Two months ago, Harbor Freight recalled several Pittsburgh jack stands. Today, they sent out an email informing customers that the recall has been extended to include one additional model, 56373.
The way they are approaching this is unusual, as brands and retailers typically don’t email their entire subscriber base to announce product recalls, although this is certainly a practice that could and in some cases should be followed.
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Basically, they have identified a small number of Pittsburgh 3 ton jack stands (56373) to have a welding defect. Thus, these jack stands are added to the existing recall.
If you own any of the recalled jack stands, stop using them and bring them to your local Harbor Freight store for a cash refund or store credit.
The email also says that they have investigated ALL of their other Pittsburgh 3 ton jack stands (56371, 56372, 57308), 6 ton jack stands (56368, 56369, 56370), and 12 ton jack stands (56374, 56375), and found them to not have this same defect.
If you own one of these jack stands that are not being recalled, and are concerned about their safety, you can still bring them back for a cash refund or store credit.
Following is the email sent out by Eric Smidt, owner and founder of the company:
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 57308) 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.
Regardless of Harbor Freight’s reputation for cheap and inexpensive tools, inexpensive tools should still be safe to use. They’ve got quite a bit of egg on their face for this string of automotive jack recalls, but at least it seems like they’re doing an admirable job of owning up to it and in their attempts to make things right.
Recalls can diminish public confidence, but I can’t imagine a better way for them to be handling this. Let’s hope this is the last Pittsburgh jack stand for Harbor Freight to have to recall.
More Info – ToolGuyd Recall Post
More Info – Harbor Freight Jack Stands Page