Safety Recall for Jetboat That Flipped, Disabling Clay Toddler
'Too Little, Too Late,' Says Family's Lawyer
The manufacturer of the Sea-Doo Switch Pontoon has issued a safety recall for the jet boat model that flipped forward with a Clay County family aboard, causing an accident that resulted in a lifetime disability for their 16-month-old daughter.
However, Bombadier Recreational Products (BRP) did not issue a press release about the recall notice, which was entitled “Front Overloading-Risk of Capsizing” and went out to owners on February 18.
The recall comes after a $30 million lawsuit over the St. Johns River accident in August, even as a second suit is being readied over a similar accident that left a Virginia girl dead in July.
Lawyers for both said the recall was overdue and would make their cases easier to prove to a jury.
“We are incredibly pleased with this recall as a team, but I wish they had done it before a little girl died,” said Attorney Emily Brannon, representing the family of a nine-year-old girl whose Switch flipped without warning on Lake Anna in Virginia.
“It’s too little, too late,” said Judd Rosen, lawyer for the local family. “To me, it means that this case screams out for punitive damages. They know they are guilty.”
The recall pertains to Switch models from 2022 to 2025, which is all of them. “Improper distribution of passengers and cargo weight could overload the front of the watercraft and cause instability, nosediving and possibly lead to capsizing,” Sea-Doo said in the recall notice. “The condition worsens if water evacuation from the hull is not optimal. This could cause serious injuries or even death.”
Rosen represents Clay residents William Grullon and Sheila Feliciano, whose daughter, now 22-months old, has been immobilized by “a catastrophic anoxic brain injury.” Rosen said he will argue that the Switch design is so flawed that it can flip over forward even when weight is distributed optimally.
Sea-Doo’s “water evacuation” reference is intriguing because it appears to be an admission that there is a design flaw in the boat’s water ballasting system. As reported earlier by Clay News & Views, the outer hulls allow water to seep inside them when stopped. The added weight improves stability at rest.
The ballast water then flows back out when underway or by opening a drain plug when hauled out. BRP ignored messages asking for an interview, so the water capacity of the hulls of the various models is an open question, but the recall-notice reference suggests it could be significant.
If it were, say, 10 gallons per hull, that would be 20 gallons total. A gallon of water weighs 8.34 pounds. If a Switch were at rest and then got underway long enough to lose 10 of the 20 gallons out the back, and were then throttled down, a combined 80-plus pounds of water could be sent hurtling forward, filling the half-empty space and helping to force the bow down.
This might be what BRP means by “non optimal” water evacuation. Since this handling characteristic had not been advertised before, even a savvy operator could not have known how to compensate to keep the boat safe.
BRP says parts for recall repairs will become available “gradually” beginning March 3 as parts become available. The repairs will take about an hour a half, and will involve application of some type of sealant, though this will not be necessary for 2025 models. Additional warning labels will be affixed to two locations.
BRP has also issued a new training video and updated the Switch manual, urging owners to review both. At one point, the manual warned owners not to try powering out of a nosedive, saying that accelerating would tend to plunge the bow down further.
Clay News & Views has reached out to BRP’s media office and will update this story with any response.