Polaris Industries Inc., a recreational off-road vehicle or ROV maker, has agreed to pay a $27.25 million penalty for failing to warn the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission that some of its ROV models contained defects that could create a substantial hazard or that the ROVs created an unreasonable risk of serious injury or death.
It’s the largest civil penalty imposed by the commission. In addition, the agency also announced a series of recalls for some of Polaris’ ROVs.
The announcement is important because the commission, the nation’s chief product safety agency, should be serious about holding manufacturers accountable when they fail to inform it about unsafe products, said Remington A. Gregg, counsel for civil justice and consumer rights for Public Citizen, advocacy organization.
Gregg said with the large penalty, Public Citizen hopes that it’s the beginning of an upward trend in civil penalties against manufacturers that release unsafe products into the marketplace.
“Historically, the CPSC has been far too slow to hold companies accountable,” he said.
Polaris RZRs
Polaris is recalling about 107,000 model year 2014-2018 Polaris RZR XP 1000 ROVs.
If the exhaust silencer fatigues and cracks, the heat shield may not manage heat, which may lead to melting of nearby components or fire.
Polaris has received 30 reports of cracked exhaust silencers, including three reports of fire. No injuries have been reported.
Click here for a list of model numbers.
Polaris Rangers
Between December 2013 and July 2016, Polaris received 36 reports of fires associated with its model year 2014 Rangers, and the company made two design changes to the Rangers to prevent the heat shields from becoming loose and falling off. Polaris manufactured and distributed about 93,500 model year 2014-2015 Ranger XP 900, XP 900 EPS and CREW 900 ROVs.
Commission staff charged that the Rangers contained a defect which could create a substantial product hazard or create an unreasonable risk of serious injury or death because the heat shield could fall off the vehicle, posing fire and burn hazards.
Polaris reported the fires on model year 2014 Rangers to the commission in July 2016 and announced a recall of 42,500 model year 2014 ROVs in September 2016.
After the recall, Polaris received reports of heat shields coming loose or falling off of the model year 2015 Ranger, including reports of fires. Polaris failed to immediately notify the commission of the defect or risk posed by the model year 2015 ROVs, as required by federal law. By the time Polaris did report the problem, it had received 10 reports of heat shield incidents, including five reports of fires. Then, the commission and Polaris announced a recall of 51,000 ROVs in April 2017.
In addition to resolving the charged violations relating to the RZRs and Rangers, the commission agreed not to seek civil penalties from Polaris for any failure to report a hazard or defect in a model year vehicle that Polaris had reported to staff by June 29, 2017. Polaris further agreed to maintain an enhanced compliance program to ensure compliance with the Consumer Product Safety Act and a related system of internal controls and procedures designed to ensure timely reporting in the future.
Polaris’ settlement doesn’t constitute an admission of commission staff charges.
