The Used Car Index

2002 Thomas SAF-T-Liner ER problems

No complaints are listed for the 2002 Thomas SAF-T-Liner ER. Zero is not confirmed in this build. See the source and coverage notes below.

Data build 2026-10-09.

NHTSA lists this vehicle as THOMAS SAF-T-LINER ER.

At a glance

Complaints
0
With crash
0
With fire
0
With injury (complaints)
0
Injuries
0
Deaths
0
Recalls
1
Do not drive recalls
0
Park outside recalls
0
Recall potential units (maximum)
153
Investigations
1
Open investigations
0
Manufacturer communications
0

Complaints per 100k sold unavailable. No sales source is available for this record.

Model-generated complaint tags: No complaints are listed for tagging.

Recalls

See new recalls and investigations this week.

1 recalls.

05V208000

Date: 2005-04-27. Systems: VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL.

Defect: CERTAIN MY 2002-2005 THOMAS BUILT SAF-T-LINER ER SCHOOL BUSES AND ER TRANSIT BUSES MANUFACTURED BETWEEN NOVEMBER 2002 AND FEBRUARY 2005 AND EQUIPPED WITH JOHN DEERE 8.1L COMPRESSED NATURAL GAS ENGINES MODELS HFN01 AND HFN03. THE ENGINE CONTROL UNIT AND THROTTLE CAN UNEXPECTEDLY SURGE. THESE UNITS FAIL TO CONFORM TO FEDERAL MOTOR VEHICLE SAFETY STANDARD NO. 124, ACCELERATOR CONTROL SYSTEMS.

Consequence: A SUDDEN ENGINE SURGE COULD POSSIBLY RESULT IN A VEHICLE CRASH.

Remedy: JOHN DEERE WILL NOTIFY THE CUSTOMERS OF FREIGHTLINER/THOMAS BUILT AND WILL UPDATE THE ENGINE CONTROL UNIT SOFTWARE FREE OF CHARGE. OWNERS MAY CONTACT JOHN DEERE AT 1-800-JD-ENGINE.

Do not drive: No. Park outside: No.

Investigations

1 investigations; 0 open.

PE07054

Opened: 2007-11-09. Closed: 2008-03-04.

EMERGENCY DOOR HANDLE FAILURE

THE OFFICE OF DEFECTS INVESTIGATION OPENED THIS PRELIMINARY EVALUATIONAFTERBECOMING AWARE THAT FLEETS WERE HAVING HANDLE FAILURES ON THE REAR EMERGENCY DOOR EXIT.THE FAILURE RESULTED IN THE DOOR HANDLE SEPARATING FROM THEDOOR LATCH MECHANISM.WHEN THE HANDLE FAILS, THE REAR EMERGENCY EXIT DOOR CAN NOT BE OPENED FROM OUTSIDE THE BUS.THE FAILURE RESULTS FROM CORROSION OF THE EXTERIOR DOOR HANDLE AROU

Systems: STRUCTURE.

Linked campaign numbers: 08V087000.

Manufacturer communications

0 manufacturer communications.

Communications by system
SystemCount

Notes on this record

  • Complaints from the API and bulk file are merged and deduplicated by ODI number; the API alone misses records.
  • System and subsystem counts are numbers of distinct complaints, recalls or communications that name them. One record can name several systems, so shares across systems can add to more than 100 percent; a single share never exceeds 100 percent.
  • Recalls are counted once per campaign, investigations once per action and manufacturer communications once per NHTSA id, even when NHTSA lists several model names for the same record.
  • A sales denominator is a calendar-year proxy, not the population of vehicles still in use. Rates are copied from verified pipeline output.
  • This record lists no complaint under this name, and zero is not confirmed in this data build; the notes below give the reason.
  • NHTSA lists complaints for this model year under related names: SAF-T-LINER (2). They are counted on those records, not here. Zero is not confirmed for this name.

Other names NHTSA uses

None listed.

Matched NHTSA models

Matched labels and complaints
NHTSA model labelComplaints
SAF-T-LINER ER0

Same model, other years

All model years | All Thomas models

Other Thomas models, 2002

Sources

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