Some Gwinnett County Public School buses may be part of nationwide recall issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The NHTSA says the buses do not comply with the federal safety requirements. According to a news release, the bus seat backs on about 50,000 buses were made with styrene blocks and they may not give enough impact absorption around the back of the seat frame.
In a crash, a rider could be hurt.
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The recall affects 53,528 2014 through 2020 Thomas Built bus models:
- Saf-T-Liner EFX
- Minotour
- Saf-T-Liner C2
- Safe-T-Liner HDX
All of the buses have SynTec S3B or S3C seats.
“Roughly 315 of our 1,900 buses COULD be affected by the recall, but Thomas has not yet released the information (VINs) that will identify the exact buses involved in the recall,” said Bernard Watson, Gwinnett school district spokesman.
“It is important to note, according to Thomas, the issue does not place the bus out of service. The bottom of the seat back does not have enough
padding. The proposed fix is to add 2 inches of additional padding.”
Daimler Trucks North America, owner of the Thomas Built Buses company, will notify owners of the affected buses and dealers will add padding between the frame and the seat cover at no cost.
The recall begins Dec. 2.
Cox Media Group National Content Desk contributed to this report.
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