John Deere Tractor, Mower Recalls Issued Over Crash, Laceration Risks

Federal safety officials announced recalls that impact several thousand John Deere tractors and riding lawn mowers, due problems where the brakes may fail and mower blade safety feature defects, which may pose a serious laceration risk to riders or bystanders. 

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced a John Deere compact utility tractor recall and John Deere ZTrak riding lawn mower recall on January 31, after serious safety risks were identified.

The ZTrak riding mower recall was issued due to the potential for the mower’s blades to continue rotating under power when the operator leaves the seat, posing a laceration risk to the user or bystanders.

The lawn mowers are equipped with a safety seat sensor that will disengage the mower blades when it senses the seat is no longer occupied by the user. This safety feature is designed to prevent users, or bystanders, from being run over by the lawn mower while the blades are spinning.

In the event a driver of the lawn mower fell off of the tractor, the blades would continue to spin, posing a serious and potentially fatal laceration hazard.

The recall includes an estimated 3,700 John Deere model Z335M, Z345M, Z345R, Z355R, and Z375R residential ZTrak™ riding mowers that contain serial numbers beginning with “1GX”. The recalled mowers were sold in green and yellow colors and have the brand name printed on the front of the mower.

The second recall announced by John Deere includes an estimated 600 model 2025R compact utility tractors that have a braking system that may fail to engage, posing an increased crash and injury hazard to users and bystanders.

The recalled utility tractors were also sold in yellow and green colors and have a serial number ranging from 1LV2025R×HJ100101 – 101005. The brand name “John Deere” and model number are printed on the hood of the tractor.

Both the recalled mowers and utility tractors were manufactured in the United States under Deere & Company of Moline, Illinois. They were distributed for sale throughout the U.S. to licensed dealers.

The recalled utility tractors were distributed from July 2017 through October 2017 for about $16,200, and the recalled lawn mowers were distributed from August 2017 through December 2017 for between $2,600 and $3,500.

The CPSC is asking consumers to stop using both the recalled mowers and tractors immediately and to contact the customer service team of Deere & Company at 800-537-8233 for information on how to receive a free repair.