reported to NHTSA4 October 2019
- Owners notified22 June 2020
- Latest repair reportQ1 2022 — 65% 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 4 October 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-832.
Official source
- Manufacturer's recall number
- FL-832
- Recalling manufacturer
- Daimler Trucks North America LLC
- Safety standard
- FMVSS 222
- 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.