Washington Manufacturer Says School Bus Brakes May Fail

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Canoe

Saturday, September 2, 2000

School bus brakes may fail: manufacturer

WASHINGTON (CP) -- One of the largest school bus manufacturers in North America, Thomas Built Buses Inc., of High Point, N.C., has warned schools about possible brake defects.

The company sent a letter, dated Aug. 30, to several hundred school systems across the United States, issuing the warning just days before the traditional opening of schools after the Labour Day weekend.

A spokeswoman for Portland, Ore.-based Freightliner Corp., of which Thomas Built is a subsidiary, said there were Canadian school buses affected, but she didn't know how many.

"We've got 6,000 buses in total affected but we don't the know the dispersement (in Canada)," Debi Nicholson said.

She said the problem stems from the buses' Bendix brake system, which is used by about 46,000 buses made by a number of different manufacturers across North America.

Rick Batyko, spokesman for Elyria, Ohio-based Bendix, said in a news release the braking system in question is the EC-17-1030R.

In addition to Thomas and Freightliner, it is used by Blue Bird Corp., Ford, Volvo Trucks North America, Magnum Terminal Tractors, Mack Trucks Inc., Ottawa, International Truck & Engine, GM and Motor Coach Industries.

Batyko said Bendix and vehicle manufacturers are notifying fleet operators using the brakes and "recommending that they conduct robust inspections of the wheel speed sensor cables."

Thomas Built has had one reported incident from the brake problem, which causes buses to lose their brakes for up to four seconds at low speeds of under 32 kilometres an hour.

The affected Thomas Built buses were made between March 1998 and August 2000.

Nicholson said staff were available to inspect affected buses at Freightliner dealerships in Canada over the weekend.

Thomas Built wrote in an Aug. 30 letter sent to hundreds of school districts across the United States that the defect involves the anti-lock brake system.

The brake system's electronic control units can "misinterpret" certain signals from the wheels, resulting in the temporary loss of braking capability "in one or more wheel positions," the letter said.

The company told the districts how to inspect their buses' brakes and said repair kits were being manufactured and would be shipped by November. Bendix reported an incident in which a San Francisco school bus experienced a "temporary loss of brake capability," although the driver was able to bring the bus to a safe stop, Freightliner President Jim Hebe told the Post.

"Action was taken as quickly as possible," Hebe said.

"We are the first manufacturer to notify our customers. We are extremely concerned about this."

Hebe said school officials could call a Freightliner help line -- 800-FTL-HELP -- to arrange for an inspection of any buses that might present a safety problem.

Some school districts said they had yet to receive the warning from Thomas Built about the braking problem. Others complained the company's letter was unclear.

"The letter is vague and cryptic and borderline irresponsible in its lack of detail," said Brian Porter, a spokesman for the Montgomery County, Md., school district.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), September 02, 2000

Answers

This is terrible; this is the only place I've read anything on this; I can't find a thing any place else.

-- Nancy7 (nancy7@Hotmail.com), September 02, 2000.

Nancy, this story is just breaking. A few articles are showing-up tonight on the worldwires at www.7am.com. You're going to hear quite a bit about it in the next few days because it will affect the trucking industry as well as school buses.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), September 02, 2000.

Canoe

Saturday, September 2, 2000

School bus brakes may fail: manufacturer

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP-CP) -- One of the largest school-bus builders in North America is warning 6,000 of its buses may have defective brake systems and as many as 300,000 other vehicles -- primarily large commercial trucks -- could also be affected.

The defect is in an anti-lock brake system manufactured from March 1998 to last month, said Debi Nicholson, a spokeswoman for Freightliner Corp., the Portland-based parent company of Thomas Built Buses Inc. Freightliner is a Daimler-Chrysler company.

hen vehicles are moving slowly, less than 32 kilometres an hour, they can temporarily lose their braking ability for up to three seconds, Nicholson said Saturday.

The company sent a letter, dated Aug. 30, to several hundred school systems across the United States, issuing the warning just days before the traditional opening of schools after the Labour Day weekend.

Nicholson said there were Canadian school buses affected but she didn't know how many.

"We've got 6,000 buses in total affected but we don't the know the dispersement (in Canada)." Nicholson said.

Thomas Built has a plant in Woodstock Ont., which supplies buses to Canada and the northern states.

It also has distributors in Drummondville, Que., Ingersoll, Ont., Cambridge Station, N.S., Regina, St. Germain, Man., and Spruce Grove, Alta.

The Spruce Grove distributor supplied 16 buses to Pacific Western Airlines in July for use as shuttle buses at Lester B. Pearson International Airport in Toronto.

The problem was discovered by the brake system's manufacturer, Bendix of Elyria, Ohio, which told Freightliner in June a San Francisco school bus had experienced a "temporary loss of brake capability."

The driver was able to bring the bus to a safe stop.

No accidents have been directly linked to the brake systems and Bendix spokesman Rick Batyko said Saturday the system's emergency brake still works. It is only under "very rare circumstances" that a school-bus brake system would completely fail, he said.

The company has sold 300,000 of the same type of ABS systems, primarily for use in tractor-trailers and large trucks. About 46,000 are in buses made by International, Blue Bird and Thomas Built.

Batyko said Bendix has recommended all its manufacturers who use the brake system issue recalls. Forty incidents of drivers losing their braking power have been reported but there have been no accidents, he said.

The brake system's electronic control units can "misinterpret" certain signals from the wheels, resulting in the temporary loss of braking capability "in one or more wheel positions," Thomas Built wrote in an Aug. 30 letter sent to hundreds of school districts nationwide.

The company said repair kits were being manufactured and would be shipped by November. Meanwhile, Freightliner dealerships are prepared to inspect buses around the clock, Nicholson said.

She said staff were available to inspect affected buses at Freightliner dealerships in Canada over the weekend.

Batyko said in a news release the braking system in question is the EC-17-1030R.

In addition to Thomas Built, International and Blue Bird Corp., it is used by Ford, Volvo Trucks North America, Magnum Terminal Tractors, Mack Trucks Inc., Ottawa, GM and Motor Coach Industries.

Batyko said Bendix and vehicle manufacturers are notifying fleet operators using the brakes and "recommending that they conduct robust inspections of the wheel speed sensor cables."

Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems, which manufactures anti-lock braking systems, is a joint venture of U.S. aerospace giant Honeywell and Knorr-Bremse of Germany.

Freightliner president Jim Hebe told the Washington Post newspaper school officials could call a Freightliner help line -- 800-FTL-HELP -- to arrange for an inspection of any buses that might present a safety problem.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), September 03, 2000.


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