Thomas School Bus: recalls and complaints by model year

NHTSA lists 22 recall campaigns for the Thomas School Bus, model years 1977 to 2011. NHTSA has 21 complaints on file for this model line. 20 of the 28 model years have a page on this register.

Select a model year NHTSA VIN lookup

Complaint information entered into NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation vehicle owner's complaint database is used with other data sources to identify safety issues that warrant investigation and to determine if a safety-related defect trend exists.
NHTSA publishes these words. Source: NHTSA Datasets and APIs, section Complaints, read on 1 Oct 2026. Complaint file through 15 May 2019. Recall file through 29 Sep 2026.

Model years

The number under each year is the number of recall campaigns.

Thomas School Bus: recall campaigns and complaints for each model year, newest first
Model year	Recall campaigns	Complaints	Share of the line average	Units in the campaigns
2011 Thomas School Bus NHTSA page	0	2	267%
2010 Thomas School Bus NHTSA page	0	2	267%
2009 Thomas School Bus NHTSA page	0	3	400%
2004 Thomas School Bus NHTSA page	1	1	133%	634
2002 Thomas School Bus NHTSA page	0	2	267%
1999 Thomas School Bus NHTSA page	0	3	400%
1998 Thomas School Bus NHTSA page	0	5	667%
1997 Thomas School Bus NHTSA page	0	1	133%
1996 Thomas School Bus	2	2	267%	51,262
1995 Thomas School Bus	2	0	0%	51,262
1994 Thomas School Bus	4	0	0%	53,005
1993 Thomas School Bus	4	0	0%	76,255
1992 Thomas School Bus	10	0	0%	176,993
1991 Thomas School Bus	11	0	0%	140,481
1990 Thomas School Bus	12	0	0%	144,132
1989 Thomas School Bus	9	0	0%	117,630
1988 Thomas School Bus	8	0	0%	117,069
1987 Thomas School Bus	6	0	0%	116,614
1986 Thomas School Bus	6	0	0%	116,614
1985 Thomas School Bus	6	0	0%	116,614
1984 Thomas School Bus	4	0	0%	112,545
1983 Thomas School Bus	4	0	0%	112,545
1982 Thomas School Bus	4	0	0%	112,545
1981 Thomas School Bus	4	0	0%	112,545
1980 Thomas School Bus	4	0	0%	112,545
1979 Thomas School Bus	3	0	0%	105,045
1978 Thomas School Bus	3	0	0%	105,045
1977 Thomas School Bus	3	0	0%	105,045

The share is the complaints of the model year divided by the average of the line for one model year. A campaign that names 3 model years is in the count of each of the 3.

A model year with fewer than 2 campaigns and fewer than 25 complaints has no page here. The link in its row opens its NHTSA page.

Recall campaign: One recall in the NHTSA recall file, with one campaign number. A campaign can name many makes, models and model years.

Complaint: A report about a possible safety problem that a person sends to NHTSA. This site shows the number of complaints and not their text.

Units: The number of vehicles or products that a recall can include. The manufacturer or the firm reports the number to the agency.

Components in the complaints

27 component mentions.

A complaint can name more than one component. Each component that a complaint names is one component mention. The figure per 1,000 component mentions shows how many of each 1,000 mentions name the component.

Thomas School Bus: complaints by component, per 1,000 component mentions
Component	Per 1,000	Mentions
Exterior Lighting	407.4	11
Seats	185.2	5
Electrical System	111.1	3
Engine and Engine Cooling	74.1	2
Suspension	37	1
Structure	37	1
Fuel System, Gasoline	37	1
Visibility	37	1
Service Brakes, Air	37	1
Service Brakes	37	1

Counts by year

Recall campaigns that name the Thomas School Bus, by the year NHTSA received the report. The largest year is 1991, with 5 campaigns.

Complaints about the Thomas School Bus, by the year NHTSA received them. The largest year is 1999, with 6 complaints.

Other model lines of the make

Thomas12 campaigns
MVP EF24 campaigns
Bus14 campaigns
SAF-T-Liner25 campaigns
C23 campaigns
FS-652 campaigns
Conventional27 campaigns
MVP ER20 campaigns
Vista16 campaigns
ER6 campaigns
ER Model4 campaigns
SAF-T-Liner HD3 campaigns
Minotour21 campaigns
MVP18 campaigns
ER Transit10 campaigns
All Star5 campaigns
Mighty Mite3 campaigns
SAF-T-Liner Conventional6 campaigns
Transit Liner5 campaigns
Citiliner4 campaigns
HDX4 campaigns
TL9603 campaigns
CL9602 campaigns
SAF-T-Liner C25 campaigns
Transit Liner ER4 campaigns
Transit Liner HD2 campaigns

Thomas: all 27 model lines

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Official channels

NHTSA VIN lookupNHTSA shows the unrepaired recalls of one vehicle from its VIN or its license plate.
NHTSA: report a safety problemThe NHTSA form for a complaint about a vehicle, a tire, a child seat or equipment.

Cite this page

Recall Register. Thomas School Bus: recalls and complaints by model year. https://recallregister.com/vehicle/thomas/school-bus/. Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation, recall, complaint and investigation files. Data through 29 Sep 2026.

Sources

Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation
Licence: US government work, public domain
Recall file through: 29 Sep 2026
Complaint file through: 15 May 2019
Manufacturer in the recall file: THOMAS BUILT BUSES, INC.

The model name is the name in the NHTSA files. NHTSA keeps a variant of a model as a different line. How the register is made. Report an error.

Questions

Which Thomas School Bus model years have the most recall campaigns?: 1990 with 12, 1991 with 11, 1992 with 10. A campaign that names 3 model years is in the count of each of the 3.
Which Thomas School Bus model year has the most complaints?: The 1998 model year, with 5 of the 21 complaints for the line. A newer model year has had less time to get complaints.
Which components do the complaints about the Thomas School Bus name?: Exterior Lighting: 11 component mentions. Seats: 5 component mentions. Electrical System: 3 component mentions.
How many NHTSA investigations name the Thomas School Bus?: 6 investigations name one or more model years of the line. The page of each model year lists its investigations.