6,000 Schoolbus' Brakes May Be Bad

One of the country's largest school bus builders is warning that 6,000 of its buses may have defective brake systems. The company that makes the systems said Saturday that the same defect could affect as many as 300,000 commercial vehicles.

When the vehicles are moving slowly, typically less than 20 miles per hour, 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 school bus maker Thomas Built Buses Inc.

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 drive 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.

Batyko said there have been 40 reported incidents of 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 its 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 company said repair kits were being manufactured and would be shipped by November. Meanwhile, Freightliner dealerships are prepared to inspect buses around the clock, Nicholson said.

"We're certainly trying to react as quickly as possible," Nicholson said Saturday. "We wanted schools to have an opportunity to inspect their buses before school starts."

The companies have discussed the problem with officials from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, she said.

There was no information about the problem Sunday on the Web sites of Thomas, Freightliner or Bendix.

By CRISTINE GONZALEZ
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