SaferProducts incident

Failure type

Fire / ignition

Incident narrative

SaferProducts.gov consumer incident report 20160104-B3F12-1543601. Severity: Incident, No Injury. Product: Toro SS4235 (74633) (Timecutter Riding Mower). Incident: The caller's friend used the lawn mower with Toro Timecutter Twin Bagger System (Model # 79334) to clean up leaves from his yard. The leaves got caught up in the muffler (located in the rear of the mower). The lawn tractor caught on fire. The caller's friend had to jump off of the mower. He extinguished the fire with water. The caller stated that if his friend did not smell the smoke then the fire could have spread to gas tank (near the muffler) and caused an explosion. The caller stated that he does not know if the mower or the bag system was the issue in this incident but the fire occurred due to the leaves being caught in the muffler of the mower. Both, the tractor and bagger system are damaged. The caller's friend contacted Toro and spoke to [REDACTED] (1-800-348-2424). Someone from Affton Lawn Equipment came out to pick up the mower on 11/12/15 (Job # [REDACTED]). The caller's friend was charged $35 to pick up the unit (one way). Toro sent out someone to inspect the unit at Affton Lawn Equipment. After inspection, the caller's friend received a call from [REDACTED] (Toro) informing him that Toro will not cover any damages. The caller contacted Toro and spoke to [REDACTED]. The caller wanted to know why the unit was not being repaired or covered by Toro when the unit is under warranty. The caller was not provided any reason/explanation. The caller demanded [REDACTED] to send information in writing as to why this damage would not be covered by Toro. The caller was informed that they will send out a letter to his friend (the owner of the mower). The unit is under 1 year w