Harbor Freight Expands Jack Stand Recall Over Weld Defects

Earlier this year, Harbor Freight issued a recall and “do not use” alert on 454,000 jack stands due to a manufacturing issue that may lead to them collapsing on users. Now, however, there’s a new problem.

The company has now issued yet another recall for jack stands sold. Company founder Eric Smidt announced that the company had discovered a new welding defect in its three-ton jack stands significant enough to warrant a voluntary safety recall. And yes, these were the jack stands that were supposed to be the “safe” alternatives to faulty, recalled jack stands.

The initial recall included 454,000 jack stands manufactured between 2013 and 2019 over fears that the stands could suddenly collapse and cause serious injury or possibly death. Once the problem was brought to light, Harbor Freight quickly addressed the problem and reported old factory tooling was at fault. Customers were instructed to bring in the faulty stands to be given replacements.

Unfortunately, customers were quick to report that their replacement stands were also failing. So the recall has now been expanded to include the replacement jack stands. Harbor Freight has said it’s “identified a welding defect” in some of its three-ton Pittsburgh-branded jack stands and have since added the units to its recall.

Due to all the complications, engineers looked into the other jack stands the retailer sells and were not able to identify any defects. To err on the side of caution, Harbor Freight is offering to exchange any of its jack stands for customers who have safety concerns.

If you are looking to swap out your stands, check the item number on your jack stands and visit Harbor Freight’s website to verify that it is one of the 16 units included in the recall. Customers can exchange stands for a cash refund between $24.99 and $119.99, or store credit of $29.99 and $143.99, depending on the model.