Shimano to pay $11.5m penalty following crankset recall for failing to immediately report defect

Shimano has agreed to pay an $11.5 million civil penalty for failing to immediately report that its Hollowtech II cranksets contained a potentially hazardous defect.

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has this week announced that Shimano will pay the penalty to settle a charge that it “knowingly failed to immediately report to CPSC, as required by law”, that its cranksets “contained a defect which could create a substantial product hazard or created an unreasonable risk of serious injury or death to consumers.”

Those cranksets were all subject to a recall, first announced in 2023, which affected over 2.8 million units worldwide.

However, according to the CPSC, Shimano had received “thousands of warranty claims” dating back as far as 2013, with “dozens of reports” of injuries including bone fractures, joint displacement and lacerations as a result of the cranksets’ failures.

The CPSC is an independent body responsible for setting industry standards, issuing recalls, and regulating all consumer-facing products in the United States.

It supported Shimano during the initial recall of 760,000 cranksets in the USA, announcing jointly on September 21, 2023. That initial release cited 4,519 incidents of cranksets separating, but that number relates only to North America, and is expected to be significantly higher worldwide.

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In addition to the $11.5m penalty, the agreement also requires Shimano to maintain internal controls and procedures that ensure future compliance with the Consumer Product Safety Act. As part of this, Shimano will submit annual reports regarding its compliance program, internal controls and internal audits relating to policies, procedures, systems and training.

When contacted by Bicycling Retailer, a Shimano spokesperson said: “Shimano cannot comment beyond what has been included in the public settlement.”

Cyclingnews has also contacted Shimano for comment.