Polaris to Pay $950,000 Penalty for Failing to Report Hazards With ATVs

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The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced today that it has provisionally accepted a settlement that imposes CPSC's first civil penalty for reporting violations involving all-terrain vehicles (ATVs). Polaris Industries Inc., of Medina,
Minn., has agreed to pay a $950,000 penalty to settle allegations that the ATV manufacturer failed to timely inform CPSC of serious defects and hazards in certain models of the company's ATVs.
CPSC conducted two investigations into the timeliness of Polaris's reporting. In the first matter, Polaris manufactured and sold 13,600 Scrambler, Sport and Xplorer 400 model ATVs. The throttles on these ATVs can stick and prevent the machines from slowing down or stopping, leading to loss of control and crashes.
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Between February 2000 and January 2001, Polaris allegedly did extensive analyses and made four engineering changes to the defective ATVs without informing CPSC; and from May 2000 to January 2001, the company sent five alerts to its dealers about the oil line defects without telling the government. Polaris finally reported to CPSC in February 2001, a little more than a month after CPSC asked the company to report. Polaris announced a recall of the ATVs in April 2001.
Federal law requires manufacturers, retailers and distributors to report to CPSC immediately (within 24 hours) after obtaining information reasonably supporting the conclusion that a product contains a defect which could create a substantial risk of injury to the public, presents an unreasonable risk of serious injury or death, or violates a federal safety standard.