Dallas

North Texas School Buses Affected in Nationwide Recall, Districts Say

Some North Texas school districts said they weren't aware of the recall

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A nationwide recall is affecting hundreds of school buses across North Texas, NBC 5 has learned.

Daimler Trucks North America is recalling about 53,528 buses nationwide due to an issue with the passenger seats. Daimler said it issued the recall in October out of an abundance of caution because the seatbacks might not have enough padding to properly protect passengers in a crash.

The manufacturer said these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of a Federal Motor Vehicle Safety standard pertaining to seating and crash protection.

The affected buses are:

• Thomas Built Buses Minotour, 2014-2020 models
• Thomas Built Buses SAF-T-liner C2, 2014-2020 models
• Thomas Built Buses, SAF-T-liner EFX, 2014-2020 models
• Thomas Built Buses SAF-T-liner HDX, 2014-2020 models

NBC 5 has reached out to nearly 60 school districts across the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Below are the responses we have received since Tuesday:

• Lewisville ISD had 275 out of their 288-total fleet affected; all have already been repaired.
• Fort Worth ISD said 126 of its buses are "in the recall year range" but are still waiting to confirm the recalled vehicle identification numbers. They've already replaced the seats in many of their buses.
• Dallas ISD is looking into this and promised to get back to us today.
• Grapevine-Colleyville ISD has 7 buses affected.
• Birdville ISD says two buses are involved, but added they were not notified about the recall.

daimler-trucks-north-america-school-bus-recall
Thomas Built Buses
Daimler Trucks North America is recalling about 53,000 buses nationwide due to an issue with the passenger seats. (Published Nov. 13, 2019)

Other school districts say they are waiting for the manufacturer to confirm whether their buses are affected. Daimler Trucks says school districts will be given confirmation by Dec. 2, 2019.

The manufacturer told NBC Washington it will begin offering a free fix in early December and the repair process could take until June because of the number of buses affected.

For more information on the recall, click here.

ONLINE: NHTSA Recall Page

NBC 5's Alanna Quillen contributed to this report.

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