Brake problems reported on school buses

Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2000 | 10:26 a.m.

SUN STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

One of the country's largest school bus builders is warning that 6,000 of its buses may have defective brake systems.

When the Thomas Built Buses are moving slowly, typically less than 20 mph, they can temporarily lose their braking ability for up to three seconds, said Debi Nicholson, a spokeswoman for Freightliner Corp., the Portland-based parent company of the school bus maker.

Most of the 93 Thomas Built buses in the Clark County School District were inspected and cleared for operation today before the morning bus runs began. A few may have made the morning runs without being inspected, school district spokesman Gabe Johnson said, but no difficulties with brakes were reported.

"They are finding that these units are OK and they will be OK," Johnson said. The school district expects to get kits in November to replace the electronic control units for the brakes, which is the source of the problem.

The problem was discovered by the brake system's manufacturer, Bendix of Elyria, Ohio, after a San Francisco school bus experienced a temporary loss of brake capability. The driver was able to stop safely.

No accidents have been directly linked to the brake systems, and Bendix spokesman Rick Batyko said Saturday that the emergency brake is unaffected by the problem.

The company that makes the systems said Saturday that the same defect could affect as many as 300,000 commercial vehicles as well.

Batyko said there have been 40 reported incidents of bus drivers temporarily losing braking power, but no accidents.

It is only under "very rare circumstances" that the brake system would completely fail, he said.

The company has sold 300,000 of the same anti-lock brake systems, manufactured from March 1998 to last month. About 46,000 are in buses made by International, Blue Bird and Thomas Built.

Batyko said Bendix has recommended that all manufacturers who use the brake system issue recalls.

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 companies have discussed the problem with officials from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.