They also noted how the continuous guard rails used on the sides tended to spread the stress away from the point of impact, allowing it to be shared and dissipated at portions of the body structure further away.

The result was a revolutionary new design in school bus construction: continuous longitudinal interior and exterior panels for the sides and roofs.

A more practical problem was the panels had to be cut to exact length for each bus body order, which varied with seating capacities and from state-to-state specifications.

This created a marketing disadvantage as the Wayne factory required greater manufacturing lead time than in the past whereas the previous technology allowed for more interchangeability and customization in orders.

Investigators discovered that despite a bulge of several inches on the longitudinal interior panel, there had been no all-the way through penetration of the passenger compartment whatsoever, no joint separation, and no sharp edges created.

Instead, they found the substantial impact stress had been shared over a widespread area along the entire structure of the passenger compartment "box", protecting the occupants as intended by the design.

However, none had become as progressive as Wayne's use of the full-length panels when the focus on structural integrity resulted in the upgraded requirements of the U.S. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards for school buses (#220 and #221), which became applicable on April 1, 1977.