Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA), the parent company of Thomas Built Buses, is recalling 53,528 school buses due to concerns the seats by SynTec Seating Solutions may not comply with federal safety standards.
According to the information posted on the National Highway Transportation Safety Admistration’s (NHTSA’s) website, the recall applies to 2014 to 2020 model year Saf-T-Liner EFX, Minotour, Saf-T-Liner C2, and Saf-T-Liner HDX school buses equipped with SynTec S3B or S3C seats.
The recall summary states that the seats may have been built with styrene blocks that may not provide enough impact absorption in some areas around the steel seat frame of the back support, and therefore do not comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 222 requirements.
DTNA said it will begin notifying dealers and customers on Dec. 2. Additional impact material will be installed between the re-bond back and the vinyl back cover to increase the amount of absorption, free of charge.
If you have any questions, call DTNA customer service at 1-800-547-0712 (DTNA's number for this recall is FL-832) or call NHTSA Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236.
For more information on the recall for NHTSA, click here.