UKC

Wild Country Xenon quickdraws - PLEASE READ!

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 mike barnard 24 Feb 2014
Anyone who has recieved one of these as compensation for recalled Rocks (or just bought one recently) and hasn't checked the set-up should do so now. I've just had a look at mine and the end of the sling has just been squeezed into the rubber keeper alongside the krab rather than actually clipped into the krab.

This gives the appearance of being safe when actually it is not. The problem was highlighted a few months back when a fatality occured.
 wilkie14c 24 Feb 2014
In reply to mike barnard:

What did WC when you told them?
OP mike barnard 24 Feb 2014
In reply to wilkie14c:

Not heard back from them yet (I only noticed the problem about half an hour ago). Thought best to make folk aware ASAP.
 wilkie14c 24 Feb 2014
In reply to mike barnard:

Fair enough, wise shout up under the circumstances. The response will be interesting indeed. I'm going to check mine now, I just chucked it in the climbing box when it was delivered and never even looked TBH
 wilkie14c 24 Feb 2014
In reply to mike barnard:

OK I have mine in front of me. It is fine and to be honest, I can't see how it could be wrongly fitted. The keeper on mine is hard rubber/plastic unlike the petzl 'strings' and seems to be more of a logo carrying thing than anything useful as the sling is stitched tight up to the crab making the keeper redundant
 Mr-Cowdrey 24 Feb 2014
In reply to mike barnard:

All good my end, but cheers for the heads up
OP mike barnard 24 Feb 2014
In reply to wilkie14c:

I agree that there doesn't really seem to be any point in the keeper since it's basically a fully closed sling.
 Firestarter 24 Feb 2014
In reply to mike barnard:

Mine's good but thanks very much.
 salad fingers 24 Feb 2014
In reply to mike barnard:

Are you saying that the crab is clipped into the sling but not the 'keeper', or into the keeper and not the sling?
 remus Global Crag Moderator 24 Feb 2014
In reply to mike barnard:

Got a picture? Im having trouble visualizing what youre describing.
 Jonny2vests 24 Feb 2014
In reply to mike barnard:

Yes, please post a picture.
 JimboWizbo 24 Feb 2014
In reply to mike barnard:

Oh 'eck.
 Ramblin dave 24 Feb 2014
In reply to remus:

> Got a picture? Im having trouble visualizing what youre describing.

Me too!

Mine seems to be fine.
OP mike barnard 24 Feb 2014
In reply to above:

I've tried to post a picture, think it's maybe waiting to be moderated or something.
 jim jones 24 Feb 2014
In reply to mike barnard:
Agree with the other comments, I can't really visualise what you are getting at, is the carabiner missing the sling and clipped only through the rubber keeper? Mine is OK.
Post edited at 21:49
 jim jones 24 Feb 2014
In reply to GPN:

Just seen your photo, oh dear! Looks like everyone better check, well spotted and thanks.
 Yanis Nayu 24 Feb 2014
In reply to GPN:

Bloody hell!
 Morgan Woods 24 Feb 2014
In reply to GPN:
If that's how it came from the shop then it's a bit of a worry.
Post edited at 21:53
 GPN 24 Feb 2014
In reply to jim jones:
It's the OPs photo rather than mine.
 GPN 24 Feb 2014
In reply to Morgan Woods:

> If that's how it came from the shop then it's a bit of a worry.

I'd assume that it came direct from Wild Country rather than via a shop.
 jezb1 24 Feb 2014
In reply to mike barnard:

I'd be pretty pi$$ed if I'd bought that direct from the manufacturer and it came like that.

I always give new kit a check over but who knows, it only takes one missed check and that looks less obvious than I thought it was going to...
OP mike barnard 24 Feb 2014
In reply to jezb1:

Well I didn't buy it as such (it was a freebie with recalled rock) but still...
 jim jones 24 Feb 2014
In reply to mike barnard:

Doesn't really matter freebie or not it should not have been missed. It's just appalling QC I'm afraid.
 martinph78 24 Feb 2014
In reply to mike barnard:

It certainly highlights the importance of checking your kit thoroughly before use.

I inspect all of my new kit thoroughly as you never know if it's been damaged in transit, escaped QC, or someone has tampered with it in the shop. Maybe it comes from working in industry, where you inspect safety equipment yourself before signing for it, even though it should be inspected before it's released from stores.

Not excusing the fact this appears to have been missed, but inevitably mistakes can and do happen, so adding your own additional check is one more step in the system.
 andrewmc 24 Feb 2014
Another example of why the DMM solution (rubber keeper sewn inside the dogbone/sling) is better, even if sometimes a pain to get the krab in...
 wilkie14c 25 Feb 2014
In reply to andrewmcleod:
> Another example of why the DMM solution (rubber keeper sewn inside the dogbone/sling) is better, even if sometimes a pain to get the krab in...

This is how the WC heliums QD's are too. From the picture it looks harder to put the sling in the retainer like that than actually assembling in correctly.
 Otis 25 Feb 2014
In reply to andrewmcleod:

> Another example of why the DMM solution (rubber keeper sewn inside the dogbone/sling) is better, even if sometimes a pain to get the krab in...

