Adventuring on A-T-Vs is kicking back into high gear in Utah, with the return of
warmer weather. But
dangerous -fire hazards keep
plaguing models of a leading
brand of off-road vehicles
that thousands of Utahns own.
Dealerships tell us more
than half of the side-by-side
they sell.. are Polaris
vehicles. And since our
last investigation months
ago.. they've had 3 more
fire-related recalls. Not
only are Polaris owners having
deal with that risk.. some are
also having to make payments
on something.. they cannot
ride.. as they wait for a fix.
And the wait.. can be long.
Jed Peterson is a huge fan of
the outdoors.. He loves
the forest..He loves the
mountains.... and he loves his
Polaris RZR XP Turbo..And
while this thing is fully
functional.. there is one
small problem..
.. it hasn't moved from his driveway.. in months.
Jed is not alone..On September 9th of last year .. Polaris issued a "stop ride/stop sale"
of more than 30-thousand of
these RZR's.. because of the
"risk of primary clutch
failure".. "posing a potential
injury."In short here.. the
side-by-side's are not
supposed to be sold or
driven.. until there is a fix.
And when there is no immediate
fix.. Sot Jed Peterson
5.25 "$500 for my
payment.. and then $50 a month
for my insurance." .28..
that's a lot of money for
something you cannot use.For
years.. Polaris has boasted of
being a leader in the
industry..A leader in sales..A
leader in performance..And
numbers show they're also the
leader.. in recalls.Sot
Rachel Weintraub-Coalition for
Sensible Safeguards/Consumer
Federation of America 7.00
"by far, Polaris recalls
outnumber any other
manufacturer." That's Rachel
Weintraub.. who spent 2
decades with the Consumer
Federation of America.. and
according to their research..
It's not even close.The
watchdog group's analysis of
Off-Highway Vehicles shows in
the last 13 years..Polaris
issued 59 recalls..That's 3
and half times more than
number 2 on the list..
Kawasaki.. with 16.Sot
Rachel Weintraub-Coalition for
Sensible Safeguards/Consumer
Federation of America 8.40
"Are the products
basically still having the
same problem.. or is there a
remedy in place..?"Since
2010.. 29 of the company's 59
recalls have been fire-related.
And many of those fire-related
problems appear to be
repeating themselves.. over
and over again.Leaking fuel
pump.. 3 recalls.Oil leak.. 4
recalls.Heat shield.. 3
recalls.Fuel leak.. 7 recalls.
And one of the more recent..
Clutch failure.. 2 recalls in
2 years.. for the exact same
issue.30-thousand affected.206
clutch failures.6 fires.2
injuries.1 tip over.Sot
Rachel Weintraub-Coalition for
Sensible Safeguards/Consumer
Federation of America 8.00
"So, on the one hand, you
know, good they're taking
action. But I think the next
question is, ok, if you're
looking at these recalls, and
looking at the cause, is the
recall itself enough of a
remedy to protect consumers?"
It's a great question.Polaris
again though, refusing to
answer anything on camera or
by phone..But through multiple
emails telling KSL, because
they are the "market share
leader in off-road vehicles.."
and because of their
"monitoring capabilities and
thorough process to identify
and correct issues, our
recalls may at times be
broader than others."Sot
Seth Warren 9.00 "it's
just a paperweight.. it does
me no good at this point."Seth
Warren is the recipient of one
of those "broader recalls."
From December of last year to
mid-March.. his RZR Turbo R 4
never moved from this spot.The
recall: a potential fuel leak
and fire hazard.The fix:
coming 3 and a half months
later.When Polaris discovers a
safety concern.. they issue a
stop-ride stop-sell..Meaning,
the machine should not move.
When they finally come up with
a fix.. approved by the
Consumer Product Safety
Commission.. they issue the
official recall.The time
between the two.. is often
weeks if not months.So.. the
KSL Investigators searched the
last 10 Polaris recalls
affecting their
side-by-sides.. calculating
the wait time between the stop-
ride stop-sell.. and the
actual recall.The shortest..
24 days.The longest.. 130 days
and counting..The average wait
time .. more than 2 months .
And while that's frustrating
customers..Sot Jed
Peterson 2.15 "it
angers me a lot.. it's
mentally.. like a mental
challenge.."Even more
frustrating.. most dealerships
we spoke with say the repair
parts are arriving slowly -
like only two or three parts
per week.And when there are
tens of thousands of recalled
vehicles in need of the same
part.. the wait time is even
longer.Polaris explains, "As a
part of this process, it can
include our suppliers needing
time to ramp up production of
the repair parts. Once we
receive repair parts from our
suppliers, we work quickly to
ship the repair kits to our
dealers."Sot Seth Warren
8.20 "IF YOU WOULD HAVE
KNOWN ANY OF THIS, WOULD YOU
HAVE BOUGHT THIS VEHICLE?
Absolutely not. Absolutely
not." And after 3 and a half
months of waiting.. Seth
finally got the repair.And Jed
wasn't far behind.. waiting 7
months for a fix..A fixSot
Jed Peterson 7.48
"it's just mind boggling."
Taking just 90 minutes to
complete.
We mentioned in the
story.. Seth got the recall
fix.. after a 3 and a half
month wait. I just spoke
with him a few days ago.. he
says his RZR is back with
Polaris after taking it to the
Sand Dunes.. and the engine
got so hot it melted the
radiator overflow
Take a look at