SaferProducts incident

Failure type

Fire / ignition

Incident narrative

SaferProducts.gov consumer incident report 20160722-2056E-1583323. Severity: Injury, Hospital Admission. Product: Cub Cadet Cub Cadet Z-Force-S 60 (Zero Turn Riding Lawnmower). Incident: This caller is reporting the fire caused by his riding lawnmower and his 15 year old son's burn injury to his right arm and hand. He purchased this unit from Pratts Lawncare Missouri sometime in 2010. He had no problems with the unit until Wednesday, July 20th, 2016 when his 15 year old son was on riding lawnmower. The 15 year old had been using the lawnmower for approximately one hour when he stopped the mower, turned it off then decided to check the fuel level when the gasoline erupted throwing gasoline all over the young man and then burst into flames. The callers son dropped to the ground and rolled away from the unit. The fire department informed the caller that most likely when the gasoline hit the engine of the lawnmower it instantly caused it to catch fire. The caller's son was taken from the scene of the fire in an ambulance to Phelps County Regional Medical Center Emergency in Rolla, MO where he was diagnosed with second degree burns from the back of his thumb up his arm to his armpit. He was referred to Mercy Hospital Burn Center. He was seen again at Mercy Hospital in St. Louis, MO on Thursday, July 21st, 2016 in the High Level Burn Center/Burn Clinic where he began his treatments for the burns. The callers are reporting this incident as a sever fire, burn hazard. This riding lawnmower is recalled with release# 11-733 which the caller had no knowledge about. He has not contacted the manufacturer but does intend to contact them.