The RV Industry Association has received information regarding a recall of fire extinguishers that may have been installed as original equipment in RVs. RV manufacturer that installed fire extinguishers named in Kidde recall 17E-062 are required under the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration regulations to submit a report.
Walter Kidde Portable Equipment submitted a Part 573 Safety Recall Report (“Kidde Recall 17E-062”) to NHTSA on Oct. 20. The Kidde Recall 17E- 062 is a motor vehicle equipment recall on two classes of Kidde portable fire extinguishers, which were purchased by certain distributors and RV manufacturers.
According to the Kidde Recall 17E-062 filing documentation, the fire extinguishers have a substantial safety defect: “The fire extinguishers may become clogged or require excessive force to activate. In certain models, the nozzle may detach from the valve assembly with enough force that it could cause injury and also render the product inoperable.”
Additionally, if a fire extinguisher does not function properly, it could lead to injury or death in a fire.
Since this defect is safety-related and these fire extinguishers were installed in some RVs as original equipment, NHTSA considers every RV manufacturer who installed these fire extinguishers to be responsible for the defect. Therefore, if your company is affected by this recall, you MUST submit a timely 573 report.
Please note that during the recall process, NHTSA expects each affected member to determine how many of its units are affected and collect all the VINs for those affected units.