Jan 2006 ATV-Industry News

In cooperation with the Consumer Product Safety Commission, Kawasaki has initiated “a voluntary safety Recall Campaign to replace the steering tie-rod ends on 2005 Bruce Force 750 4x4i models,” according to Kawi’s news release. On the affected units, Kawasaki says, “a tie-rod end could separate during operation, due to either wear or impact, leading to a loss of steering control and creating the potential for an accident resulting in injury or death.” Kawasaki urges that consumers with the affected vehicles “are cautioned not to operate them, and to contact an authorized Kawasaki ATV retailer for repairs…at no charge.” For more info: Dealer Tech Support Hot Line: 800-854-3800; Consumer Services: 866-802-9381 or www.Kawasaki.com.

In a display of unity and unison, Quincy, Ill.-based Titan Tire Corporation announced it reached “a tentative agreement” with United Steelworkers Local 745L on a new contract for workers at Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company’s farm-tire manufacturing facility in neighboring Freeport. While Titan’s press release indicates the USW has to “schedule a ratification vote in the coming weeks, Titan Tire entered into a definitive agreement to purchase Goodyear’s North American farm tire assets” last February. Goodyear’s “company statement” on the deal says “the supply of Goodyear ATV tires will be uninterrupted by the completion of the sale of [our] farm tire business to Titan Tire Corp., and the transfer of ownership and operation of the Freeport manufacturing plant to Titan. A small amount of Goodyear-brand ATV tires are produced in Freeport, and will continue to be produced for Goodyear by Titan.” Now that’s teamwork!

The USDA Forest Service in Washington, D.C. has announced a “new regulation for recreational motor vehicle use in national forests and grasslands, which will forge a sustainable system of routes and areas designated for motorized use in the future,” according to its official news release. Noting the “dramatic increase” in OHV use in the past decade, Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth explains, “land managers will use the new rule to continue to work with motorized sports enthusiasts, conservationists, state and local officials and others to provide responsible motorized recreational experiences in national forests and grasslands for the long run. The new travel management policy requires each national forest and grassland to identify and designate those roads, trails and areas that are open to motor vehicle use. Local units will seek public input and coordinate with [virtually all levels of] governmental entities, as well as tribal governments, before any decision is made on a particular road, trail or other area. Unplanned, user-created routes will be considered at the local level during the designation process.” The Forest Service recognizes that implementing the plan will naturally take time, saying, “the agency expects that it will take up to four years to complete the designation process for all 155 national forests and 20 grasslands. Each unit will publish a motor vehicle use map.” Finally, less gray area for off-road enthusiasts, a victory of sorts—despite the inevitable criticism from environmental groups—spurred by “more than 80,000 comments received on last year’s proposed rule,” the news release notes. Details: www.fs.fed.us.

According to their Web site, the World Snowmobile Association has evolved into the new World Powersports Association, under their newly-named parent company, PowerSports Entertainment, Inc. The WPSA plans to implement a pro national ATV race tour, a move that will naturally increase their media exposure; thus, the overhaul of their website too. For more info, call their White Bear Lake, Minn. headquarters at 651-209-7404, send an email to info@wpsaracing.com or log onto www.wpsaracing.com.

Nova Scotia has cracked down on ATV use by children under 14, bowing to “intense pressure to toughen proposed legislation,” according to an online report in Canada’s Globe and Mail. “Under the revised amendments,” the story says, “children under 14 will be able to drive ATVs, but only on closed courses, under direct parental supervision and with a trained first-responder/paramedic on site. Children will also have to wear protective gear, take a training course and operate a smaller-sized machine appropriate to their age, and the person watching them will have to complete safety training.” In the wake of the October 2005 deaths of two Halifax-area teenage girls and Canada’s substantially increasing ATV fatality statistics, the concession by politicians and lawmakers is a positive step in the right direction—despite criticism from Liberal Leader Francis MacKenzie, whose party the paper says was “the only one to lobby for an all-out ban on use by children under 14.” The Globe and Mail also states that “the amendments will also limit the areas where off-highway vehicles can operate and keep them off sensitive ecological sites, most waterways and beaches.”