2004 Thomas School Bus problems

What is wrong

Certain freightliner trucks and thomas school buses equipped with holland/neway air suspension systems, a transverse beam casting may fracture under normal loads. If a casting breaks when the vehicle is traveling on a roadway there is the potential for pieces of the casting to become projectiles and the suspension's transverse beam may drop down low enough to contact the road surface.

Risk

This will cause sparks that could potentially ignite and cause a fire.

Remedy

Dealers will inspect and replace the defective transverse beam assemblies. The recall began for thomas built owners on february 10, 2006; and for freightliner owners on april 14, 2006. Owners may contact freightliner at 1‑800‑547‑0712.

Recall number 05V284000 · Recall details

As a result of the odi investigation, freightliner has agreed to recall (number 07v‑289) all of the vehicles manufactured with steering columns potentially missing welds.the recall remedy will involve inspecting the recalled vehicles for missing welds and if found replace the steering column.early warning aggregate data submitted to the federal safety agency by freightliner suggested that a steering problem (ewr code 01) existed for the 2004 and 2005 century and columbia class vehicles.the count of field reports submitted for the first quarter of 2006 was higher than the average of the previous 6 quarters for the aggregate steering data.odi's further review of the ewr data foundfield reports that described steering column failures as a result of steering column welds cracking or breaking.information received from freightliner detailed failures of the steering columns on the subject vehicles.these failures were the result of missing and cracked welds on the steering column assembly.during testing of vehicles containing defective steering columns, odi determined that weld failures in the steering column create a situation where the vehicle becomes difficult to steer or may startle the driver upon failing, thus presenting a safety risk.a copy of the recall is attached.freightliner's action resolves the issues raised by this investigation and, therefore, this investigation is closed.

EA07002