Polaris Vehicle Fires

Call If You Have Been Injured

The Polaris RZR line of adventure UTVs has been popular with off road enthusiasts across the United States as a consequence of Polaris’ aggressive marketing and the promise of fun, safe adventure riding. Unfortunately, the RZR has serious design and manufacturing defects. More than 160 RZR UTVs have caught fire and burned. Many of these fires have caused severe burn injuries for riders and some have caused huge forest fires.

We are currently representing clients in a number of states and are accepting Polaris fire cases in all 50 states. If you have been injured by a fire in a Polaris vehicle, please call us for a free consultation and information. We are here to answer your questions. Should you choose to hire us, there will be no cost to you until we recover money for you, as we handle these cases on contingency fee.

Our success is not an accident; we have done the hard work to uncover the serious problems with these vehicles and assemble a history of Polaris fires. Since accepting our first RZR case we have developed an extensive body of knowledge about the RZR and why it catches fire. We brought together a team of expert engineers to investigate Polaris RZR fires, inspect Polaris RZR machines and conduct testing to determine what is wrong with them. We have purchased an exemplar RZR for testing, with the goal to become as knowledgeable about the RZR as Polaris’ own engineers. The engineers we have hired have learned a great deal, and our work is ongoing.

Initially, Polaris denied there was a problem and appeared to take no action to make these vehicles safe or get them back for repair or replacement. In the past year, Polaris has issued a series of recalls for the RZR line, but, as of this writing, Polaris has not been entirely forthcoming as to why these tragic fires continue to occur.

We know from our years of doing battle with industry that there is always “more to the story” than the defendant will volunteer. Therefore, to get the best results for our clients, we also assembled an investigation team. Our investigation team conducted a national survey of companies that rent Polaris RZRs regarding these fires. We have contacted numerous eye-witnesses to Polaris RZR fires to learn their stories first hand. We have talked with government attorneys who have investigated forest fires believed to have been caused by Polaris machines. We have even communicated directly with Polaris about RZR fires.

Our Recent Cases

  • Hoaldridge v. Polaris Industries, Inc. (2015 fatal RZR fire)
  • Hill v. Polaris Industries, Inc. (2014 RZR fire)
  • Sartell v. Polaris Industries, Inc. (2016 fatal RZR fire)
  • Assad v. Polaris Industries, Inc. (2016 RZR fire)
  • Swann/Ingram v. Polaris Industries, Inc. (2016 fatal Ranger fire)
  • Thompson v. Polaris Industries, Inc. (2017 RZR fire)
  • Helling v. Polaris Industries, Inc. (2017 RZR fire)*
  • Ricketts v. Polaris Industries, Inc. (2016 Ranger fire)*
  • Moore v. Polaris Industries, Inc. (2017 Sportsman fire)*
  • Ridgeway v. Polaris Industries, Inc. (2017 RZR fire)*

*Case has not yet been filed

For more than 25 years the lawyers at Elegal have been successfully representing clients injured by defective motor vehicles in product liability litigation. Elegal is currently focused on helping clients injured by RZR fire accidents, and we have a long track record of success in product liability cases. We have the manpower and financial resources to take on, and beat the largest corporations when their errors and bad decisions cause injury. If you are a lawyer and have a Polaris case, we’re also happy to work as co-counsel with your firm.

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Our Investigation

Part way through our investigation, Polaris began issuing recalls for some Polaris RZRs because they posed a potential fire hazard. Initially, Polaris only recalled about 4,300 units. (See July 2015 Youth RZR Recall.)

Polaris’ October 2015 recall of the RZR 900 and RZR 1000 stated that it had only received reports of two fires and one minor injury.

As we pursued our investigation, Polaris continued to issue additional recalls. In April, 2016, Polaris issued a recall affecting model year 2013-2015 RZRs; approximately 133,000 vehicles. It admitted that it knew about 160 reports of fires, 19 burn injuries and one death caused by Polaris RZR fires.

Despite Polaris’ recalls, some Polaris RZRs are still starting on fire. Some people are still being seriously injured. Polaris has issued additional recalls of vehicles with model years through 2017. Models of the Polaris Sportsman, Polaris Ranger, Polaris General have also been recalled due to fire hazard.

Polaris has issued a recall of more than 85,000 Polaris Rangers and 9,900 Polaris Sportsman because they pose a potential fire hazard. In early 2017 the Polaris General was added to the list of Polaris vehicles being recalled due to fire hazard.

Because of our expertise with Polaris vehicle fires, we have continued to handle more and more of these cases. We have already had success on behalf of our clients. Other lawyers handling these cases have retained our firm to help them on their cases. We were recently interviewed by local news regarding our work on Polaris fire cases.


Date of Recall Year(s) and Model(s) Recalled (Click to View Recall Notice) Cause
July 2017 2015-2017 Youth RZR 170 Fuel Leak, Fire Hazards
July 2017 2014 Sportsman 570 Fuel Leak, Fire Hazards
April 2017 2015 Ranger 900 Fire and Burn Hazards
March 2017 2015 & 2016 Sportsman 850 and 1000 Burn and Fire Hazards
March 2017 2016 & 2017 RZR and GENERAL ROVs Burn and Fire Hazards
December 2016 2014-2017 Sportsman 570 Fire Hazard
September 2016 2016 RXR XP Turbo Fire Hazard, Severe Burn Injuries
April 2016 2013-2016 RZR Fire Hazard, Severe Burn Injuries, One Death
September 2016 2014 Ranger 900 and 2015 & 2016 Ranger 570 Fire and Burn Hazard
April 2016 2013-2016 RZR Fire Hazard, Severe Burn Injuries, One Death
October 2015 2015 Polaris RZR 900 & 1000 Potential Fire Hazard
July 2015 Youth RZR Fire Hazard