Chaincase Bushing Fail- Injury-2019 XTX LE Stock tune, chain and gears.

[Dr. FeeLGooD]

This happened about 6 weeks ago. I was keeping it quiet as I thought Yamaha may be interested in helping me out. Sadly, they wont return my emails. People need to know this. I was standing on Virus (what I named my sled), accelerating from a rolling speed of about 20 mph on a groomed trail. When I hit about 50 or 60 mph, I instantly lost momentum and as I was hoping not to fly in front of Virus and not get run over by it, I hung on for dear life. I remember thinking I blew belt number 6. Me and Virus went in to a nose down wobble. The weight and momentum of my upper body and me holding on flipped Virus over frontwards. Thankfully I fell to the right and the Virus went to the left.
I was slammed to the frozen trail and landed on my right arm which cracked ribs in my chest, under my armpit from my elbow and close to my spine. I also broke my right collarbone. Dr. screwed a plate to my collarbone. Nothing they can do for ribs. I have some constant ringing in my ears. I lost 3 weeks of work, and am still on light duty. I am healing well. Not much pain anymore. I started physio last Monday. Final check up in another month.
Virus lost its windshield, top hood piece, console frog skins, brake lever, a couple decals, has a stressed ski, torn ski damper, and a tweaked steering post. The intake plastics were cracked, but I was able to glue those together. Virus was in the shop waiting Yamaha authorization to repair chain case for 8 or 9 days. 2 more weeks waiting for parts. Chain case was repaired on warranty. (Gears, chain and a damper I think). My seat element they will not repair after the first year of warranty. It quit last spring but there is no dealer close to me. This is a Power Surge model comes with two more years of Y P P.
Directly, this will be about $1000 in parts, $2000 in travel to the Dr., $400 in travel to the dealer, 3 weeks off work and an anxious wife who witnessed this crash.
Indirectly, I believe Virus is worth less now. I have lost the ability to trust my Yamacat sled, I am unable to ride with confidence. Seeing how they are now selling complete Arctic Cats with a Yamaha sticker on, Virus will be my last "Yamaha". I like my Nytro more now than ever, awesome sled.
Virus had about 2000 miles on it when I crashed. Those of you who approach 2000 miles a year or more, beware please. I am grateful I didn't break my neck.

 

[SAB1]

Wow. Sorry to hear that news but glad you are OK. That's the important part.

 

[Crossfire12]

Sorry , but liability wise you were standing up, hope your ok,

 

[Birdmansrx]

I cant envision standing up on a sled while going 60. Note to self , don't do that.

 

[1nc 2000]

Damn, hope you feel better soon.
All parts damaged as a result of a failure should be covered under warranty.
With this being a known defect how many people have to get hurt to cause a safety recall for this issue of the sled popping out of gear?

 

[snowcaine]

This happened about 6 weeks ago. I was keeping it quiet as I thought Yamaha may be interested in helping me out. Sadly, they wont return my emails. People need to know this. I was standing on Virus (what I named my sled), accelerating from a rolling speed of about 20 mph on a groomed trail. When I hit about 50 or 60 mph, I instantly lost momentum and as I was hoping not to fly in front of Virus and not get run over by it, I hung on for dear life. I remember thinking I blew belt number 6. Me and Virus went in to a nose down wobble. The weight and momentum of my upper body and me holding on flipped Virus over frontwards. Thankfully I fell to the right and the Virus went to the left.
I was slammed to the frozen trail and landed on my right arm which cracked ribs in my chest, under my armpit from my elbow and close to my spine. I also broke my right collarbone. Dr. screwed a plate to my collarbone. Nothing they can do for ribs. I have some constant ringing in my ears. I lost 3 weeks of work, and am still on light duty. I am healing well. Not much pain anymore. I started physio last Monday. Final check up in another month.
Virus lost its windshield, top hood piece, console frog skins, brake lever, a couple decals, has a stressed ski, torn ski damper, and a tweaked steering post. The intake plastics were cracked, but I was able to glue those together. Virus was in the shop waiting Yamaha authorization to repair chain case for 8 or 9 days. 2 more weeks waiting for parts. Chain case was repaired on warranty. (Gears, chain and a damper I think). My seat element they will not repair after the first year of warranty. It quit last spring but there is no dealer close to me. This is a Power Surge model comes with two more years of Y P P.
Directly, this will be about $1000 in parts, $2000 in travel to the Dr., $400 in travel to the dealer, 3 weeks off work and an anxious wife who witnessed this crash.
Indirectly, I believe Virus is worth less now. I have lost the ability to trust my Yamacat sled, I am unable to ride with confidence. Seeing how they are now selling complete Arctic Cats with a Yamaha sticker on, Virus will be my last "Yamaha". I like my Nytro more now than ever, awesome sled.
Virus had about 2000 miles on it when I crashed. Those of you who approach 2000 miles a year or more, beware please. I am grateful I didn't break my neck.

Very sorry to hear this. You will want to consult a products liability attorney to determine viability of a potential suit. Many variables exist for making that determination. For example, the same facts in a tort hell hole like Chicago can pay huge but wouldn’t get you jack in North Dakota. A manufacturer that knows a defect exists for four years should be sued when that product defect injures the user, unless the user was contributorily negligent, which you may have been by standing up at 50-60 mph. The doctrine of contributory negligence is usually jurisdiction-specific, and there can be exceptions, such as for reasonably foreseeable use (like standing up), so, again, consult a lawyer. One social benefit of lawsuits is that they can change corporate behavior. If Yamaha takes a beating on lawsuits until it stops using a crap design, so be it.

 

[Fleecer]

I'm sorry to hear about the damage you and your sled sustained and happy to hear you are healing fine, but I'm confused. Sounds like you were riding while standing at 60mph, you weren't hanging on tight enough, lost your balance, and fell off.

How is this Yamaha's fault?

 

[74Nitro]

There, you just got some free lawyer advice from snowcaine.

I kinda know how you feel to some extent. I was victim to that horrible 2008 Nytro front end. Slowed down to take a corner through an opening where two bushes met, there was a couple bumps, as I was turning, the next thing I knew I was upside down sled rolled over me, broke some ribs. The only time I've ever rolled a sled in my life, been riding 34 years straight.

 

[1nc 2000]

When your standing up while on the gas you are leaning forward and then the fwd drive is taken away it feels like someone just pushed you over the front end. Had it happen before when running out of gas a block away from the gas station.

 

[sideshowBob]

Yikes! I guess the "silver lining" is that ultimately you are OK.
Was the gear bushing the only failure or was the tensioner involved as well?

 

[murdered141]

Glad you're ok and healing quick, I have the exact sled as you with just over 2k on it, I open up my chian case at the end of each season as part of my preventive maintenance but shouldn't have to if there wasn't a flaw with it's components.