SaferProducts incident

Failure type

Fire / ignition

Incident narrative

SaferProducts.gov consumer incident report 20120414-89557-2147468427. Matched catalog product: Polaris 2016 RZR 900 Trail. Source model text: 2012 Polaris Ranger RZR XP 900 / R12JT87AB. Incident: My wife and I were riding an ohv trail near Florence Arizona in our new 2012 Polaris Ranger RZR XP 900, along with friends and members of our ATV club. We left our campsite at about 10:30 am on or about Friday March 16, 2012 and had been on the trail maybe 4 hours and heading back to camp. We stopped a number of times for water and lunch break and to view the scenery. I was leading the group of 6, in an area called box canyon when my wife said she smelled something sweet, which I didn't so we continued on. Box Canyon is a rocky area and we were traveling about 5-10 mph when suddenly the second in our group raced up to us yelling fire, fire. I immediately hit the brakes and we both exited and I immediately unstrapped the 2 gallon spare plastic gas can and raced it to a safe place then back to pull out my cargo chest that I also purchased (see pictures of before and after fire). Note that the gas can was on the driver's side and away from the fire. Then we all worked (all 6 of us) throwing dirt at the fire on the rzr. The fire was finally extinguished by someone finding some water. The fire was very close to my wife's head which you will read in the witness report (see witness letter). Please note; my wife and I also smelled gas fumes on occasions, inside the cab, on the return and other rides.