Kubota RTV Recalls: What the CPSC Records Show and What They Mean If You Were Hurt

If You Are Reading a Recall Notice After a Crash: What It Does and Does Not Decide

A recall is a corrective action for a product, such as a repair, a replacement or a refund, carried out by a company and coordinated with the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the federal agency that publishes recall notices on cpsc.gov. Two of the Kubota notices on this page are labeled "Fast Track Recall" by the CPSC, and all three are titled "Recall Alert."

Federal law sets up the reporting side of this. Under 15 U.S.C. § 2064, a manufacturer, distributor or retailer that "obtains information which reasonably supports the conclusion" that a product contains a defect that could create a substantial product hazard, or "creates an unreasonable risk of serious injury or death," must generally inform the Commission. The same section lets the Commission, after an opportunity for a hearing, order actions that include stopping distribution, giving public notice, and repairing, replacing or refunding the product.

That framework explains why a recall is not a verdict. Three different kinds of records come up after a crash, and they mean different things:

• A recall notice describes a hazard the company and the CPSC identified and the remedy offered.
• An incident report records that something happened, as someone reported it, without deciding why it happened.
• A legal finding of liability comes only from a court or a jury after the evidence is tested.

A recall notice is not a finding that the product caused any particular injury, and it is not a finding that the company broke a law. For someone holding a notice after an accident, the notice is a starting point: it can show what hazard was identified and what remedy was offered, while the question of why a particular crash happened stays open. Sorting out how much weight a notice can carry alongside the other records is one of the things a conversation with our attorney can help with.

Is Your Vehicle a Kubota RTV the Notices Describe?

According to the three CPSC notices, the recalled vehicles were distributed by Kubota Tractor Corporation of Grapevine, Texas, manufactured in the United States, and sold at authorized Kubota dealers nationwide. The CPSC calls them "utility vehicles."

If you were riding in a Kubota RTV, you were most likely seated next to the driver or other passengers rather than straddling a seat. That is what a utility task vehicle (UTV), often called a side-by-side, is, and the difference can affect which federal rules come into play. The federal ATV standard in 15 U.S.C. § 2089 defines an all-terrain vehicle as an off-highway vehicle "having a seat designed to be straddled by the operator and handlebars for steering control." That statute, discussed on our page about the CPSC ATV safety standard, is written for vehicles that fit its definition, and the Kubota notices describe their products as utility vehicles.

The model designations the notices name are:

• RTV-XG850 base models, known as the "Sidekick," model years 2018 through 2022, with the photographed models RTV-XG850GA, RTV-XG850WLH22 and RTV-XG850SLAS22.
• RTV-X1100C base models, model years 2013 through 2021, including models with an extra letter after the "C," such as the 1100CR.
• RTV-X series models ending in 900, 1100, 1120D and 1140, described as diesel-powered and sold in orange and camouflage.

The model number on the side of the unit and on its data plate is how these notices tell one vehicle from another, and each recall covers only the model years and serial ranges it lists, not every RTV. Someone in this position may weigh whether the data plate can still be read or photographed, and whether the vehicle is still in the same condition as after the crash.

The Three CPSC Recall Notices: Dates, Models, and Stated Hazards

Newest first, here is each notice as the CPSC page records it.

Recall 23-713, December 1, 2022. The CPSC page titled Kubota Recalls Utility Vehicles Due to Injury and Collision Hazards covers Kubota RTV-XG850 model utility vehicles. It states the hazard this way: "The utility vehicle's steering shaft can shear at or near the electric power steering housing, and cause the driver to lose steering control, posing injury and collision hazards." It lists about 19,500 units, serial numbers 10001-50018, X0001-X0139 and Y0001-Y1312, sold from June 2018 through October 2022. The remedy is a repair, described as a free inspection and free repair at an authorized dealer. On incidents, the page states: "Kubota has received five reports of incidents worldwide of steering shaft shearing. No injuries or deaths have been reported."

Recall 22-705, November 4, 2021. The CPSC page titled Kubota Recalls Utility Vehicles Due to Crash and Injury Hazards covers Kubota RTV-X1100C model utility vehicles. Its stated hazard: "The floor mats on the recalled Kubota utility vehicles can warp or degrade and interfere with the throttle pedal, posing crash and injury hazards." It lists about 48,875 units, serial numbers 10001 through 67546, sold from April 2013 through September 2021. The remedy is listed as replace or repair: a new floor mat riveted to the floor if the mat is warped or degraded, or a trimmed and riveted existing mat if it is not. The page states: "Kubota has received one report of a loss of control that resulted in black eyes and minor bruising."

Recall 18-704, November 30, 2017. The CPSC page titled Kubota Recalls RTV-X Series Utility Vehicles Due to Injury Hazard covers RTV-X series utility vehicles. Its stated hazard: "The seat belt stays can break, posing an injury hazard to consumers in the event of a crash." It lists about 26,900 units, with serial ranges by model: RTV-X900 31229 through 42402, RTV-X1100 26899 through 35995, RTV-X1120D 18541 through 20746, and RTV-X1140 10001 through 19546, with manufacture dates between June 2015 and June 2017. The remedy is a free repair. The page states: "Kubota has received three reports of seat belt stays breaking worldwide. No incidents have been reported in the U.S. No injuries have been reported."

