Electronic Memorandum

To: Administrators and Managers of School Bus Operations
From: Division of School Traffic Safety and Emergency Planning
Re: Third Advisory for Carpenter Manufacturing, Inc. School Buses - Mitchell Built Units
Date: April 30, 2003

Since advising you on April 21, 2003 to the potential for cracked or broken welds that exist in the roof structure of certain Carpenter school buses additional information has been learned involving units manufactured in late 1995 and which Carpenter plant actually constructed the unit.

Initial information from the School Bus Information Council that was made available to you in the division’s April 21 notice indicated that the six digit body number on the Carpenter body data plate would distinguish between buses built at the Richmond or Mitchell plant. This identification system is correct in nearly all cases. However, new information has been learned that some buses with a “4” as the first body number character were built at the Mitchell plant and not in Richmond. These buses would have been built in the last half of calendar year 1995.

If you have a 1995 Carpenter bus with a “4” as the first character in the body serial number it is possible to distinguish which plant constructed the unit. The location of the floor line rub rail is a distinguishing feature between the Richmond and Mitchell plants. The rub rail at the floor line in Mitchell built units is interrupted at the wheel openings. Whereas, the rub rail in Richmond built units is continuous and is located just above the wheel housing. The attached photographs show Type C and D buses built at the Mitchell and Richmond plants.

It is advisable that you inspect any bus built at the Mitchell plant regardless of the body number for the cracked or broken welds. A photograph is included showing the welded areas of the roof and side wall carlin rails, roof bow, and side post.