John Deere Recalls Lawn Tractors Powered by Kawasaki Engines Due to Overheating and Fire Hazards

Recall Insight

This CPSC action (record #11752) was formally reported on September 16, 2011. It is classified under Moderate severity, with a current status of Active. Deere & Company, of Moline, Ill. (tractors) is listed as the recalling firm. Federal records indicate About 36,500 tractors units are affected.

The documented reason for this recall is: The cooling fan (A) installed on top of the front mounted Kawasaki engine in the lawn tractor can break. If the cooling fan is not operational, the engine can overheat causing the surrounding plastic to melt, creating t… Distribution information was not included in the agency filing, so consumers should assume broad potential exposure until the firm publishes point-of-sale details. The remedy documented by the agency is: Customers should stop using the mowers immediately and contact a John Deere dealer to make arrangements to have the engine cooling fan replaced. All registered owners of the recalled mowers will be d… — consumers holding this product should act on that instruction rather than relying on general guidance.

To put this record in context, PlainRecalls indexes 83,949 recalls across the FDA, CPSC, NHTSA and USDA FSIS going back to 1995. Within the same product category, the database holds 6 closely related recalls, of which 1 were also issued by CPSC. That clustering is a signal — repeated actions in a narrow category often indicate a systemic quality-control issue, a supplier-wide contamination, or a design defect that has propagated across product lines. This recall is roughly 15 years old; older recalls can remain relevant because many units enter resale, rental, and secondary-market channels where the original warning never reaches the end user. Always cross-check the recall number against the official agency page before relying on any summary.