SaferProducts incident

Failure type

Fire / ignition

Incident narrative

SaferProducts.gov consumer incident report 20130827-7BBBC-2147452619. Severity: Incident, No Injury. Product: Honda HRX2172HXA (Honda Lawnmower). Incident: I have a Honda walk behind mower model HRX2172HXA (serial number MAGA-1575405). I have owned this mower for several years. This mower has developed a problem with the carburetor. It has started letting gas to flow out the air filter housing even when the mower is shut off. It has progressively gotten worse. At one point, it filled my entire garage with gas fumes. My wife came in one evening and noted that the garage smelled of gas. When I went out the fumes were over powering. I was afraid to use the garage door opener as I thought the garage door opener motor might cause a spark. With the amount of gas fumes in the garage, there would have been an explosion or at least a fire. It was a dangerous situation. I attempted to correct the problem by ordering a new carburetor from Plano Power Equipment in Plano, TX. The new carburetor looked exactly like the old carburetor. I installed it and within the month, it was leaking gasoline out the air filter hosing. This indicates to me that they have a design or manufacturing defect in these carburetors. This evening while I was using the mower I shut it down for about 10 minutes. When I went back to it, gasoline was already pouring out of the air filter housing. It has reached the point that I have to use the fuel line shut off valve whenever the mower is shutoff. I have an older model HRX217 at our rental house and I have never had this issue with that mower. The only time I have to use the fuel line shut off valve on this mower is when I am storing it for winter. I looked at the carburetor on this mower and it is a different design