Safety recall on Warn Evo 10s?

[MesaAZGuy]

I got an email from Amazon saying to stop using the warn Evo 10s I bought last month. Doesn't give details on what gives. This is all I have on it.


" The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has informed us that the product listed may not meet current mandatory or voluntary safety standards."

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[JeepVet74]

Same here. What’s that about?

 

[jaymz]

Looks like the winch is fine, it’s the cordless remote that is the problem.

 

[MesaAZGuy]

Damn Chinese shit. What's the fix, 'cause I am not taking that thing out of the Jeep. What a pain. I have the solenoid power cut off wired to Aux 1. Might be time to fill in those registration cards I guess. Let Warn come up with a fix.

 

[PA JLUR]

Here it is:
December 23, 2022 NHTSA CAMPAIGN NUMBER: 22E101000
Corrosion on Remote Control Circuit Board
A winch that operates unintentionally increases the risk of injury.
NHTSA Campaign Number: 22E101000
Manufacturer WARN INDUSTRIES, INC.
Components ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, EQUIPMENT
Potential Number of Units Affected 121,187
Summary
Warn Industries, Inc. (WARN) is recalling the Wireless/Handheld Remote sold with certain VR EVO 8, VR EVO 8-S, VR EVO 10, VR EVO 10-S, VR EVO 12, VR EVO 12-S winches, and Remote Service Part. Please see the recall report for a list of all affected winch part numbers. Water may enter the handheld remote control for the winch and cause circuit board corrosion, which can allow the winch to operate unintentionally.
Remedy
As an interim action, WARN will provide owners with instructions to inspect the remote for corrosion and disable the wireless function by removing the battery pack from the remote. If corrosion or water intrusion is found when removing the battery pack, Owners should stop using the remote and contact WARN customer service for a replacement remote free of charge. Once parts are available, WARN will make a replacement water resistant Remote available to affected customers, free of charge. The manufacturer has not yet provided a schedule for recall notification. Owners may contact WARN customer service at 1-800-543-9276.
Notes
Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), or go to www.nhtsa.gov.

 

[jaymz]

Damn Chinese shit. What's the fix, 'cause I am not taking that thing out of the Jeep. What a pain. I have the solenoid power cut off wired to Aux 1. Might be time to fill in those registration cards I guess. Let Warn come up with a fix.

It’s literally just an issue with possible water intrusion and corrosion in the cordless remote. Take the battery out and you’ll be fine. There’s nothing wrong with using the winch with the corded controller (assuming it has one).

 

[MesaAZGuy]

The cord stays in the jeep. Should be ok I guess

 

[rdfact]

I have a Warn VR EVO 10 in my '01 WJ. The controller stays inside the Jeep so should not have any corrosion issues. I usually just plug the controller in anyway.

 

[fourfa]

There's something off in the design of the wireless remotes. At least in the current second-gen design I've got (the kind with 3x AAAs inside). Put fresh batteries in, within a couple weeks turned off with zero use the batteries will be dead. So functionally it's a corded remote anyway. Replacing the batteries requires removing some very tiny screws, and it's easy to reassemble the seals wrong... All around poor design - totally apart from whatever this possible water-intrusion PCB recall is. Maybe the replacement third-gen design will be OK whenever it comes out:

"Once parts are available, WARN will make a replacement water resistant Remote available to affected customers, free of charge. The manufacturer has not yet provided a schedule for recall notification."

One last caveat - if the winch is wired to constant 12v power, and the remote glitches and triggers while driving, it could be a serious problem. One of the reasons I hard-wired mine on a shutoff switch, which I only enable when I need it.

 

[LT1]

What a pain. I bought one about 6 months ago. Just emailed Warn's Customer Service so we will see. Their website does not appear to have anything yet regarding an alert or recall.

 

[Fouts]

Good luck with their customer service. I had the wireless remote for my m8000 and it never really worked well then quit working all together. After numerous attempts to contact them i gave up. Looking for a winch for my new Jeep and will likely go away from Warn.

 

[SparkleTooth]

I just ordered a Zeon 10s last week.....although it looks like it doesn't apply to those?
Either way I guess it doesn't look to bad if it is just the controller.

