Recall of the Replacement Recalled Jack Stands| Grassroots Motorsports forum |

pirate HalfDork
7/7/20 11:15 a.m.

To the Harbor Freight Community:

I'm writing to apologize. I often reach out to tell you about Harbor Freight's commitment to quality and all the investments we've made to deliver quality tools at the lowest prices. Your trust matters deeply to me and I'm proud of how far we've come. So when we have a product recall, it hurts.

A few months ago, we recalled our Pittsburgh 3 ton and 6 ton steel jack stands (SKUs 56371, 61196 and 61197) due to a manufacturer's defect. We asked customers to return them and receive a gift card that could be used to purchase replacement jack stands. I felt terrible about that recall because you should never have a concern about the safety of any of our products.

Today, I feel even worse. I'm disappointed and embarrassed because we've identified a welding defect in a small number of the Pittsburgh 3 ton steel jack stands (SKU 56373) that replaced the recalled jack stands. We're now adding these jack stands to our recall. Unfortunately, this defect wasn't discovered during the initial recall investigation. If you own these jack stands or any of the jack stands in our original recall, whether or not you have had an issue with them, please stop using them immediately and bring them back to your local Harbor Freight Store for a full cash refund or store credit (see details here).

We have investigated all of our other Pittsburgh 3 ton steel jack stands (SKUs 56371, 56372 and 57308) as well as the Pittsburgh 6 ton steel jack stands (SKUs 56368, 56369 and 56370) and Pittsburgh 12 ton steel jack stands (SKUs 56374 and 56375) and did not find the defect. Although none of these other jack stands are being recalled, if you own any of them and have any concern whatsoever, please bring them back and we'll give you a full cash refund or store credit for those as well.

I want to apologize to all of our customers. While we've dramatically grown our team of engineers and inspectors, and intensified our tests and inspections, I assure you that the lessons learned from this will drive further improvement.

As the owner and founder of Harbor Freight, I want you to know that we stand behind every product we sell and that safety will always be our top priority.

Sincerely,

Eric Smidt
Owner and Founder
Harbor Freight Tools

bobzilla MegaDork
7/7/20 11:16 a.m.

I'm lucky all of mine are 10+ years old

Saron81 Reader
7/7/20 11:24 a.m.

Not surprised. Another poster here showed us how there wasn't any more engagement on the teeth on the replacements... although they don't mention this as the fault.

Feedyurhed UltraDork
7/7/20 3:24 p.m.

Wow. That is embarrassing.

irish44j (Forum Supporter) MegaDork
7/7/20 3:51 p.m.

A bit O/t, but never really thought about HF having an "owner" and maybe always just assumed it was some faceless corporate entity.

Reading on Smidt's entry on wiki, that's quite a grassroots success story. Between that and his philanthropy, I like HF even better now :)

NorseDave Reader
7/7/20 4:07 p.m.

irish44j (Forum Supporter) said:
A bit O/t, but never really thought about HF having an "owner" and maybe always just assumed it was some faceless corporate entity.

Reading on Smidt's entry on wiki, that's quite a grassroots success story. Between that and his philanthropy, I like HF even better now :)

I have a love/hate relationship with HF, but arguably they're much less of a faceless corp than most of the "premium" brands. Supposedly when they were prototyping the Vulcan welders, someone from HQ brought a couple of the proto machines to a local (CA) large welding shop and asked them to use them for several months and give feedback. Months go by, guy comes back, picked them up, collected the feedback, and shop owner just thought "that was odd." Then another year later, same guy randomly showed back up with a half-dozen of the new Vulcan-branded welders, and gave them to the shop as thanks for the feedback. Shop didn't need them, but they opened one up and used it to see if they took any of the feedback, and apparently they'd incorporated all of their suggestions. Shop owner then donated them to local vocational school.

N Sperlo MegaDork
7/7/20 4:08 p.m.

I'm pretty sure I can get a full cash refund on anything I've ever purchased from harbor freight. Not due to their policy, but the attention to detail their employees pay to returns.

Raze (Forum Supporter) UltraDork
7/7/20 4:45 p.m.

I'm somewhat impressed, instead of hiring lawyers and denying and ignoring he's going head on and being honest.

camaroz1985 HalfDork
7/8/20 9:00 a.m.

I admire the stance they are taking on this, and allowing anyone who is uncomfortable with them return them. Mine are all old, but on the list of stands that can be returned. I don't see myself returning them though.