The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration published a notice of public hearing today on the Federal Register to determine why TCI has neither remedied 15 vehicle safety recalls vehicles manufactured by the old U.S. Bus nor notified bus owners, purchases and dealers of fixes under the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act.

TCI said in a statement that it "strongly disagrees" with the claim that it is responsible but added that it will continue to work with the agency to resolve the issue.

The recalls range from seat back impact barriers and body panel joints that failed to meet strength requirements to the failure of stop arms, brake lights and wheelchair lifts.

TCI purchased Type A manufacturer U.S. Bus on Nov. 1, 2007 and began manufacturing its own Trans Tech line of buses. NHTSA said it has “tentatively” concluded that all TCI has assumed all liability for U.S. Bus. A spokesman for TCI initially declined comment as the NHTSA public comment period was underway but on Friday released a statement that said TCI's interest in U.S. Bus is limited to the purchase of assets.

The hearing is scheduled for Oct. 23 in Washington, D.C., after which NHTSA could order Trans Tech to provide proper notification of and remedies for any of the recalls of 5,718 buses. Despite TCI's assertion of limited liability, NHTSA claims TCI has failed to live up to regulations that require vehicle manufacturers to notify owners and dealers in a timely manner after determining that a vehicle model is in noncompliance with a Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard and to provide free fixes of all defects.

Coincidentally, the NHTSA hearing was published two weeks to the day of the 43rd anniversary of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act.