Recall - Industry Oversight?

[TipsyMcStagger]

Though I've been registered on this site for years, I'm a new diver - open water and nitrox certified last summer. After completing my training, I bought all of my gear from my LDS (with whom I received my training).

Yesterday, while preparing for a dive, the inflator button on my Aqua Lung Pro HD BCD failed in the open position. I had some experienced friends along, but no one could correct the problem.

Today, I brought the BCD back to my LDS, anticipating a warranty repair. Instead, I was made aware of a recall that had been issued for this very defect. And my inflator was within the range of affected units.

While I now see the recall has been posted on this site, Aqua Lung's site and the CPSC site, I was never notified of the recall. I would have expected at the very least that a conscientious dealer, once aware of the recall, would have reviewed their sales records to determine who had purchased an affected device and attempt to make the purchasers aware. My LDS is relatively small. I can't imagine they would have had much difficulty retrieving this information.

For every vehicle I've ever owned that was affected by a recall, I received a notice in the mail. Is there no similar oversight in the SCUBA industry? I realize gear changes hands, but Aqua Lung knows which serial numbers are affected and the dealer knows who initially purchased each device. It never occurred to me to to check for a notice of recall, prior to or after the failure.

I'm thankful this failure manifested on the surface and not while diving.

Tipsy

 

[runsongas]

Your LDS should have a notice posted and let you know also when you stopped by since the recall was active in October

Did you register the bc on the aqualung website? Without doing that, only the LDS would possibly know you bought a bc. It isn't like a car where it is registered with the dmv

 

[TipsyMcStagger]

If the recall is posted at my LDS, I've never noticed it nor was it pointed out to me today. I was merely told, "that problem might be covered by a recall."

I'm fairly certain I did not fill-out any information on Aqua Lung's site. Product registration is virtually never a requirement for warranty coverage. It is typically just a vehicle for generating mass marketing. I realize your point though that perhaps doing so might have resulted in notification from the manufacturer.

Has anyone reading this received recall notification from Aqua Lung (or other manufacturers) after having "registered" a purchase with said manufacturer?

Tipsy

 

[kafkaland]

Your dive shop should have made an attempt to contact you and other affected customers. Especially if it's something they routinely sell. When the recall came, someone there should have thought of going through their sales records and see who they sold it to. On the other hand, not every small dive shop is that good at record keeping. Hard drives crash, backups are not made. Or no one actually thought of doing it. In any case, not a very professional handling of the situation.

 

[Damselfish]

BCDs (and toasters and washing machines) just don't have the paper trail like cars. It would be nice if a dive shop did better, but I'm not surprised if they don't. While product registration isn't required for warranty coverage, I've seen warranty cards suggest it would be a good idea for the notification aspect, besides making it easier than dredging up receipts if there is a warranty claim. Not that I do it 98% of the time either.

 

[g1138]

I think there's plenty of oversight, but it's the customer's want for privacy that can prevent the notice from reaching them.
We as customers often opt out of giving contact info to the LDS cashier and registering at the mfg website.

For your reference, this is the same story as with recalls on AquaLung Gen1 & 2 Weight Pockets, Halcyon SS Inflator & OPV springs, Zeagle Grace & Element BC. The list goes on; it always comes back to this same question you're having. And the answer is we as the customer, make it hard for them to contact us.

There is a benefit to registering gear even though you don't intend to have a repair warranty.
The scuba MFG's will send recalls to their dealers and registered customers; assuming none of those have unsubscribed from such emails.

For the LDS, alerting their customers effectively depends on the business. If they have a email subscription they should definitely be putting these recalls on those. If they don't, then it's kinda hard to one-off contacts often numbering over 500 customers, including reoccurring, one-timer, vacation visits etc.
Often for those businesses, a flyer on the store front is their only best option to capture their customers. But obviously that only captures a very small number.


