"Polaris Facing Class-Action Lawsuit for Faulty Vehicles", 9 Apr 2018

Polaris’ mismanagement of faulty vehicles on the market continues to kick up dust, as a group of consumers filed a class action lawsuit against the company...The suit alleged that the Medina-based off-road vehicle manufacturer knew or should have known about a fire and safety-hazard design defect in several of its models...The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis..., just days after Polaris accepted a $27.25 million civil penalty issued by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).  That claim focused on the company’s alleged failure to quickly report defects in its vehicles...The Commission believed Polaris knew early on about overheating issues in the product lines but did not report the problem until after reports were made of 150 vehicle fires, 11 burn injuries, a fire that consumed ten acres of land, and a fire that killed a 15-year-old rider.  The class-action lawsuit, which represents about 300,000 consumers who owned Polaris vehicles between 2011 and 2018, raises the accusation stakes.  It claims the faulty products caused “more than 250 fires, more than 30 severe injuries and at least three deaths,” reported the Star Tribune....It’s alleged that even though Polaris recalled faulty vehicles, but never addressed the root problem – what was causing the fires...Polaris has not yet commented on the allegations mentioned in the proposed class action suit.