Kubota Recalls Riding Mowers Due to Fire Hazard (Recall Alert)

Recall Insight

This CPSC action (record #13734) was formally reported on May 21, 2013. It is classified under Moderate severity, with a current status of Active. Kubota Manufacturing of America Corp., of Gainesville, Ga. is listed as the recalling firm. Federal records indicate About 8,600 units are affected.

The documented reason for this recall is: The fuel tank's pressure relief valve can malfunction, causing the tank to expand and rub against the transmission drive belt and drive cooling fan. This can wear a hole in the fuel tank and cause a fuel leak, posing a … 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: Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled mowers and contact Kubota for a free repair. Kubota is contacting its customers directly. — 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 13 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.