On the eve of the legal start of another snowmobile season, Polaris issued its latest recalls.
The first one one affects approximately 4,500 Polaris mountain (both Pro RMK and RMK Khaos) sleds that utilize the 9R engine. As you’ll see in the notice directly below, no injuries have been reported but 91 clutches have failed.
The second (posted far below) is focused on 4,600 units that utilized the Patriot 850 powerplant equipped with electreic start. According to the official news release, there have been 9 reports of ring gear failure among that batch, including four where the clutch seperated from the snowmobile.
In July, Polaris issued a Stop Ride/Stop Sale for many of the same vehicles for the same or similar problems. These official recalls formalize things with the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC).
Polaris Recalls Model Year 2023 PATRIOT 9R MATRYX PRO RMK And PATRIOT 9R MATRYX RMK KHAOS
Polaris has determined that Model Year 2023 PATRIOT 9R MATRYX PRO RMK and PATRIOT MATRYX PRO RMK and PATRIOT 9R MATRYX RMK KHAOS snowmobiles can have an increased risk of primary (drive) clutch failure. The failure can cause the clutch or clutch components to be separated from the unit, posing an potential injury hazard to consumers.
Number of affected vehicles: approximately 4,500 units globally
Number of incidents: Polaris has identified 91 reports of clutch failure, including nine reports where the clutch components separated from the unit. Polaris is not aware of any reports of personal injury associated with this concern.
Consumers should immediately stop using the impacted unit and contact a Polaris dealer to schedule a free repair. DO NOT attempt any repairs yourself.
Polaris has notified dealers and is contacting impacted registered owners directly. To search off-road recalls by model or vehicle identification number (VIN) to see if your unit is affected by any recalls, visit the Off-Road Safety Recalls page or call Polaris at 800-765-2747.
*Polaris issued a Stop Ride / Stop Sale notice on July 13, 2023, following our notification to CPSC. On November 30, 2023 Polaris announced the voluntary recall in conjunction with the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC Recall No. 24-720)
Polaris Recalls Some Model Year 2022 PATRIOT 850 MATRYX Snowmobiles Equipped With Electric Start
Polaris has determined that some Model Year 2022 PATRIOT 850 MATRYX snowmobiles equipped with electric start can have an increased risk of ring gear failure. The failure can cause the clutch or clutch components to be separated from the unit, posing an injury hazard to consumers.
Number of affected vehicles: approximately 4,600 units globally
Number of incidents: Polaris has identified nine reports of ring gear failure, including four reports where the clutch components separated from the unit. Polaris is aware of one report of personal injury associated with this concern.
This concern also affects clutch service parts. If the clutch on your vehicle has been replaced with part number 1323613, it is also affected. Your Polaris dealer will contact you if your unit has an affected service part.
Consumers should immediately stop using the impacted units and contact a Polaris dealer to schedule a free repair. DO NOT attempt any repairs yourself.
Polaris has notified dealers and is contacting impacted registered owners directly. To search off-road recalls by model or vehicle identification number (VIN) to see if your unit is affected by any recalls, visit the Off-Road Safety Recalls page or call Polaris at 800-765-2747.
*Polaris issued a Stop Ride / Stop Sale notice on July 13, 2023, following our notification to CPSC. On November 30, 2023 Polaris announced the voluntary recall in conjunction with the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC Recall No. 24-722)
Just the latest in the steady stream of recalls from this company with its crap grade engineering. Always amazes me that they sell as much as they do. Their customers seem to be willing to put up with this shit over and over even though they must realize they could go to any competitor and buy better products.
Doo is the only other answer. Cat is short for CAT-ASTROPHE and Yamaha is getting out of the snowmobile business. You make it sound like there’s lots of alternatives…
New color for 2025, Recall Red.
