Brake Defect May Affect Up to 300,000 Vehicles

The scope of a problem involving brake failure on school buses was expanded Sunday to include transit buses and large trucks.

As many as 300,000 school buses, transit buses and large trucks are at risk for brake failure at speeds of 20 mph or less because a defect in the vehicles’ antilock brake system can lead to brake failure, manufacturer Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems reported.

At least 40 incidents of brake failure, five resulting in accidents, have occurred, but no injuries resulted, said Rick Batyko, spokesman for the Elyria, Ohio-based company.

Sixteen of the 40 brake incidents--but none of the accidents--involved school buses. The problem does not affect the vehicles’ emergency brakes.

Batyko said a part will be replaced on all 300,000 vehicles within the first few months of next year, with replacements on school buses to be completed by the end of November. Until then, he said, bus and truck makers will inspect the vehicles for flaws that have been connected to the braking problem.

Initial reports of the defect said 40,000 buses could be affected. Bendix said the defective brakes were installed on as many as 46,000 school and transit buses, as well as 254,000 large trucks of various makes, including semis.

The school bus manufacturers involved are Blue Bird Corp., International Truck and Engine Corp. and Thomas Built Buses Inc., a unit of Freightliner Corp.

It could not be determined how many of the buses operate in California. But Roy Wiley, a spokesman for International, said it was “a logical assumption” that some of the 23,000 International buses being recalled are in the state. “We have 60% market share, and we sell in California,” he said.

There are about 440,000 school buses in the country.

The defect involves the electronic control unit of the antilock braking system made in the last two years, Batyko said. That unit should be able to compensate when it receives faulty signals from the wheels, but in some cases it does not. The result can be a loss of braking ability at low speeds for up to four seconds.

A faulty signal can be generated by a frayed wire near the wheel or because of damage to a part called a tone ring. The vehicle inspections will check those parts for problems.

Reports of problems with the brakes first arose in March, and the defect was reported to federal regulators on Aug. 1. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has approved the manufacturer’s remedy plan.

“Based on what we’ve seen so far, they’ve done everything required of them under law,” Rae Tyson, spokesman for the traffic safety agency, said Sunday of the manufacturers.

If regulators were unsatisfied with the companies’ actions, they could have instituted their own recall.

Separately, U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater on Sunday called for legislation requiring manufacturers to notify U.S. officials when they recall products in another country.

Slater’s comments came amid reports that Ford Motor Co. began replacing Firestone tires on its vehicles in at least 10 other countries last year and three countries this year, months before the massive Aug. 9 recall of Firestone tires in the United States.

Firestone tire failures have been linked to at least 69 deaths, U.S. highway officials have said. Firestone has been a Ford supplier for 94 years.

Appearing on ABC-TV’s “This Week,” Slater said U.S. officials “should have been informed” about the tire replacement programs overseas. “Unfortunately, we were not.”

Slater said federal law should “definitely” require manufacturers to notify American officials of recalls they initiate overseas. “And especially in the global economy, where you’ve got U.S. goods really being used by individuals around the world,” he said. “We should know when there’s a problem someplace else.”

Congress is holding hearings this week on the tire recall.