Incident: Harbor Freight Pittsburgh Jack Stands Recall Due to Pawl Defect

Published Date: 2020-05-28

Postmortem Analysis
Timeline 1. The software failure incident involving the recall of Harbor Freight's Pittsburgh-brand jack stands was first reported on May 19, as mentioned in Article 100361. Therefore, the software failure incident happened in May 2020.
System unknown
Responsible Organization unknown
Impacted Organization Unknown
Software Causes unknown
Non-software Causes 1. Worn tooling at the factory leading to a pawl that doesn't engage sufficiently [100361] 2. Bump or knock causing the pawl to disengage, dropping the vehicle suddenly [100361] 3. Injuries reported due to the defect [100361]
Impacts 1. Injuries were reported due to the defect in the Pittsburgh-brand six-ton jack stands, prompting the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to urge owners to immediately discontinue use [100361].
Preventions 1. Ensuring rigorous quality control processes during manufacturing to catch defects like the worn tooling that led to the pawl disengagement issue [100361]. 2. Implementing thorough testing procedures to detect any faults or weaknesses in the jack stands before they are released to the market [100361]. 3. Regularly monitoring and updating the manufacturing equipment to prevent issues like worn tooling that can compromise the safety of the product [100361].
Fixes unknown
References unknown

Software Taxonomy of Faults

Category Option Rationale
Recurring unknown The provided article does not mention any software failure incident related to either one_organization or multiple_organization. Therefore, the information about the software failure incident happening again at a specific organization or across multiple organizations is unknown.
Phase (Design/Operation) design Unknown
Boundary (Internal/External) unknown <Article 100361> does not mention any software failure incident related to the Harbor Freight jack stands recall. Therefore, the boundary of the software failure incident in this case is unknown.
Nature (Human/Non-human) unknown The provided article does not mention any software failure incident related to non-human or human actions. Therefore, the information regarding the software failure incident related to non-human or human actions is unknown.
Dimension (Hardware/Software) hardware (a) The software failure incident related to the Harbor Freight jack stands recall is not directly linked to hardware or software issues. The recall was initiated due to a manufacturing fault in the jack stands themselves, specifically related to worn tooling at the factory causing the pawl to disengage and potentially lead to the collapse of the stand [100361]. Therefore, the incident is more related to a manufacturing defect in the hardware rather than a software or software-related issue.
Objective (Malicious/Non-malicious) non-malicious The software failure incident reported in the article does not relate to a malicious or non-malicious software failure. The incident described pertains to a hardware issue with Harbor Freight's jack stands, specifically a fault in the manufacturing process that could lead to the stands collapsing during use [100361].
Intent (Poor/Accidental Decisions) unknown Unknown
Capability (Incompetence/Accidental) unknown Unknown
Duration unknown The articles do not mention any software failure incident related to the Harbor Freight jack stands recall. Therefore, the duration of the software failure incident is unknown.
Behaviour other (a) crash: The article does not mention any software crash related to the Harbor Freight jack stands recall incident. Therefore, there is no information available regarding a crash in the software system [100361]. (b) omission: The article does not mention any omission of software functions related to the Harbor Freight jack stands recall incident. Therefore, there is no information available regarding omission in the software system [100361]. (c) timing: The article does not mention any timing-related issues in the software system related to the Harbor Freight jack stands recall incident. Therefore, there is no information available regarding timing issues in the software system [100361]. (d) value: The software failure incident related to the Harbor Freight jack stands recall is not directly related to the software itself but rather to a manufacturing fault in the jack stands. Therefore, there is no information available regarding value-related failures in the software system [100361]. (e) byzantine: The article does not mention any byzantine behavior in the software system related to the Harbor Freight jack stands recall incident. Therefore, there is no information available regarding byzantine behavior in the software system [100361]. (f) other: The software failure incident related to the Harbor Freight jack stands recall is primarily due to a manufacturing issue with the jack stands, specifically the pawl mechanism not engaging properly. This issue is not directly related to software behavior but rather a mechanical fault in the product design and manufacturing process [100361].

IoT System Layer

Layer Option Rationale
Perception None None
Communication None None
Application None None

Other Details

Category Option Rationale
Consequence no_consequence The articles do not mention any software failure incident related to consequences such as death, harm, basic needs impact, property loss, delay, non-human impact, or theoretical consequences. There is no specific mention of any consequences resulting from the software failure incident described in the article.
Domain unknown <Article 100361> does not mention any software failure incident related to any specific industry. Therefore, the industry that the failed system was intended to support is unknown.

Sources

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