SAFETY CONCERN: 2013 Pro A-Arm Failure

winter · Feb 6, 2013

This is my first online complaint since beginning on snowest in 2003.
I am assuming it is justifiable.
After a easy ride with my wife and son this weekend I was cleaning the snow off the sleds and noticed a 1/4" rusty ring around the back tube of the R lower a-arm on my wife's 2013 600 Pro.
This is where the tube glues into the Aluminum piece. I lifted the sled and could move the aluminum in and out about 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch. I took the sled to the dealer, they took photos of the sled and sent me home with a new A-Arm.
I also took the old A-Arm off the sled and bought it to the dealer.
I received a call later from the dealer saying the a-arm is not warrantied apperently this is because Polaris did a pull test on the arm before it left Polaris. Polaris techs are saying we must have hit something with the sled.
Yet we did not hit anything, there are no signs on the arms, skis or any other part of the sled to show differently.
I am assuming the bond was not good in the first place..
It is clear that the tube has been loose for some time as lots of rust is present, and very little adhesive is present, this is an unsafe product or at least the Quality Control is lacking.
I have been Building custom Polaris sleds since 2002, this year I purchased 3 new Pros, I do not feel I can continue to support a company that does not stand behind thier products.
Since the advent of the 900 RMK I feel Polaris has been using the customers as thier R&D dept and they are not standing behind thier mistakes.
The Safety issue here is that Polaris is building machine's that travel at speeds close to 100 MPH with weak and faulty control systems, this is not safe for anyone.
I did not fuss about the drive shaft issue but a rider can die if an A- arm fails at high speed.
I have contacted my dealer as well as Polaris Ind throught thier website.
Please check your sleds each and every Ride.

yz400ex · Feb 6, 2013

It doesnt even look like there is any glue on it..:face-icon-small-sad Thats too bad.. Glad you found it when you did because like you said, it would have been horrible had it come apart while traveling at any rate of speed

Are they going to warranty it?

cateye5312 · Feb 6, 2013

That certainly looks very fixable. What is the post about Lord's adhesive? Would that do it?

winter · Feb 6, 2013

A-arms

yz400ex said:
It doesnt even look like there is any glue on it..:face-icon-small-sad Thats too bad.. Glad you found it when you did because like you said, it would have been horrible had it come apart while traveling at any rate of speed

Are they going to warranty it?

They are not going to warrenty it, that is a big part of why I am frustrated other then the safety issue.

rmscustom · Feb 6, 2013

Polaris needs to start covering these with no questions asked. That looks to me like the joint was never or hardly glued.

crf118r · Feb 6, 2013

X2...

slyrydr · Feb 6, 2013

a single pull test when manufactured is hardly an excuse for this situation...normal sled usage involves many cycles of the suspension, vibrations, and other smaller stresses done repetitively..when parts like this are manufactured by the tens of thousands, there are bound to be a percentage that aren't glued correctly, or maybe the human error involved in production hasn't been properly taken into account...a decent lawyer would hang this around polariss' neck with the toilet seat and t.p. attached...glad no one was hurt...and it emphasizes the need for a quick inspection of all sleds inbetween rides..poo doesn't want to accept responsibility because it may happen to someone else, and they don't want to establish a basis for liability, nice company polaris...:face-icon-small-dis

skibreeze · Feb 6, 2013

You are not the first to have an a arm seperate, this is starting to look like the driveshafts that were seperating as well. They denied those at first as well. Do not let Polaris get away with not warrantying it!!

goforbroke · Feb 6, 2013

winter said:
They are not going to warrenty it, that is a big part of why I am frustrated other then the safety issue.

I can't believe your dealer didn't replace it free of charge and sent you on your way. 3 new sleds and they are charging for a defective part. Agreed Polaris should warranty, but dealer is responsible for getting Polaris to step up, not you.

LoudHandle · Feb 6, 2013

The glue injection failed to enter the joint at all!

