Amputation Hazard Triggers Toro Snowblower Recall in New York

With more snow falling today and what seems like almost every day in Upstate New York, snowblowers are an important part of dealing with winter.

Most people realize the dangers of sticking your hand into the business end of a snowblower...and if you don't you shouldn't be using one in the first place. Even though it's really obvious that if the blades are spinning you shouldn't stick your hand, leg, or fingers in the pretty metal blades more than 6000 people annually are injured doing exactly that. According to a study by the Department of Orthopedics at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School fingers were the most injured body parts, followed closely by hand injuries. The most common types of injuries are fractures, lacerations, and everyone's favorite...amputations.

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Toro, one of the biggest manufacturers of snowblowers has issued a recall on one of their models of snow blowers due to a fault that allows the auger blades to continue spinning even after the auger handle has been released. This has happened in at least five incidents that have been reported to Toro. Luckily, no injuries have been reported from this issue.

This issue affects more than 6,700 Toro snowblowers that were sold at Home Depot and Ace Hardware as well as Toro retailers in New York. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), instructs anyone with a 2021 Power Max 826 OHAE snowblower, model number 37802, to stop using the machine and contact a Toro-authorized dealer for free repairs.

In the meantime, follow some important advice my grandfather gave me a long time ago when I was a kid. Grandpa used to say, "Hey, keep you f@&%ing fingers outta there you moron." Grandpa had a way with words...and I still have all 10 fingers thanks to him.