On the afternoon of November 12th, 2010, a Thomas Built Bus Minotour used by the North Carolina School for the Deaf was struck by another passenger vehicle traveling in the opposite direction on Highway 109 in western North Carolina. The bus was returning to Morganton after dropping off its last student. One person in the oncoming vehicle was killed in the collision.

The driver and another adult passenger on the Minotour were injured but not considered life-threatening. Despite the severity of the collision, the safety cage body construction performed as it was designed to, with the body of the vehicle surviving nearly intact. It's a sobering testament to the strength built into Thomas Products.

The North Carolina School for the Deaf, located on a sprawling 160 acre campus in Morganton, North Carolina, was established in 1894.