Yep. I remember...and I was thinking about the XP testing the other day. Your theory is certainly not beyond the realm of possibility. They need to use the parts they had on the test mules.

 

You forgot the recall on all the bad ECM's that they had for a few years.

 

My machine was made in the middle of may 09, I havent got a recall on mine yet, IMO they really dragged their feet on this, and not doing a total recall across the board really *%@ me off. Its a joke that they just check them and determine that they are fine by visual inspection. Last summer when I had 300 miles on mine I had one knuckle replaced, I asked the dealer if the other side was fine, he replied "yes we checked it and its good", so i took it home jacked it up, checked the other side.............. it was shot too and these are the people checking all the warranty machines for failures......

 

O.K. Here's my 2 cents worth.. You all ready for it?!

So Im clear on this, I do have a 2009 550xp that was built 12-01-08. I dont have any problem with the joints on it, but will be checking them over to see if there is any potential issues later on.
I did have a small problem with a leak on the valve cover gasket and took it in to have it fixed under warranty and then back a day later due to it still leaking.. A faulty gasket was the problem and it was fixed relatively quickly after that. I wasnt overjoyed having to load it and unload twice to have this fixed but im still happy with this atv.. Granted its no ball joint issue and i would be outraged if it was as well..
So as to the "Polaris Bashing" I honestly dont believe any one, at least on this thread is bashing Polaris.. I think each persons concerns and opinions are valid..
I believe that they so much enjoy their atv's, that its very disappointing to see a good atv and manufacture have such issues.. I think that the engineers/line workers worked really hard on making the best atv out there! I dont really believe it was a union or nonunion worker to be at fault for this or even a engineer.. Stuff happens and its just that..
Now that all being said a company has a responsibilty for safety to themselves and more importantly their customers!
The real enemy here is the almighty dollar. Corporations have a responsibilty to investers and most of the time at the expense of their employees and customers.
Im disappointed that Polaris is pushing it on to the dealers as if its their responsibility to keep track of which XP's are the problem. They made them and sent them out to these dealers, they should have to deal with any issues that come up because of this! Not say, "hey ask the dealer if your atv follows under this recall" To me thats B.S. of any manufacture to do that! You have all the info on this, take ownership of it!
I think more than anything to gain customer loyality and satisfaction is to stand behind what you make! Heck you can have a ton of problems with an item, but if you back it up, they'll know and have confidence in what they bought.. I honestly dont understand why more companies dont use this principle!
So the responsibilty comes upon those that make the decisions on these recalls.. Perhaps recall all of them! Cause isnt that what its about? Making sure the ones that bought your product be around to buy the next one? Oh darn guess what? Not only are your customers safe! There's another sale!

 

Well, Polaris screwed up somewhere. Could be the suppliers lack of a quality part, poor engineering, or just an anomoly of some sort. Whatever the cause Polaris is the responsible party. As I posted before, my dealer told me that after giving him my VIN number, the Polaris dealer info told him a recall was not needed (even though my ATV falls right in the middle of those build dates). If it turns out in the future that I actually DO need the fix....I will never purchase a Polaris again. No way I'll trust a company that gives out poor information or treats the customer like you didn't just spend nine grand. If my 550X2 never needs steering parts due to this issue....I will have faith in them.

 

Here's a thought.

If we as Polaris owners were offered to sell our ATV's for what we paid for them or trade them straight across for another brand? What would happen? If we all did that, what message would that send?

 

If I was offered that right now, I'd decline at this point. My X2 may be perfectly fine. I am however, very cautious about this whole thing and have become a bit concerned. But, even if trading it back was possible I don't like the other choices out there in a two-up model. I test rode the other brand that offered a similar product and didn't like it at all. No, I'll stick with them a while. But....and this is my strong conviction here.....if my ATV turns out to have a screwed up steering mechanism (after being told it was fine by Polaris) I will NEVER buy one again. We are talking about safety (especially with a two-up), money (around $9k for a play thing), and trust in an American company (I often prefer Honda or Suzuki for quality reasons).

 

I agree whole heartedly! I really like mine a lot! I think they nailed on the head when they made this ATV! Everything was well thought out!

But it really dampers the spirit when something so serious like this isnt done completely and thoroughly.

It would be better to have them all recalled than just a few..

 

With today's market, really testing a component, or for that matter, an ATV, just doesn't get done like it should be. Manufacturer's bring the product to the market, sell and let the consumer be the R&D for them. It's too bad that an "seriuos incident" has to be the reason for the recall

 

I find this whole thread quite amusing...
While it is always possible that this could be a Polaris engineering defect, it is a VERY remote possibility if you look at the part affected! In the first place this is NOT a Polaris manufactured part! It is an outsourced part just like the ECMs that resulted in recalls in earlier Polaris machines! This squarely puts the cause of this problem down the manufacturing food chain with the parts supplier OR their suppliers! Given a part like this, it could be a failure of any one of the many components that make up the problem part, ranging from the steel/metal, seals, bearings or a combination of the above that caused the failure! Not to mention the supplier cheapening their process or subcontracting the part to another supplier that Polaris wouldn't necessarily know about!
Now, you may think Polaris should have caught this before this common part caused such a problem, but outside of x-ray or other incredibly expensive testing of each of the hundreds of parts that make up an ATV, effectively making the machine so costly no one would be able to afford it! Which would make all of this a moot point!
All they can do is put the best possible parts into their machines designing them to be as safe as possible knowing that there will always be a certain risk of failure in any humanly designed/manufactured, part/machine!
Kind of like Ford, GM, Chrysler, and yes HONDA and all their major safety recalls! NO company is immune!
While this kind of thing can be quite unnerving, Polaris keeps very detailed records of ALL the parts that go into their machines...Serial numbers, lot numbers, part delivery dates, results of random pull tests, install dates, etc...and would cross reference them with warrantee claims, compliant reports, and dealer reports to pinpoint the problem parts and make sure they fix each and every effected machine! While your machine may fall in the reported manufacture dates, Polaris undoubtedly knows what lot/serial numbers are effected and what machines they were installed on...thus the "go to your dealer" thing! The dealers will access the Polaris data base which list the machines effected and covered by the recall.
Keep in mind, 19 accident reports is a realitively small number to base a recall on when compared to 8500 units...while I know it is posibly a very serious failure, we have all seen and maybe done boneheaded moves that could cause this kind of failure so we should all feel good that Polaris is steping up to the plate here!


Cheers!