9999 IC IC CORPORATION

THIS EA WAS OPENED BASED A FLEET COMPLAINT CONCERNING DRIVER'S SEAT PEDESTAL FAILURES.TO OBTAIN A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF FIELD PERFORMANCE, ODI, IN CONJUNCTION WITH C.E. WHITE (SEAT PEDESTAL MANUFACTURER) AND IC CORPORATION VISITED THREE OTHER SCHOOL BUS FLEETS IN TWO STATES.DURING THESE VISITS, SE... AT PEDESTALS IN EIGHTY-NINE BUSES WERE INSPECTED OVER TWO DAYS.THE BUSES RANGED FROM MODEL YEARS 1992 TO 2001.TWENTY-TWO WERE FE MODELS, TWENTY-TWO WERE CE MODELS AND FORTY-FIVE WERE RE MODELS.THE INSPECTION REVEALED NO CRACKS OR FAILURES ON THE CE AND RE MODELS.ELEVEN (50%) OF THE TWENTY-TWO FE BUSES DISPLAYED CRACKS OR HAD BEEN REPAIRED.BASED ON THIS INSPECTION AND THE INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE ORIGINAL COMPLAINING FLEET, IC CORPORATION IS CONDUCTING A SAFETY RECALL OF 8,241 FE (FRONT ENGINE) BUSES, MODEL YEARS 1992 THROUGH 2004.ODI BELIEVES THIS ACTION IS SUFFICIENT TO RESOLVE THIS PROBLEM.THEREFORE, THIS EA IS CLOSED.A COPY OF THE RECALL IS ATTACHED.Read more

DURING THE PE, ODI VISITED THE COMPLAINING FLEET AND CONTACTED OTHER FLEETS IN AN EFFORT TO UNDERSTAND THE APPARENT, LIMITED FAILURE PATTERN.ODI STILL HAS CONCERNS THAT THE PEDESTAL FAILURES ARENOT ISOLATED EVENTS.ODI HAS LEARNED THAT THERE ARE TWO DISTINCT POPULATIONS OF SEAT PEDESTALS, THOSE SUPPL... IED BY C.E. WHITE (1999 MODELS) AND THOSE SUPPLIED BY IC CORPORATION (2000-2001 MODELS).ODI IS AWARE OF COMPLAINTS ON BOTH PEDESTAL MANUFACTURERS.CURRENTLY, IT APPEARS THAT THE FAILURES ARE FATIGUE FRACTURES.NORMALLY THIS TYPE OF FAILURE IS PROGRESSIVE, HOWEVER, THERE ARE NO REPORTS FOR UNITS INSTALLED IN THE EARLIER MODEL YEAR (1998). ODI HAS DISCUSSED THE MATTER WITH IC AND WILL CONDUCT A JOINT PHYSICAL SURVEY OF SEVERAL LARGE FLEETS.DURING THIS SURVEY, OTHER FLEETS WITH EACH TYPE OFPEDESTAL WILL BE EXAMINED TO DETERMINE WHETHER OR NOT THE PROBLEM IS MORE WIDESPREAD THAN THE COMPLAINING FLEET.THE RESULTS OF THESE EXAMINATIONS AND INSPECTIONS WILL WEIGH HEAVILY ON FUTURE DECISIONS BY ODI.Read more