Harbor Freight Recalls Over 1 Million Jack Stands
05-22-2020, 12:52 AM
Recently Harbor Freight recalled over 1 million jack stands. These are the 3 ton and 6 ton stands. Not all of them but specific item numbers. I have a post on the main portion of the site with the report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration if you want to check out all the details.
Harbor Freight has had several recalls over the last few years like the tires on the trailers, the switch on the chainsaw, the 12v led light, the folding knives, the torch... you know when you type it out that is kind of a lot of recalls for one store to have in a short period of time. But the point is with all these other recalls they may of been a safety hazard but all of it was either avoidable or you could at least take steps to mitigate the danger. In the instance of the chainsaw it was the Portland Electric chainsaw and it was a problem with it staying on when letting go of the switch (I think I am remembering that correctly.) Its an electric chainsaw... sure that is dangerous but you can unplug, you can take an action to protect yourself. On the other hand a jack stand... is the device that is supposed to keep you safe while working on a car. The fact that these things can drop the vehicle without notice is horrifying. Part of the report mentions reports from customers, which makes sense, I want to hear the stories of what happened with these things. Did anyone die? Did someone get crushed under a car? These is one recall to take very serious.
I just saw this recall yesterday and have been incredibly busy trying to get this forum up (at the time I am typing this the forum isn't open to the public so it very much feels like and basically is me talking to myself.) so I haven't looked at my jack stands but I know I have some from Harbor Freight. The "remedy" is they will give you a gift card for the price of the stands.
This is the problem with some of the cheap Harbor Freight tools. Its not big deal if you buy a screwdriver and it ends up sucking. You are out a couple of bucks and you learned a lesson. But a damn car dropping on you is game over kind of stuff. Regardless of whether my jack stands are part of the recall or not I might start shopping for the highest rated jack stands I can find. Just in case.
![[Image: Jack-Stand-Recall-56371_61196_61197.jpg]](https://i0.wp.com/struggleville.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Jack-Stand-Recall-56371_61196_61197.jpg)
Harbor Freight has had several recalls over the last few years like the tires on the trailers, the switch on the chainsaw, the 12v led light, the folding knives, the torch... you know when you type it out that is kind of a lot of recalls for one store to have in a short period of time. But the point is with all these other recalls they may of been a safety hazard but all of it was either avoidable or you could at least take steps to mitigate the danger. In the instance of the chainsaw it was the Portland Electric chainsaw and it was a problem with it staying on when letting go of the switch (I think I am remembering that correctly.) Its an electric chainsaw... sure that is dangerous but you can unplug, you can take an action to protect yourself. On the other hand a jack stand... is the device that is supposed to keep you safe while working on a car. The fact that these things can drop the vehicle without notice is horrifying. Part of the report mentions reports from customers, which makes sense, I want to hear the stories of what happened with these things. Did anyone die? Did someone get crushed under a car? These is one recall to take very serious.
I just saw this recall yesterday and have been incredibly busy trying to get this forum up (at the time I am typing this the forum isn't open to the public so it very much feels like and basically is me talking to myself.) so I haven't looked at my jack stands but I know I have some from Harbor Freight. The "remedy" is they will give you a gift card for the price of the stands.
This is the problem with some of the cheap Harbor Freight tools. Its not big deal if you buy a screwdriver and it ends up sucking. You are out a couple of bucks and you learned a lesson. But a damn car dropping on you is game over kind of stuff. Regardless of whether my jack stands are part of the recall or not I might start shopping for the highest rated jack stands I can find. Just in case.
