Took service 75 on SMRT's Mercedes Benz Citaro rego "SMB172Y". I noticed that the halt brake is defective and the bus can move off even with the doors open. This Citaro has clocked 73,000km as seen on the odometer.
First noticed this on another Svc 75 earlier this month, so this is the 2nd time. Cant remember if the particular bus is the same one.
Whenever the doors are operated, the yellow indicator will light up and a diagnoistic message "Defect Halt Brake" will appear on the green multifunction screen. If the driver drive off with the doors open or halfway open(personally witnessed), the red indicator above will light up in addition and the error message will change to "Door System Failure".
Here's a video of the error when doors are operated.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eB0_wW4CD_o
I am not sure if this malfunction is related to the rear door mechanism or not. On the first occasion earlier this month where another Citaro had this error, the rear door could not close properly every now and then and the driver actually drove off many times before making sure the doors are closed. He only closed it later a few seconds later at about 30km/h.
woah cham...
Is this the result of the interlock being disabled in Batch 2 buses to make up for slower Voith acceleration as per what someone has said?
Another SMRTB failure in bus maintanance again. New bus seomemore.
If they can't be bothered about maintaining their buses, then don't buy such good buses. Wasting money from commuters and indirectly insulting the names of the bus manufacterers.
Want to be special, then go get those MIC brands like Kinglong, Yutong, Sunlong, Zhongtong, etc. Cheap for SMRT and easier to maintain.
Last sun, was onboard 6203T (BN 292) to tamp int. The screen on the dashboard oso came out this same indication as the pic above when the doors open at tamp int, on saturday the bus was alright, but then suddenly like that. But now the bus has since been normal.