Ariens Arienes Platinum 24 SHO with EFI 921053

SaferProducts.gov consumer incident report 20171103-D322A-2147396051. Severity: Incident, No Injury. Product: Ariens Arienes Platinum 24 SHO with EFI 921053 (Ariens Platinum Series 24 EFI Snow Blower). Incident: I recently purchased an Ariens Platinum 24 SHO Snow Blower with EFI. The unit contains a 7.2 Volt Battery that is either Lithium or Nickel Cadmium. The leads on the battery are defective and the plastic plug came off with no effort and exposed the two leads which shorted out. The pins for the leads are defective and are not secured correctly. From what I've been told this is NOT an isolated issue to my snow blower. Within 20 inches (estimate ) is the gas tank. I store my snow blower in my garage and or shed. My concern is that the spark from the short can start a fire from nearby stored gas or spilled gasoline. BTW. The Dealer is terrific. They took back the unit understanding that gravity of the issue and exchanged it for another unit without EFI.