Top tip: give the tadpole on DMM dog bones and the crab a dunk in water before fitting. They go together really easily

Mike
 Wild Country 25 Feb 2014
In reply to mike barnard:

Mike, I have just seen this and since you say you contacted Wild Country direct already I presume it was last night around the same time you posted - after we shut - so I assume we'll get it this morning and start to investigate. Great spot and thanks for the post.
Someone will be in touch to ask for more information this morning I would think.
OP mike barnard 25 Feb 2014
In reply to Richie Patterson, Wild Country:

Hi Richie, yes I contacted Mark at the Recalls bit
 SGD 25 Feb 2014
In reply to mike barnard:

Thanks for the shout will check ours tonight.
 Wild Country 25 Feb 2014
In reply to mike barnard:

Mike,
just sent you an e-mail asking for your phone number if you can reply ta.
 CurlyStevo 25 Feb 2014
In reply to mike barnard:

Hi Mike,
Its been a while hope you are well.....

Lucky you spotted that before an accident occurred. My free Xenon draw was OK....

Stevo
 Morgan Woods 25 Feb 2014
In reply to GPN:

> I'd assume that it came direct from Wild Country rather than via a shop.

ah understood now....that's even worse if it was for a recall!
 CurlyStevo 25 Feb 2014
In reply to Morgan Woods:

I agree, its pretty shoddy.
 chrissyboy 25 Feb 2014
In reply to Richie Patterson, Wild Country:

Who are you guys employing?
 Wild Country 25 Feb 2014
In reply to mike barnard:

Following the discovery of the mis-assembled Xenon quickdraw Wild Country have initiated a 100% re-inspection of all its stock, in the UK and in our Italian warehouse. The UK stock has been inspected already and we have found no further instances. We are at present inspecting stock in Italy and we will have the results tomorrow. We will also trace the batch and the time of the build of that quickdraw to see if we can find any evidence of what occurred and why.

Once we have re-inspected 100% of the stock within our control we will convene a meeting of the production and quality teams to decide on the next course of action. We can only apologise for this error and express our deep regret that this was missed.

We would also like to wholeheartedly endorse the very sensible comments made by several posters about inspecting your gear. We are all in a safety critical sport and it’s worth inspecting all your gear whether new or old. And to be clear by saying this we are in no way trying to abdicate from our responsibility but just endorsing what are sensible comments.
OP mike barnard 25 Feb 2014
In reply to CurlyStevo:

Cheers Stevo, hope the job is going well down south!
OP mike barnard 25 Feb 2014
In reply to Richie Patterson, Wild Country:

Thanks Richie
 winhill 26 Feb 2014
In reply to mike barnard:

> This gives the appearance of being safe when actually it is not. The problem was highlighted a few months back when a fatality occured.

After that fatality I noticed that DMM were using some transparent keepers on their draws, seems a much better idea than using black ones which obscure the sling.
 Marq 26 Feb 2014
Two quickdraws that we got back to our household as part of the rocks recall were okay just for the record.

Marq
OP mike barnard 26 Feb 2014
In reply to winhill:

That does sound like a reasonable idea
 stokienomad 26 Feb 2014
In reply to mike barnard:

What a bunch of cowboys WC have become!
 StuDoig 26 Feb 2014
In reply to mike barnard:

Had a check of mine and it's fine. Good catch though spotting yours was defective!

 daWalt 27 Feb 2014
In reply to wilkie14c:
> .... From the picture it looks harder to put the sling in the retainer like that than actually assembling in correctly.

It is, played around with one of these last night and I really had to twist and wriggle the thing to get it through the rubber while missing the sling loop.
Give it a try.
 Wild Country 28 Feb 2014
In reply to Richie Patterson, Wild Country:
Following our previous post we have now examined the stock in the warehouses in Italy and the USA. There were no further units found with any problems.
The documentation from Wild Country's internal investigation as well as the results of all the examinations is now with the Quality Manager for the Salewa group and he will be making a decision on any further action that will be taken.
Once again we can only apologise for this error and express our deep regret that this was missed and we are taking all necesary steps to make sure this doesn't happen again.

 Wild Country 11 Mar 2014
In reply to Richie Patterson, Wild Country:

Following the incident reported on this thread Wild Country set in place an inspection of all quickdraws in our warehouses and an audit of the procedures surrounding the construction of quickdraws. As already stated the result of the inspection was that no more units were found that had a problem.
In the meantime we stopped all quickdraw production and the procedures around these were audited. Following the audit of this incident, which is something we did not think would happen, the quality manager has determined that this was very much a ‘one off’. However, the fact that it has occurred means that we have to focus on this issue to improve our procedures to minimise the possibility of this happening again. Therefore we have reviewed and implemented changes to our procedures. All staff involved were briefed and made aware of the seriousness of the situation and refresher training courses were held on the handling of all safety critical products.

Once again we can only apologise for this incident and we are determined to make sure that we continually monitor and improve our procedure to minimise the possibility of this happening again.

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