Back to Basics : Handling Open Campaigns
Presented as part of ABA ’ s BISC & BusMARC 2021 Virtual Safety & Maintenance Series
The American Bus Association ’ s Bus Industry Safety Council ( BISC ) and Bus Maintenance Repair Council ’ s ( BusMARC ) 2021 Virtual Safety & Maintenance Series offered a sequence of educational webinars early this year , covering a variety of industry-related topics .
As part of their ongoing educational webinar series , the American Bus Association ( ABA ) hosted a virtual meeting with presenter Mike McDonal , BusMARC chair and director of regulatory compliance and industry relations at Saucon Technologies . Panel members included industry experts Robert Hitt ( Prevost ), David Mailhot ( MCI ), Michael Anstead ( ABC Companies ), Ben Kopp ( Coach USA ), and Anilcan Kapucu ( TEMSA ). Panel discussion topics covered types of campaigns , campaign process and documentation , customer complaints or requests , identifying vehicles involved in a campaign , notification process of an National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ( NHTSA ) recall campaign , filing a claim , purchasing , and selling of processed coaches , availability of parts , reimbursement , warranty and campaign management , and internal warranty tracking .
What is the difference between a campaign and a recall ?
Robert Hitt : If it is isolated to one customer , I look at that as something that we are campaigning to improve . When I look at recalls , I look at things like warranty bulletins , national highway transportation safety boards , and safety recalls that notify the customers of all affected coaches . When you look at our bulletins , we have instruction sheets and maintenance information . If a component is changed on a coach and you receive a replacement kit to that particular component , that would involve an instruction sheet . If a fluid has changed or there is an improved product , not necessarily to change under warranty , but something that is going to improve the performance of the coach , then we call that maintenance information . Then of course we have our safety recalls , where we notify customers both by snail mail and email . We also track those coaches in our system , so if they pop up someplace , we are able to notify the operator of any current recalls .
How does an OEM identify the vehicles that should be involved in a campaign or a recall ?
Anilcan Kapucu : Recalls or service campaigns can come from the factory itself , from a design department by R & D , or can arise from the field , like a customer complaint . After that , the affected vehicle list is prepared by the related department at the factory . Say there is a faulty headlight which goes off after five days of use , and the manufacturer of that headlight finds a problem in their production or manufacturing process . The bus manufacturer is the one alerting the manufacturer of that specific OEM . At that point that specific OEM may come up with their own findings , identifying the date of the product , the date of the production that starts the fault , parts created from the production line , and the date that the manufacturing process was improved . Anything between those days should have serial components on the vehicles that were sold . So , with that serial number or the production dates , the affected vehicle list is prepared .
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