Photo: CG_Ops on reddit
It appears that Polaris isn’t doing that well in the reliability department. After recalling over 100,000 of its side-by-side vehicles for a fire hazard this year, the problem might be spreading to the popular Slingshot as well. One of them just went up in flames and burned to the ground on a major US highway.
The incident that surfaced on Reddit shows a Polaris Slingshot engulfed in flames on the emergency lane of a US highway. Judging by where it sits, we can assume the driver and the possible passengers had time to pull over and get out of the vehicle before sustaining major injuries.
Shared by a friend of the driver, the story isn't giving much detail, the poster claiming the owner is “big in the MC world” and doesn’t want to create more problems to him. The only details provided are the fact that the Slingshot was a few months old and was insured.
The user posting also claims that he knows about another Slingshot model involved in an accident somewhere else that caught fire as well, with the driver being killed, unfortunately.
Looking at the aftermath pictures, you can easily tell there’s nothing left to be saved from the Slingshot, with only the frame and engine being left along with some molten aluminum parts.
Could the Slingshot be plagued by the same problems the RZR900 and RZR1000 suffer? We can’t tell, but it appears to be a real problem, with the last recall affecting 133,000 such Polaris vehicles. The defects have already caused the death of a rider, while multiple others have been injured.
Details about what exactly causes Polaris vehicles to catch fire are scarce, but we ran some checks with VINs from the affected models, and the recall section of CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) returned results such as "ECU Reflash, Heat Shield Replacement, Voltage Regulator Replacement, Fuel Tank Vent Line Replacement, and Fuse Box Seal Replacement," in various combinations.
Whatever the case, we hope Polaris solves the problem across all models soon. Until then, we advise owners to drive theirs with caution. Keep your Polaris ride in low revs and avoid bumper-to-bumper rush hour traffic to avoid overheating.
Shared by a friend of the driver, the story isn't giving much detail, the poster claiming the owner is “big in the MC world” and doesn’t want to create more problems to him. The only details provided are the fact that the Slingshot was a few months old and was insured.
The user posting also claims that he knows about another Slingshot model involved in an accident somewhere else that caught fire as well, with the driver being killed, unfortunately.
Looking at the aftermath pictures, you can easily tell there’s nothing left to be saved from the Slingshot, with only the frame and engine being left along with some molten aluminum parts.
Could the Slingshot be plagued by the same problems the RZR900 and RZR1000 suffer? We can’t tell, but it appears to be a real problem, with the last recall affecting 133,000 such Polaris vehicles. The defects have already caused the death of a rider, while multiple others have been injured.
Details about what exactly causes Polaris vehicles to catch fire are scarce, but we ran some checks with VINs from the affected models, and the recall section of CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) returned results such as "ECU Reflash, Heat Shield Replacement, Voltage Regulator Replacement, Fuel Tank Vent Line Replacement, and Fuse Box Seal Replacement," in various combinations.
Whatever the case, we hope Polaris solves the problem across all models soon. Until then, we advise owners to drive theirs with caution. Keep your Polaris ride in low revs and avoid bumper-to-bumper rush hour traffic to avoid overheating.
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