Demystifying Technical Service Bulletins

What’s a Techinical Service Bulletin?

When it comes to lemon vehicles, “TSB” is term that’s often bandied about but rarely defined. A TSB is a Technical Service Bulletin that vehicle manufacturers send to dealerships so that service departments can be kept up-to-date about problems that have come to the manufacturers’ attention. TSBs aren’t safety recalls; they’re a set of instructions about problems that crop up for new or redesigned vehicles.

If you have a lemon vehicle that is still under warranty, it’s a good idea to keep an eye out for TSBs that affect your car. If you find a TSB that addresses your problem, the dealership should be willing to fix it for free.

How do you find TSBs? The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has an Office of Defects Investigations that allows you to search for Technical Service Bulletins online. Go to the TSB section of the ODI, and use their “drill down” search engine to enter the year, make, model, and component of your vehicle.

Here’s an example of an arbitrary “drill down” search performed using the TSB database. First, we selected “Vehicle,” and then used the next drop-down menu to select “2006” as the year. In the third step, we used the drop-down menu to select “Chevrolet” as the make of the vehicle. Next, we selected “Impala” as the model. Next, we could choose from among 20 different components for which TSBs were issued, or we could choose to see all of the TSBs for the 2006 Chevrolet Impala. When we select “Airbags,” we see that two TSBs were issues, both relating to airbag lights coming on.


More than TSBs

The Office of Defects Investigations provides consumers with additional information that can be very helpful if you have a lemon car, lemon truck, lemon motorcycle, or lemon RV. For example, you can search the ODI’s database to see if there have been any recalls that affect your vehicle. The “drill down” search method applies here as well. For example, using Vehicle à 2006 à Chevrolet à Impala (GMX211), we can find that some vehicles equipped with a manual passenger seat adjuster fail to comply with federal safety requirements, and may result in increased risk of injury during a severe crash.

Similarly, the ODI maintains a database of consumer complaints. Using the search criteria for the 2006 Chevrolet Impala, we can uncover 59 consumer complaints about vehicle components ranging from tires and the steering column to the fuel system and airbags.

If you have a problem with your vehicle, you can also use the ODI to file a complaint. The NHTSA will put your complaint into the ODI database, and will use it, along with similar complaints, to determine if there is a safety-related trend. If so, the NHTSA will ask or order the manufacturer to conduct a recall