Harbor freight 3 & 6 ton jackstand recalls 56371, 61196, 61197

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The Harbor Freight jack stands that we've all bought, borrowed or seen in our friends' garages are being recalled due to a risk of collapsing under load. Go check yours immediately.
In a recall filed with the NHTSA on March 20 of this year, Harbor Freight explains that certain 6-ton jack stands have the potential to disengage their support pawl under shifting weight, causing the stand to drop suddenly. A second recall, filed May 3, extends the recall to 3-ton jack stands. The defect is attributed to aging tooling at the factory that produced the jack stands.


The recall document says that the problem could affect more than 450,000 6-ton jack stands produced between 2013 and 2019 and nearly 1.3 million 3-ton jack stands produced between 2012 and 2020. These jack stands were sold under the Pittsburg brand name, and can be identified by item numbers 56371 or 61196 on 3-ton models, and 61197 on 6-ton models.


Harbor Freight urges anybody in possession of affected jack stands to return them to the store in exchange for a gift card equal to the price of the stands. Any unsold jack stands covered by the recall have been removed from stores. Check on your buddies and spread the word aroundÔÇöthese jack stands are ubiquitous, and a failure like this could be fatal.

mods:Sticky this

[steve45]

Thanks, Pete!

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UPDATE with a side order of WTF
Frankly I'd be taking a stink eye to any HF product that has welded bits, including presses and engine cranes
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Harbor Freight Recalls the Jack Stands Meant to Replace the Recalled Jack Stands


If you own any Pittsburgh brand 3-ton, 6-ton or 12-ton jack stands, you can return them for a refund, even if they're not specifically recalled.



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 5730 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

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with warmer weather here and garage sales in full swing, folks need to get a reminder to be on the lookout for these jackstands. if you come across a set, but them for $10 and make sure they are returned, or destroyed if getting to a HF isnt practical. a cheap price to save a life and I'm sure if you send HF a pic of the destroyed stands they will gift you