 

[fourfa]

Evos only. Zeons have a different remote and cable

 

[MesaAZGuy]

Zeon = American made = No issues

Evo = Foreign made = quality control issues.

I'm not complaining. There's always the entry point we each want to pay to play, right? I'll apply black silicone around the suspect case and call it good. Remote will not be left in a body of water or in the rain.

 

[fourfa]

I spent a little more time reading all the docs linked from the recall notice:
https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls?nhtsaId=22E101000

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2022/RCMN-22E101-0133.pdf
https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2022/RCAK-22E101-1163.pdf
https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2022/RCLRPT-22E101-1107.PDF

The third one is particularly interesting:

Chronology :

08/15/2022: Customer returned winch with explanation that while his vehicle was parked, the VR EVO winch power cables had experienced some event that caused the insulation on the wiring to melt. A review of previous customer complaints and product returns was conducted. Since the EVO product was first sold in 2019 approx. 25 reports were found mentioning unintended operation of the winch. During this period

over 200,000 winches were sold worldwide and over 120,000 in the USA. It was found that several of these winches had been returned to Warn for inspection and no cause was determined for the failure. 08/15/2022: Product and information regarding the product failures was sent to the contract manufacturer for review and analysis. 09/09/2022: Customer returned product exhibiting the same type of failure as the one on August 15, 2022. “Customer states that his EVO 10 started running by itself...” 09/30/2022: Customer returned product exhibiting the same type of failure as the one on August 15 and September 9. 10/14/2022: Contract manufacturer is unable to diagnose root cause of the failures. Warn’s engineering team initiates investigation into potential root causes of failures. 11/22/2022: Investigations indicate that water intrusion and corrosion on the circuit board are potential causes of the type of failures observed. 11/29/2022: Production hold placed on EVO winch line. Stop ship notice placed on all sales of EVO winches from Warn Industries. 12/07/2022: Testing activities validate water intrusion and corrosion as root cause of unintended operation of the winch. 12/16/2022: Field rework process identified to mitigate the potential for unintended operation of the winch without notice by disabling the wireless function of the remote control. 12/16/2022: Warn Industries reviewed the issues and decided to implement a recall and issue a bulletin to consumers notifying them of the hazard including instructions for inspecting for corrosion and disabling the wi [sic - remainder is cut off in the original PDF]

I have a disable switch wired into my winch, so there's less chance of a faulty controller inadvertently firing up the winch, but I figured I might as well remove the batteries as directed in the second doc.

Man, that things REEKS of ozone or electrical solvents inside. Like, maybe the magic smoke has already been let out? This is something you've never smelled while changing batteries in your TV remote.

There are no seals (contrary to my previous post), just a tight-fitting tongue-in-groove interface. To change batteries, you remove three screws and basically disassemble the remote entirely. There is no battery access hatch, it's not rechargeable, it just has 3 AAAs inside. This could be OK if the batteries last a long time, but like I said earlier that hasn't been my experience.

More interesting bits about the proposed fix:

Warn will notify customers of the hazard including instructions for inspecting for corrosion and disabling the wireless function to significantly mitigate the hazard.

Warn will offer consumers/winch owners a $100 coupon as compensation for the lack of wireless function.

Warn will also offer a new corded-only remote (no wireless function) to replace any remote that shows evidence of corrosion, unexpected operation of the winch, or for remotes that have been submerged or exposed to water.

Warn will rework all existing unsold inventory of winches, including distributor and dealer inventories, with a new corded-only remote which will have a conformal coated circuit board and sealed switch components, but without wireless function. A $100 coupon will be included with these winches as compensation for the lack of wireless function.

The remote remains fully usable in the corded configuration when physically plugged into the winch. Unplugging the remote from the winch when not in use eliminates the hazard.

The new corded-only remote that will be used in reworked existing unsold inventory, will have a new switch face that is visually different from the current remote. It will not have wireless control functions, including wireless indicator light and mode switch. The internal circuit board will be fully conformal coated and use sealed switches.

The new wireless/corded remote currently being designed will have full conformal coating on the interior circuitry and sealed switches. Implementation date TBD.

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