There are some situations where your LDS doesn't have an email subscription or if you choose not to receive the 2-6 emails a day from them (why so many!?!?!?!), then the best option is to register your gear on the mfg website. Most mfg sites now allow an option to unsubscribe from all promotions and only get recall notices.


I think us thinking about the car industry and how they do recalls, you'll find similarities.
If you get a car recall notice in mail or email straight from the mfg, it's only because your dealership registered your VIN and contact info with the MFG. It's usually in the fine print on the multitude of signatures you put down.
And if not then real big dealerships often do a decent job with email but not so much postage mail.

If you buy from a private seller or don't visit a dealership for service, you too will often miss recalls. The only difference is you'll usually see big recalls on the news. You can look into Takata Airbag recalls on various forums to see this similarity.
Most people who didn't buy from a mfg dealership, didn't register themselves on the mfg website, opt out of dealership emails, or bought used from a parent or private seller, didn't get any notices.
With the later situation, sometimes the private seller or parent got the notice from mfg, but only because the dealership registered them when they purchased.

Not all dealership do this, but in comparison really no LDS does this. Because unlike a car, there is no paperwork tying your serial# to the LDS. It all goes to the customer and as the diver we are responsible for maintaining our own gear. I think if we're asking for the industry to be better and put the recall ownage back more to the mfg, you're not going to find that they're any worse than other industries.

 

[Damselfish]

If you buy from a private seller or don't visit a dealership for service, you too will often miss recalls. The only difference is you'll usually see big recalls on the news. You can look into Takata Airbag recalls on various forums to see this similarity.
Most people who didn't buy from a mfg dealership, didn't register themselves on the mfg website, opt out of dealership emails, or bought used from a parent or private seller, didn't get any notices.
With the later situation, sometimes the private seller or parent got the notice from mfg, but only because the dealership registered them when they purchased.

All the automobile recall notices I've gotten have a section that asks if you still own the vehicle, and maybe who you sold it to. Don't recall exactly. I wonder what percentage of people that no longer own a vehicle do something about it. I suspect the additional percentage of owners found this way is small, but at least they're sort of trying. (Or mandated to do so?)

 

[Doby45]

I just don't see it as that big of a deal. Inflators can be had for $15-$20 and you should know from your OW training what to do with a run away inflator. A far more worrysome issue would be finding out that specific HP seats in a reg shatters from time to time.

 

[TipsyMcStagger]

I just don't see it as that big of a deal. Inflators can be had for $15-$20 and you should know from your OW training what to do with a run away inflator. A far more worrysome issue would be finding out that specific HP seats in a reg shatters from time to time.

To your point, the more I dive with experienced divers, the more I'm made aware I didn't receive incredibly thorough training. I have a lot to learn but I can honestly say that had this occurred underwater, I'm not sure I would have had the presence of mind to disconnect the inflator hose. I can chalk this up to a learning experience and it has given me some things to think about. Obviously, now I know better.

I used to teach people to fly when I was younger. The day the student passed their Private Pilot checkride, we would tell them they just received their license-to-learn. I treat my open water certification much the same way. The folks I was diving with this weekend taught me more about my BCD in one afternoon than my instructor/LDS did all through training - and I ended up buying the same brand/model BCD that I trained with.

What doesn't kill us makes us stronger (or smarter). I feel more confident with each dive and more competent with each new experience.

Tipsy

 

[cerich]

If the recall is posted at my LDS, I've never noticed it nor was it pointed out to me today. I was merely told, "that problem might be covered by a recall."

I'm fairly certain I did not fill-out any information on Aqua Lung's site. Product registration is virtually never a requirement for warranty coverage. It is typically just a vehicle for generating mass marketing. I realize your point though that perhaps doing so might have resulted in notification from the manufacturer.

Has anyone reading this received recall notification from Aqua Lung (or other manufacturers) after having "registered" a purchase with said manufacturer?

Tipsy

If AL didn't get a registration, there is no means for them to know you have the gear, unlike your car where the manufs can get the state DMV's to help.

I suspect all of own a variety of items that have been recalled in our house that we have no clue about