SaferProducts incident

Failure type

Explosion / rupture

Incident narrative

SaferProducts.gov consumer incident report 20180612-9876F-2147387401. Severity: Incident, No Injury. Product: Troy Bilt TB635EC (Troy Bilt Item # 41ADZ63C766 Model TB635EC, S/N 1C157DD1012, Assembled in Mexico. Red and Black weed eater yard trimmer with interchangeable attachment heads). Incident: I purchased a Troy Bilt weed-eater in a few years ago, from Lowes in Waxahachie, TX. Troybilt item 41ADZ63C766, Model TB635EC, S/N 1A256DD1687. Upon using it a couple of seasons, the flywheel next to the starting cord broke apart while in use which is an inherent danger due to flying metal fragments that may come out of the weed eater. Thinking not much of it in 2017 I purchased another model TB635EC from the same store. Upon unboxing it and getting ready to start it, the kick out spurs that are on the metal flywheel broke on the first pull. So I returned this to the store and they replaced it with another from stock. Most recently the first week of June 2017 I was using the 3rd Troybilt unit Troybilt item # 41ADZ63C766, Model TB635EC, S/N 1C157DD1012, which is about 1 year old. When using this most recent one at full throttle, the metal flywheel broke apart immediately stopping the weed eater. Luckily no metal fragments or parts exploded from the plastic shroud. These models are inherently dangerous due to the location of the motor and flywheel being close to the operators side. In the event some metal parts did come out of the unit, one could be severely injured or impaled with flying parts.