Warning: HF Automotive Fuses

[buckeye]

This came from someone within the GM Powertrain Dept:

We have now had two vehicles come into our department with extensive wiring harness damage. Both of these vehicles had a replacement 15 amp fuse instead of the GM fuse. The fuse does NOT “pop” causing the wiring harness to catch fire. The fuse has a clear, hard plastic blue body with the amperage stamped into the top there is no white paint on the fuse. There are no identifying marks on the fuse to tell who is making it. The fuse is distributed by Harbor Freight, I attached a picture of the box of fuses. Your dealers should look out to make sure that suspect wiring problems are not caused by these defective aftermarket fuses. The 15 amp fuse on this particular truck did not “pop” even at 50 amps. The fuse in the second picture still tests “good” even after a direct short across the battery. We tested six of these fuses and none of them pop.

[Uncle Cracker]

Boy, with all that's in the news nowadays, it's hard not to give a second or third thought before using anything Chinese (except for maybe Lucy Liu ).

[LCHIEN]

I guess one must always be careful buying bargain "safety equipment".
Fuses of course are a safety item. so are fire extinguishers, parachutes and the like.

They all have in common that you can't really test them or they will be expended and of no use. So, you buy them and keep them for an emergency and hope they work when the time comes.

Fire extinguishers and parachutes, for example, don't get returned often by the user for failure to work and the evidence of failure often destroyed.
Fuses that won't, seem to pass current below its rating forever but when that one day comes and you experience a short, failure of the fuse to open under overload can cause a fire or the loss of expensive equipment. So much for a bargain.

First aid kits, another item you don't get to check the quality of until its too late.

So be careful in buying your emergency and safety stuff. Buy from known reputable sources. Especially parachutes.

[mater]

I almost picked some of these up about a month ago. I had second thoughts about them and now I am glad I did. Thanks for posting.

[gwyneth]

This makes me think of the blood pressure measurer (can't remember if it was the cuff setup) in a recent HF email promo...my immediate, instinctive thought was, "Who would trust that?"

[WayneJ]

Harbor freight today recalled all the standard and mini plastic type fuses. If anyone bought any in the last month I would take them back for a refund. I pulled them off the shelf this morning. There was no mention about the high amp fuses. athey seem to be O.K.
Wayne

[LCHIEN]

I just saw them at the store yesterday.

[cgallery]

Problem is, the same company that sold them to HF probably sold them to a bizillion other outsits, too.

I'd suggest only buying fuses from respected manufacturers. Ones with deep pockets in case they also are reselling the same bad parts.