The Ministry of Transportation and Communications should inspect all tour buses across the nation to ensure that passenger seats were properly installed, following several major bus accidents, the Taiwan Transportation Safety Board (TTSB) said in a safety notice yesterday.
The board issued the notice after a potentially universal problem was identified by the investigation into a bus accident on Suhua Highway (Highway No. 9) on Tuesday last week, which killed six people and injured 39.
The investigation showed that passengers were thrown from the bus after the side was torn away in the crash.
Photo: Cheng Wei-chi, Taipei Times
Investigators found that several passenger seats detached due to the impact, which they said was unusual.
“Current safety inspections only test the structural strength of the passenger seats and whether a seat can adequately absorb impacts,” the board said.
There are no specifications for the installation of seats and no standards for the inspection of modified passenger seats, it added.
To prevent such a problem from recurring, the board urged the ministry and other agencies to immediately inspect all tour and freeway buses to check whether the passenger seats are installed properly and fastened securely.
In addition to recalling tour buses made by Ming Sheng Enterprise Co (名盛實業), which manufactured the bus involved in the incident last week, the ministry should recall and inspect buses that are the same models as those in two other accidents — a tour bus that on Sept. 17, 2018, hit roadside barriers on Provincial Highway 62 and a tour bus that rear-ended a city bus on Yangmingshan (陽明山) on June 28 last year.
Board Chairman Young Hong-tsu (楊宏智) said in an interview yesterday afternoon that the three accidents presented a universal issue with the installation and fastening of passenger seats.
While aisle seats have four bolts fastened to the bus frame, window seats only have two bolts fastened to the frame and a U-clamp on the window side, he said.
All of the passengers who were thrown from the buses were sitting in window seats, Young added.
On Tuesday evening, the ministry ordered that 718 buses manufactured by Ming Sheng be recalled for an inspection in view of the board’s findings.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei yesterday that the ministry has mobilized personnel from the Vehicle Safety Certification Center and the Directorate-General of Highways to inspect the buses.
The goal is to finish the inspections before the Tomb Sweeping Day holiday next month, he said.
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