By Will Burgess

Polaris has issued a Stop Sale & Stop Ride notification for all 2023 Polaris Sportsman ATVs (including youth models) and Scrambler ATVs because of incorrect information found in the owner’s manual.

You read that correctly: the recall is on the manuals, not the vehicles, but owners are notified not to operate their four-wheeler until the updated manual has been delivered either by mail, or to your servicing dealer and provided to the vehicle owner, in order to satisfy the recall procedure.

The part of the manual in question with incorrect information is the Safety section. Polaris states, “because the owner’s manuals provided with these ATVs were inadvertently printed with incorrect information in the safety section, posing a potential risk of serious injury.”

According to a bulletin issued by Polaris, they write, “Polaris will be shipping new hardcopy owner’s manuals with a corrected safety section to all affected owners. You can expect to receive this new owner’s manual in the mail in the coming weeks. Your new owner’s manual will be mailed to you according to our most current registration information. Once you receive the replacement manual, please review the safety section and discard the affected owner’s manual.“

Owners who have not received a manual prior to March 1, 2023 are urged to reach out to their servicing dealer to have one ordered for free.

Not all VINs are impacted by this recall, but Polaris is issuing notifications to ATV owners who are affected, and will provide a link to the online version of the manuals.
Knowingly operating an affected vehicle during this recall process could invalidate certain warranty qualifications, therefore owners are strongly advised not to drive their vehicles.

We reviewed the manual for a 2023 Polaris Sportsman and there are indeed many updates made to the second edition of this manual, compared to manuals provided at the time of vehicle purchase.
Polaris provides up-to-date PDFs of owner’s manuals at their website: https://www.polaris.com/en-us/off-road/owner-resources/owners-manuals/

While owners are encouraged to read the updated safety section before operating their vehicles, it must be noted, however, reading the PDF version does not meet the qualifications necessary to satisfy the recall procedure. The recall is considered completed when owners have obtained a physical copy of the manuals in their possession.

More information about this and other Polaris recalls can be found on their Product Safety Announcement website.

Will Burgess is a journalist with Adrenaline Powersports Mag