AR500 Armor Recalls Level III Body Armor Due to Risk of Gunshot Injury or Death

Recall Insight

This CPSC action (record #16192) was formally reported on June 9, 2016. It is classified under Moderate severity, with a current status of Active. Ar500 Armor, of Phoenix, Ariz. is listed as the recalling firm. Federal records indicate About 10,000 units are affected.

The documented reason for this recall is: The body armor can fail to meet performance requirements for Level III body armor, allowing a bullet to penetrate, and pose a risk of gunshot injury or death. 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 body armor and contact the firm for instructions to receive replacement body armor. AR500 will contact all known purchasers about the recall. — 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 and NHTSA going back to 1995. Within the same product category, the database holds 6 closely related recalls, of which 6 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 10 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.