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Chinese-Made Auto Fuses May Cause Fire

California auto parts seller recalls 295,000 sets

By Joe Benton
ConsumerAffairs.com

September 5, 2007

Harbor Freight reported plans for the recall of Chinese made fuses to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration August 10.

Harbor Freight told the federal safety agency that it is aware of property damage caused by the fuses but does not know of any injuries.

The decision to recall the fuses is a result of four customer complaints "in a very short period of time" according to the company as well as concerns raised with Harbor Freight by General Motors Corp.

Last month, GM sent an internal bulletin to dealers discouraging them from using the Harbor Freight fuses and reminding dealers that the fuses are not GM parts.

NHTSA has also received two complaints from consumers about the Harbor Freight fuses.

Harbor Freight Tools had sought to limit public disclosure of the fuse recall by marking its four page letter to NHTSA as a confidential communication. The auto parts company asked the safety regulators to limit disclosure of the defect report from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.

If successful, this tactic would have prevented consumers from knowing they had potentially hazardous fuses in their cars.

The fuses are supposed to be 5-30 amps but may have been made with the wrong amperages and that can lead to damage to a vehicle's electrical system. Harbor Freight has now stopped selling the fuses.

Between August 2005 and August 2007, Harbor Freight sold 295,000 fuse sets containing 120 fuses which means as many as 35 million fuses could be involved. The fuse sets sold for between $3 and $10.

The company plans to notify anyone who purchased the fuses from the company's Web site, as well as mail-order customers, and will post recall notices in retail outlets. It will give customers a $5 gift certificate for returning the items, in addition to a refund.

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