From your pics alone they should warrantee it. It is clearly visible that the glue never made it into the joint. They should inject it until it is visible coming out of the joint not just some half azzed pressure switch or timer. Some things like this you just can't mechanize, a person on the switch would be priceless in situations like this, or at the very least a laser or optical cut off when the glue breaches out between the tube and the aluminum boss. They really need to up their quality control game or they will lose market share like they have twice in the time I have been snowmobiling (30 years).

The pictures reminded me of a time when my coworkers drilled and tapped my tool box and installing a zerk fitting. When I walked in that day, I saw the grease on the zerk and assumed I'd be cleaning grease off my tools for weeks. However upon opening my box I found they had just dabbed a bit of grease on the zerk for effect and were just fishing for my reaction.

For all practical purposes they could of had a minimum wage nose picker dabbing some Lords on the injection holes, for all the good it did. I would also say the pull test is BS. If they actually put a pull on that Arm it would have failed.

mickyd32 · Feb 6, 2013

a buddy of mine had a replacement A arm have the exact same thing happen

I was very surprised by this, I would have thought the initial batch of these would have been the only ones to have glue issues, not ones 6 months later

he was able to get another for free

m8magicandmystery · Feb 6, 2013

if they cannot identify a point of impact they have to warrenty it...capitalistic pigs...

Jay · Feb 7, 2013

It's obviously a manufacturing defect, one look at the pictures tells anyone that. You bought 3 new sleds this year alone, who knows what you have spent on polaris products in years past. Polaris can do a few different things but one option would be to apologize profusely, repair it under warrenty immediately, do something for you to show that they are sincere about making this right with you, hand you a belt and a jug of oil, give you a hat, I don't know but do something, or they can go with option #2 and tell you to piss off. Option one builds a good relationship with an obviously good customer, he'll tell his friends how well he was treated, he will continue to buy polaris products and probably sell some product for them along the way by influencing his friends. Option #2, well nobody likes to get outright ripped off, called a liar and then get blown off. Again this customer will tell his friends how he was treated, his friends know he's not a liar or an idiot, they look at the part and they see shoddy manufacturing and a warrenty that isn't worth the paper it's written on. They just lost a good customer, and all his friends, and in this case who knows how many potential customers who read about how they treated this customer on a major snowmobile forum on the internet. Why?? Why would any company do buisness this way?? You read stories like this over and over, I just don't understand the mentality of polaris.

trees happen · Feb 7, 2013

bad glue

I saw this happen on my buddies 13 pro last sat happened backing out of his pick up to load in my trailer when the tail of the right ski hit the ground the A arm pulled out next to the spindle we were lucky to find one on the way to ridin

crashnbash · Feb 7, 2013

Contact polaris directly, Stay calm and do not lose your temper. Explain your situation and why you feel its warranty. Sometimes the consumer can get something covered under warranty that a dealer was denied. All manufactures will cover some items that would not normaly be covered under warranty just to keep a customer.

crf118r · Feb 7, 2013

crashnbash said:
Contact polaris directly, Stay calm and do not lose your temper. Explain your situation and why you feel its warranty. Sometimes the consumer can get something covered under warranty that a dealer was denied. All manufactures will cover some items that would not normaly be covered under warranty just to keep a customer.

Let's hope so. This is a blatant failure here!

geo · Feb 7, 2013

If I was your dealer I would have ignored Poo denial and sent the arms in and waited for my money.

That's an obvious defect not abuse.

LoudHandle · Feb 7, 2013

geo said:
If I was your dealer I would have ignored Poo denial and sent the arms in and waited for my money.

That's an obvious defect not abuse.

X2, At the dealer cost of the part, I would eat that in a second to keep a customer such as yourself. Very minuscule cost compared to all the parts for all the builds you have executed over the years.

We should not have to buy a new sled and fully disassemble it and check every glue joint. That should be part of the quality control process. Which at present seems to be non-existent or at a minimum disfunctional within the snowmobile chassis side of Polaris.

rmscustom · Feb 7, 2013

Looks like the other side isn't glued very well either. Mine has about an 1/8" of glue coming out all around the joint.

geo · Feb 7, 2013

Mine too.

SAFETY CONCERN: 2013 Pro A-Arm Failure

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