You’re complaining about a company that’s actually standing behind their product and fixing an issue that is not even that likely to be an issue. Out of how many units made and sold, were talking about 9 ring gears… doo and the others have a plethora of issues themselves. My buddy bought a new doo last year, the oil pump lines weren’t even connected to the engine! The sled made it 20 feet off of the trailer, just to be loaded by hand and taken back to the dealer. Every automotive company has recalls and issues. Many times it’s an issues with the supplier of the parts they receive that make up these units, and that gives the company as a whole a bad name because of it.
Buy from a reputable dealer.
Period.
Piss poor quality control. Ni more actual R & D test riders like they used to have. No more engineers who actually live in / grew up a snow climate and ride sleds.
This for sleds that cost 20,000-30,000+ is nuts.
Back in mid 1990’a to 2010 used to see many Polaris R&D test drivers ride from Roseau factory up to the Can Am trail in Manitoba regularly, talked to them saw the sleds. Great test riders, now I don’t believe they do this any more just used fake BS computer testing, total BS need actual test riding with real people on real trails to properly test a product.
I doubt they have any local area or even North American engineers at the factory now.
Polaris workers used to mainly come from Norther Minnesota and South Eastern Manitoba Canada., There were many Canadians who worked there especially in the late 1960’s to late 1990’s (the hey days of snowmobile sales, when Polaris sold more snowmobiles in one year (pick any year from 1968-1974) than the entire industry (all manufactures) sells now, well in excess of 100,000 sleds.
Winnipeg is only 2 hours north and Steinbach is only 1 hour north all born and breed rural local people who embrace winter and snow and have practical mechanical know how and interest. These workers knew how to real world test products outdoors.
Due to covid and high gas prices, it is too expensive for Canadian workers to travel this far daily or weekly like they used to, so they are replaced with people from warm climates with no snow or cold and no interest in outdoors or mechanical inclination , mainly foreign computer geeks who design and test products using computer simulation.
SKi-Doo’s workforce is 100% Canadian mostly french Canadian, all of whom are local rural people who embrace winter and snow and have practical northern rural outdoor and mechanical skills who actually ride and test products in outdoor environments instead of computer simulation or indoor CAD facilities.
Any wonder why the reliability and durability issues now? At least Polaris is recalling and replacing defective products but if they designed and tested the products outdoors with local North American talent they would have great products again like they used to.
So you’re saying Skidoo is better because they live in the boons and supposedly don’t use computer technology to design and test their products? Doesn’t matter where a person comes from if they take pride in their work and the company that hires them treats them like people and not ants. Polaris is just covering their ass because of rampant litigation and social responsibility. I assure you all the manufacturers use computer aided design and use both real and simulated testing. Lack of labor, rising fuel costs, world conflicts, supply chain issues, corrupt politicians, greed, stringent EPA standards, growing concerns for climate change and overall demand dictate sled costs more than where the workers come from. RV’s are slapped together by a whole plethora of skilled and unskilled workers probably working for lousy wages and everyone thinks that because they’re mostly Amish their skills are unbeatable which is such bull, maybe that would be true if they were given the best wood, equipment and materials to make the RV but the fact of the matter is people pay thousands for expensive crap RV’s and nobody bitches about it and accepts it as if it were trivial.
I’m waiting for Polaris to issue a recall on their PTO side jackshaft bearings that they conveniently fixed for 2022 but plagues all sleds prior to that in both Matryx and Axys chassis. My understanding is that not enough of the PTO side bearing is secured in the bearing support casting and because of the torque flex placing a side load on these bearings causing them to split on the centerline of the races either internally or externally. This has since been replaced with a newer casting that has a deeper recess in it to better support the bearing. Polaris apparently will cover this part and the bearing and bearing retainer plate under warranty. Unfortunately you also need an updated jackshaft for which they will not cover. Go figure, shabby design and the mfg won’t cover the most expensive part. I understand these are hit and miss on the Axys but more common place on Matryx sleds. I keep mine filled with synthetic grease and check it routinely but it is definitely a bone of contention.