Ninety-four GreenPower buses carry a software flaw that can let them move while the wheelchair lift is deployed. The company filed the recall with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on September 30, 2026, covering certain 2018-2024 EV Star and 2020-2023 EV Star Mobility Plus buses, and owners were due to receive notification letters starting October 12.
Help yourself and the planet: The Cool Down makes it easy to help yourself while helping the planet, with smart, simple changes to save more and waste less in your everyday life.
We may earn a commission if you sign up.
The danger is easy to picture: a rider on a lift platform, half in and half out of a stationary bus, and a vehicle that is free to roll or be put into gear. The fix is a software update that dealers install at no charge, but the filing shows how a safeguard that was supposed to exist ended up missing from the code, and why a lift that looks mechanically sound can still be unsafe when the software behind it is wrong. For schools, transit agencies and paratransit operators that depend on these buses, the question is less whether the lift works than whether the bus can be trusted to stay put while it does.
NHTSA campaign 26V629000 and the 94 buses
The federal record for NHTSA campaign 26V629000 lists Greenpower Motor Company Inc. as the manufacturer, the component as electrical system software, and the potentially affected population as 94 units. Greenpower’s own recall number is GP2604002. The agency’s summary reads: “A control module interlock software error may allow the bus to move while the wheelchair lift is deployed.” The stated consequence is that movement of the bus while the lift is in use increases the risk of injury.
The manufacturer’s defect report to the agency breaks the 94 into 87 EV Star buses and 7 EV Star Mobility Plus buses, and estimates that every one of them has the defect. It also notes a discrepancy it does not reconcile: the chronology refers to corrective action for about 102 vehicles, including some 2021 Nano-Beast models, against the 94 in the population count.
The interlock that was meant to hold the bus still
A wheelchair lift interlock is a rule written into a vehicle’s control software, and federal safety standards demand one. Standard No. 403, which governs platform lifts, requires in paragraph S6.10 of its regulation that the system prevent forward or rearward movement of the vehicle unless the platform lift is stowed. It also requires that the lift not operate from the stowed position until vehicle movement is inhibited, for example by placing the transmission in park, or in neutral with the parking brake set.
Standard No. 404 then makes it the vehicle maker’s job to keep installed lifts compliant: its installation requirements say a lift installed in a vehicle must continue to comply with all the applicable requirements of Standard No. 403. In practice that means the bus and the lift have to cooperate, with the lift refusing to move unless the bus is held and the bus refusing to move unless the lift is stowed.
Greenpower’s filing says that cooperation was missing in the code: “Interlock logic for vehicle operational software was not properly added on these lift equipped units.” The company described the risk this way. If the park brake is not set on an incline, the vehicle could roll. If the brake is released with the lift deployed, the vehicle could roll or be shifted into drive or reverse, creating a risk of crash, injury or death.
What triggered the recall, and what dealers will do
The chronology in the filing starts in February 2026, when NHTSA forwarded a video of a wheelchair lift interacting with a vehicle, a Nano-Beast school bus. The report says the operators had not applied the park brake, and that the lift appeared to be only partially deployed, possibly because of a relaxed or failed control valve. Between March and July the company ran failure-mode reviews and concluded that the interlock logic had been designed to work with the parking or emergency brake, and decided that lift activation should instead trigger the vehicle’s hill-hold function.
The report lists one incident, the February video, and no further reports since. It does not state that anyone has been hurt.
The remedy follows from that diagnosis. Dealers will update the control module software so that the lift can be operated only while the park-brake interlock is engaged, free of charge. Owner letters were set for October 12 through 26, 2026, with the dates subject to change, and NHTSA’s record lists no interim instruction for operators in the meantime. Greenpower customer service can be reached at 1-909-346-1090. The manufacturer’s report describes a phased recall, and says the related NHTSA recall number was still to be determined, so some owners may be notified later than others.
Because a school or transit operator may not know which of its buses fall in the 94, the practical step is to check each vehicle against the model years in the filing, and to run a VIN through NHTSA’s recall lookup. Until the update is installed, operators who run lift-equipped EV Star buses can set the parking brake before every lift cycle, as the federal rules and the company’s own report both assume.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
Help yourself and the planet: Get The Cool Down →
We may earn a commission if you sign up.
More from Morning Overview
- Hurricane Hunter radar shows four warning signs that a tropical cyclone is about to strengthen, a University of Miami study found
- Tropical Storm Rachel is dumping up to 12 inches on four Mexican states on its way to major hurricane strength
- The FTC says Lens.com doubled the price shoppers saw in Google ads
- Common allergy, bladder and sleep pills tied to sharply higher dementia odds