Each notice is its own record about its own models, and together they describe three separate issues rather than a problem across the brand. If you are comparing a vehicle against these notices, the serial number, the sale or manufacture dates and any dealer record of the recall repair are the details that line up a vehicle with one notice or rule it out. Our attorney can help go through those details alongside the notice itself.

How the Recalled Parts Connect to How a Crash Happened

The three notices describe three different parts of the vehicle, and each one connects to a different kind of risk.

The steering notice describes a loss of steering control if the shaft shears near the electric power steering housing. The floor mat notice describes a mat that can warp or degrade and interfere with the throttle pedal. The seat belt stay notice concerns the restraint, the belt system meant to hold an occupant in the seat, and describes a risk "in the event of a crash," meaning it addresses protection during a crash rather than the cause of one.

For a family trying to understand an accident, a recall's stated hazard and the cause of a specific crash are separate questions. A UTV can roll over or crash for many reasons: terrain, speed, load, how it was driven, how it was maintained, or a part that failed. A rollover or crash, on its own, does not show that any product was defective. Recreational negligence, meaning someone's careless driving or supervision, and premises issues, meaning the condition of the land or trail, are different legal theories from product liability, and which one fits depends on what the evidence shows.

Whether the mechanism in a particular accident resembles one of these notices is a factual question. It can depend on the vehicle's serial number, whether the recall repair was done, what the parts look like now and how the crash unfolded. Sorting through those facts is the kind of thing a conversation with our attorney can help with.

What a Product Liability Claim Would Ask About Your Accident

Product liability is the area of law that can hold a manufacturer, seller or distributor responsible when a defect in its product causes an injury. Most of these claims arise under state law, and states differ on how the claim is framed, how long a person has to file, and what damages may be allowed. No single state's rule is the rule everywhere.

If you were hurt, a claim would generally turn on three questions about your accident. The first is whether there was a defect. Courts usually describe three kinds: a design defect, which points at how a model was built and so can matter for every unit of it; a manufacturing defect in a particular unit, which points at the specific vehicle involved and makes that vehicle's parts especially important; and a defect in the warnings or instructions, which points at what the owner and riders were told. The second is whether that defect caused the injury. The third is what harm resulted.

Federal regulation offers one description of the word for reporting purposes. Under 16 C.F.R. § 1115.4, "a defect is a fault, flaw, or irregularity that causes weakness, failure, or inadequacy in form or function," and it can arise from a manufacturing error, from design and materials, or from a product's "contents, construction, finish, packaging, warnings, and/or instructions." That regulation guides what companies report to the CPSC. It does not decide a lawsuit.

Claims are often brought on more than one theory. Negligence asks whether a company failed to use reasonable care, so the focus is on the company's conduct. Strict liability, in states that recognize it, focuses on the product's condition rather than the company's care, so the focus is on the vehicle. Warranty claims ask whether the product met promises made about it, so sales and dealer paperwork can come into it.

How fault is shared can change what an injured person may recover. Under comparative fault, recovery is reduced or barred based on each person's share of responsibility; some states use a stricter rule called contributory fault. Where the law allows damages, the categories can include medical expenses, lost income, pain and suffering and, after a death, wrongful-death damages, all depending on the state and the facts. For how these theories fit together in ATV and UTV cases more broadly, see our overview of an ATV accident claim.

A recall can be part of that picture, but it does not prove a defect, and an injury does not prove anyone's fault. Which theory the facts point toward, and which state's rules may apply, are questions a conversation with our attorney can help sort out.

Records That Often Matter When a Recall Is Involved

In a product liability matter, the vehicle and its parts are often the central physical evidence. A steering shaft, a floor mat or a seat belt stay can show its condition in a way no photograph can, and its serial number ties it to a recall's covered range or rules it out.

If you were hurt, the records that usually matter include:

• the vehicle itself and any parts involved, including parts removed during a repair;
• purchase or ownership records, along with any dealer service or recall repair records;
• medical records and treatment history;
• incident and police reports;
• photos and video from the scene, the vehicle and the injuries;
• the names and contact information of witnesses.

Families who lost someone often find these records scattered among several people, a dealer, an insurer and the people who were there. Which of them carry the most weight depends on what happened and which theory the facts point toward. A conversation with our attorney can help sort out which records matter most for the facts of a particular accident; you can request a case evaluation when you are ready to talk it through.

Other brands' recall records are a separate subject, covered on pages such as our Polaris recall records page.

Questions Worth Asking Before Deciding on Next Steps

The first question many people weigh is whether their vehicle falls within a notice at all. That turns on the model, the model year and the serial number on the data plate, compared against the ranges the CPSC page lists.

The second is whether the accident resembles the stated hazard. A notice about seat belt stays speaks to protection in a crash; a notice about steering speaks to control. Matching the two is a question of evidence, not of reading the notice alone.

The third is what state law would require. The elements of a claim, the fault rules and the damages rules depend on the state where the accident happened, and sometimes on where the vehicle was bought.

The fourth is timing. Every state sets limitation periods, meaning deadlines for filing a claim, and some also set a statute of repose, a separate outer limit for product claims. These periods differ from state to state and can run from different starting points, and a claim filed after the applicable deadline can be barred. The exact rule depends on the state and the facts, and this page does not state any state's period.

These are the questions a conversation with our attorney can cover: the vehicle, what the notice says, how the accident happened and the state whose law may apply.