When they said, from the top make it drop- Harbour Freight took it seriously. There have been an increased number of concerns regarding the safety of Harbour Freight jack stands, and there are valid reasons why.
If we told you that roughly 20 people die every year being crushed by a car, you’d be more concerned about whatever jack stand you are using. In case you are wondering, are Harbour Freight jack stands safe? Unfortunately, the answer is not really. They are built with poor quality materials and tacky hardware, which compromises safety.
We’ll talk about this in detail here.
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Is Your Harbor Freight Safe to Use?
A good number of people are exasperated at the drama that has been going around these jack stands. Here are some reasons why we believe that the concerns regarding this product were legit:
1. Fall Risk
The first person to have experienced this first must have thought, “Wait, this isn’t supposed to happen.” Jack’s stand is supposed to hold a car that has been lifted. If your jack stand falls on you, then what purpose is it serving anyway? But unproductivity is not our issue today.
If a jack stand collapses, the whole vehicle comes crashing down on you. Pretty horrifying, isn’t it? But this is exactly what happened several times with Harbour Freight jack stands.
There were reportedly hundreds of thousands of injuries due to a faulty jack stand over seven years. Contradictorily, some people claim that most of these were user errors. But let’s touch on some more scenarios.
2. Recalling A Recall
The collapse situation got so out of hand that HF had to announce a recall of their products (numbered 61196, 61197, and 56371) in early 2020. Users were requested to stop using these items immediately, and they were offered a full refund.
Only after a few months did they announce a recall on a product for the second time that year; hands down, it was not one of the best situations for the hardware of this category.
The second recall was to address a fault in the welding of the jack stand. They have since claimed to fix it, but will people believe them after all this?
3. Fail Test
Although none of the fails is as dramatic as you see on YouTube thumbnails, they still raise worry. A user demonstrated a test where he showed that there was a negligible amount of contact between the locking pawl and lifting handle. Mind it; this test was done on the new version.
Another test was done by the same user on an old version. That one showed too the reduced quality of the material.
Verdict
Ultimately, we don’t feel very safe recommending this product to you. Remember, this is not the only brand manufacturing this product. You can always buy any other jack stand for the same price. So, why put yourself at risk?
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