It was already a bad enough week for recreational utility vehicles, what with Polaris Industries issuing its second recall in as many months. Last month, Polaris recalled 82 snowmobiles because the recreational winter vehicles posed a shock hazard to their riders. This week, Polaris issued a recall of 327 Ranger off-highway vehicles because of a potentially defective throttle issue that can cause riders to lose control and crash. While equally dangerous, those recalls are probably considered mild by many because of the relatively low numbers of vehicles involved. That’s hardly the case for Deere & Company, which is recalling at least 4,650 utility vehicles this week over a different type of dangerous defect.
The John Deere manufacturer is recalling a significant amount of Gator Utility Vehicles because of a manufacturing error that can cause the fuel line to separate and start fires. Involved in this recall, specifically, are the Gator RSX850i Base, Sport and trail models, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, and the serial numbers for these vehicles can range from 1M0850TB++M010013 thru 1M0850TB++M010768, 1M0850TS++M010001 thru 1M0850TS++M011932 and 1M0850TT++M010001 thru 1M0850TT++M012765. The serial numbers are located on the rear frame of the Gator vehicles, above the receiver hitch.
The vehicles were manufactured between May and October of 2012, and they were sold at John Deere dealerships between August and October of 2012 for approximately $12,900, depending on the model.
The vehicles, which are produced in Realtree® Hardwoods™ HD Camo, olive and black, or traditional green and yellow colors, should not be driven at all until the owners have contacted Deere and Company at (800) 537-8233 to schedule a free inspection and repair at their local dealerships. Additionally, John Deere representatives will be contacting affected owners in the meantime, in order to take care of these inspections and repairs as quickly as possible.