SaferProducts incident

Failure type

Fire / ignition

Incident narrative

SaferProducts.gov consumer incident report 20160328-D9FDE-2147420628. Severity: Incident, No Injury. Product: Toro 38282 (snow blower power clear 180 single stage). Incident: My Toro snowblower was recalled in 2010 for gas leaking from the carborator. After several times having it fixed, it still leaks raw gas again into my garage after sitting just 16 days after it's last use. the dealer explained that all manufactureres make the same parts in China involving a needle to stop the gas from flowing. There is a design issue when using gas with ethanol, which is 95% of all gas sold. The gas has corrosive effects on the carborator and needle causing sticking and the gas flows onto the floor of the garage where the snow blower is sitting. The gas ran down and out under the garage door, creating a fire hazard for anyone walking by with a match, cigarette, etc. Toro (and othe manufacturues apparently) blame the gas producers for making gas with ethanol which has various side effects such as this. Toro knowing that all gas made causes a problem with their design still continues to make the same design ignoring the issue and blaming the gas refineries. This design is unsafe, regardless of how many times it is repaired and causes a fire hazard. I can't risk having the snow blower leaking gas into my residence so the dealer offered to buy it from me for $75 which I then sold to him. All these snow blowers with these designs should immediately stop being sold until either the design can be changed to stop the leaks or the gas is changed to not cause the issues.