The Recall Desk
SevereNHTSA·10V400000·Announced 2010-09-07

Turtle Top Recalls Spirit School Buses With Defective Seat Barriers

Turtle Top is recalling 2005-2009 Spirit school buses equipped with Freedman seating barriers that use steel plates of incorrect gage, failing federal safety standards.

What this means for you

Illness, injury, or structural failure has been reported. Stop using the product immediately and contact the manufacturer for a refund or repair.

Our severity reasoning: The recall involves a structural vehicle defect where seat barriers fail to meet federal safety standards, posing a risk of injury in a crash, which aligns with the 'Severe' criteria for structural defects.

Plain-English summary

Turtle Top is recalling certain model year 2005 through 2009 Spirit (MFSAB Terra Transport) multi-function school activity buses manufactured between October 27, 2004, and July 31, 2009. The recall affects vehicles equipped with Freedman Seating Company seat restraint barriers. A total of 36 vehicles are affected by this recall.

The affected seats contain a steel plate with an incorrect gage of steel, which fails to conform to the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 222, "School Bus Passenger Seating and Crash Protection." In the event of a crash, the seat occupant may be injured due to this defect.

Turtle Top will notify owners and provide a repair kit along with instructions free of charge. Alternatively, if the owner prefers, repairs will be made by a Turtle Top dealer. The safety recall began on September 14, 2010. Owners should contact Freedman Seating Company at 1-800-443-4540 ext 233 or Turtle Top's Customer Service Department at 1-800-296-2105 to obtain a repair kit.

The recalled product

Product
SPIRIT MFSAB TERRA TRANSPORT
Brand
SPIRIT
Manufacturer
TURTLE TOP
Category
Vehicle — School Bus
Hazard
Affected units
36

Is your product affected?

Check your packaging against the codes below. If any of them match, the product is part of this recall.

Model numbers (1)

  • MFSAB TERRA TRANSPORT

Distribution

Distributed nationwide across the United States.

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