SaferProducts incident

Failure type

Fire / ignition

Incident narrative

SaferProducts.gov consumer incident report 20240204-1AC7B-2147341259. Severity: Incident, No Injury. Product: Can-Am Can-Am Defender Max X MR HD10 (Can-Am Defender Max X Mr HD10, Black & Yellow 72 hp, Rotax 976 cc, V-twin, liquid cooled with strategically positioned engine air intake L x W x H 160.5 x 64 x 82 in. (407.6 x 162.5 x 208.3 cm)). Incident: 2019 Can-Am Defender Max X Mr HD10, spontaneous fire, incinerated side-by-side minus frame and bumper; I was using utility vehicle ([REDACTED]), no injuries occurred. I drove the machine from my house to end of driveway to pay tractor for pulling my truck out of the ditch (drove 1/2 mile)(heavy snow and ice storm affected Tennessee). Machine was turned off for 10 minutes while I paid the tractor guy. Turned it on to drive home and went 2/5 mile and high temperature gauge came across dash. I turned off machine, took keys out, and walked home 3/5 mile down driveway. As I was walking up to house my wife came out and notice smoke in the distance. We drove our vehicles immediately to side-by-side and it was engulfed in flames, already nearly melted down. Fire department came and put out remaining fire which at that time was mostly burning rubber from the tires ashes. Entire machine other than frame and bumper was incinerated. Conditions - unusual heavy snow in Tennessee. Current recall on 2020/2021 Apache model for snow clogging CVT intake "The stock CVT air intake can become completely obstructed with snow causing the drive belt to overheat and break, posing a fire hazard." Recall on BRP site specifically states other models are not affected and I believe this to be false. They specifically state The heavy snow conditions created similar environment to Apache models posing same risk. Machine was in excellent condition, just over 100 hours. BRP website states that snorkel version does not need update with recall "If your vehicle is NOT modified with a track kit Your vehicle does