STIHL Recalls Hedge Trimmers For Laceration Risk

Yard work is already hard and miserable enough. Adding a significant safety risk because of a defective tool seems like overkill. However, a popular brand has issued a recall of several thousand hedge trimmers because of a faulty trigger switch, which can cause significant injuries because of the defective product.

STIHL Recalls Battery-Powered Hedge Trimmers

The recall deals with STIHL’s HSA 65 battery-powered hedge trimmers. The product is a gray and orange, highly portable trimmer with a 20” blade, sold throughout the U.S. and Canada from June 2010 through April 2016. The retail price was about $300 per trimmer, and nearly 8,000 were sold.

The recall has been made because of two different reasons, each of which can lead to a significant laceration injury from the lethal-looking 20” saw blade.

Defect Number One: Only One Trigger Needed

The first defect that caused STIHL to issue a recall of the HSA 65 concerns the trigger device needed to start the motor. The HSA 65’s loop handle has two triggers – one inside the loop of the handle, and another on the outside of the loop. The set-up forces you to consciously have your hand inside the loop in order to hold down both triggers, tap into the battery power, activate the motor, and start the blade.

However, the HSA 65 has shown a tendency to only need one of the triggers to be depressed in order to start working. This can lead to an accidental start by someone just bumping into the hedge trimmer in the wrong spot. If done at the wrong time, the blade’s activation can cause serious injuries.

Defect Number Two: Blade Continues to Run After Trigger is Released

In addition to only needing one of the two required triggers to start the HSA 65 hedge trimmer, the 20” blade continues to run even after the trigger is released. This product defect can surprise users who reasonably expect the blade to stop immediately after releasing the trigger on the handle, and can result in a serious laceration injury if someone releases the trigger and immediately puts the trimmer down, assuming that it has stopped working.

Recall Includes a Free Upgrade

Luckily, no injuries have been reported to STIHL from their defectively made HSA 65 hedge trimmers. Whether this means that no one has actually been hurt from the poorly-made tool is another question, though. Nevertheless, STIHL’s recall asks purchasers to bring their HSA 65 model back to the dealer that they got it from, and includes an offer to upgrade the device with an HSA 66 trimmer at no cost.

Personal Injury Lawyers in Maryland

Products like the HSA 65 hedge trimmer seem to be everywhere. Whether through a poor design or a faulty manufacturing process, devices that already pose a potential danger to the public and to its users become even more dangerous. They can all put you at risk for an injury that you neither deserve, nor can do anything to prevent.

If you have been hurt by an HSA 65 hedge trimmer, or any other faulty product, call the Baltimore based personal injury attorneys Gilman & Bedigian at (800) 529-6162 or contact us online.