Gwinnett County

50,000 school buses recalled: Is your child riding in one?

Gwinnett County school bus 

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — The buses some of your children ride every day might be under recall. There is a nationwide recall involving 50,000 buses.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said this week it believes some of the buses don't have enough padding in the seat backs, potentially putting children at risk in a crash.

The buses were made by a company called Thomas Built, and right now, the Gwinnett County School District may have more than 300 buses impacted by the recall.

Channel 2's Justin Wilfon spoke to parents and students at Berkmar High School, who said they are concerned about the safety of the school buses used by the district.

"It sounds kind of bad because if we crash, we wouldn't really be safe," student Diana Carreon said.

TRENDING STORIES:

Channel 2 Action News reached out to the district and a spokesperson said, "It is important to note, according to Thomas, the issue does not place the bus out of service."

That means the potentially recalled buses are still in use right now, while the district waits for Thomas to release more information about exactly which buses will be recalled.

"I would be concerned if they were on a bus and there was a crash anyway," said parent Kimani Grant. "If they found out just this morning, they'll definitely implement something to keep the students safe."

District officials said they're still waiting on VIN numbers from Thomas. That will let the district know how many, if any, of the district's buses need the important safety fix.

Cobb County Schools, DeKalb County Schools and Clayton County Schools also confirmed to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution they too may be impacted. Fulton County Schools said none of its buses are affected.

"The minor recall only affects 25 of our buses," said a Cobb spokeswoman. "We have already started coordinating the repairs in advance of the official notice and do no expect the recall to impact the normal operation of our fleet of more than 1,000 buses."

Clayton County is also concerned, but didn't have an estimate on how many buses may be affected.

"We can confirm that Clayton County Public Schools anticipates being impacted by the nationwide school bus recall," said a district spokesman. "Once the district has been informed of the number of buses affected, we will work with the vendor to mitigate this issue."

DeKalb County didn't have numbers either.

"As of today, the manufacturer has not issued the VINs of the impacted buses, and we are unable to provide a list of impacted buses," said a district spokeswoman.

Fulton County said none of its buses will be affected.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution contributed to this report.