IMPORTANT: Thule Hitch Rack Recall

Yesterday afternoon I received an email message telling me that Thule
is doing a voluntary recall of hitch mount racks manufactured prior
to 2007. These are the racks that slide into the receiver hitch under
the rear bumper of a vehicle. These are not the racks that sit on the
trunk or hatch of a vehicle and attaches with Thule's blue straps.

The email said that we are not to sell the racks if we have any.
Okay we won't sell them. It points out that the problem is that a
pinch point exists at the base of the arms of the rack. People have
suffered injuries as they released the pin and allowed the arms to
fold down which made the rack more compact when not in use.

Thule provided no indication of how they are going to address the
issue with purchasers of the rack. They reported that they are
working with federal authorities to receive approval for a recall
campaign.

Okay........if you have a Hitching Post Pro (934, 934XT, 935, 935XT,
936, 936XT, 937, 937XT, 951, 951XT), Expressway (995, 995XT, 996,
996XT) Trailblazer (998, 998XT) then you'll be hearing from
bikes@vienna in the next week. The message will be DO NOT FOLD THE
ARMS DOWN ON YOUR RACK. If you don't fold the arms down then you
won't get your finger in the pinch point.

I know you will have all kinds of questions. I do not have the
answers. I do not know when I will have the answers. My intention
is to make sure that the many customers who have this type of rack
know of the danger and create a contact list that will let us share
information as it becomes available. I'll also provide this list to
Thule so they can make contacts.

One more thing.......I noted in my first paragraph that these are
hitch mount racks manufactured prior to 2007. The Thule Revolver,
Ridgeline, and Roadway models manufactured for this year feature
the "Hitch Switch" folding arms --- which eliminates this pinch
point.