Arctic Cat recalls 2,700 snowmobiles due to clutch problem

Arctic Cat recalled 2,700 snowmobiles after receiving one report of a fractured drive clutch that posed an impact hazard. No injuries have been reported.

The notice to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission on Tuesday affects all 2017 Arctic Cat 9000 Turbo snowmobiles plus the model year 2018 for Arctic Cat 6000, 7000, 8000 and 9000 snowmobiles.

Vehicle owners are being notified by mail to stop using the recalled snowmobiles and to contact an Arctic Cat snowmobile dealer to schedule a free repair.

The snowmobile recall is the second this year for Arctic Cat. In January, the company recalled 20,700 snowmobiles, noting that its fuel tank could crack, leak fuel into the engine and pose a possible fire hazard. Arctic Cat said it received 918 incident reports, including six for fires. No injuries were reported in connection with that recall either.

The January recall involved model years 2007, 2008 and 2009 and involved Arctic Cat models sold under the names F, Jaguar, Jaguar Z1 1100, Bearcat Z1 XT models, T500 and T570 models, TZ1 and TZ1 Turbo models, and Z1 1100 and Z1 1100 Turbo models.

In August, Arctic Cat recalled 4,600 of its side-by-side utility vehicles after receiving reports that its throttle cable could stick and cause the rider to lose control.

Arctic Cat is not alone in experiencing recalls. Its much larger rival, Medina-based Polaris Industries, issued 12 recalls affecting 338,000 vehicles in about two years. Other recreational vehicle firms, including Harley Davidson and Honda have also wrestled with recalls in recent years.

Arctic Cat, which was founded in Minnesota decades ago, however, has had other struggles. After several years of trying to turn around and produce a profit, the firm was purchased in March by Rhode Island-based Textron Inc. for an estimated $247 million. Textron officials said last month that they planned to close Arctic Cat's new Minneapolis headquarters office by the end of this year and move some of the 60 headquarters workers to Textron's St. Cloud facility.