SRAM Road Hydraulic Brake Recall - stop use

Triathlon Forum
1

December 13, 2013

UPDATE: SRAM Road Hydraulic Brake Recall – STOP USE IMMEDIATELY

On November 4th SRAM identified and announced a technical issue with respect to a narrow production range of its RED 22 and S-700 Hydraulic Road Brakes. At that time, it was described as a performance and safety concern with no reported failures in the field.

It has recently come to our attention that during last weekend’s Cyclocross racing in the US, in sub freezing temperatures, several failures were reported. In these conditions the master cylinder seals failed to hold pressure resulting in abrupt loss of brake power, and an inability to stop the bike. These failures are related to product that is outside the originally stated date code range and unrelated to the original failure mode. No injuries have been reported to date.

As a result of this new finding, SRAM requests that anyone who has a bike equipped with SRAM Hydraulic Disc or Hydraulic Rim Brakes stop using the bike immediately. All products shipped to date, and currently in the market or in inventory will be recalled.

Further, we are asking our Bike Brand customers, OE factories, Distributors and Dealers to cease all sales and shipments of SRAM RED 22 and S-700 Hydraulic Road Brakes. A total of approximately 19,000 brake systems have been shipped to date into the global market.

Quarantine efforts currently underway with Factories, Bike Brands, and Distributors will be broadened to include all Dealers with inventory on bikes, or as Aftermarket product. Additional information related to timing and replacement of product will be forthcoming.

As originally announced we have reported this issue to the US CPSC and will be cooperating with the agency to announce a Safety Recall. We will also be contacting and working closely with appropriate like agencies in Europe and globally.

SRAM engineering and manufacturing is committed to the highest Quality standards. On behalf of all employees at SRAM we apologize for the business disruption to our customers business and to the individuals who have placed their trust in our products.

2

Interesting…I wonder what the design specs where on the usage and storage temp ranges, and how they went about doing design validation?

3

It wasn’t that cold in Chicago last weekend. I’d like to think that the temps experienced were well within tolerance.

4

It wasn’t that cold in Chicago last weekend. I’d like to think that the temps experienced were well within tolerance.

Right…and design specs usually are well outside the actual expected use case as a means to add a factor of safety.

5

Wow! Kudos to SRAM. 19k unit recall at years end can put a dent in the bottom line. Difficult decision but obviously consumer safety is top priority and they made the right call.

As for design validation…well we shouldn’t be so naive to think that product launch dates take a back seat to proper and thorough product testing. Usually, it’s the other way around…unfortunately.

6

It was single digits to low teens in Bend last weekend.

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It was single digits to low teens in Bend last weekend.

One would think that would still be within the design specs…the wisdom of actually riding in those temps not withstanding :wink:
.

8

It was in the mid-20’s (Fahrenheit) when NASA launched Challenger.

9

when i went to SRAM’s intro it seemed to me that all the focus was what might and would happen at the other end of the spectrum. it was about when the hydraulic fluid boils and what stresses might overload the system. they took bikes equipped with these systems to the italian alps, as i recall, and put big boys on these bikes and had them ride down the stelvio or some hill like that. i think the concern was that the stress on the system during road bike use might actually outstrip that of MTB use, because the braking requirements during a long, steep, twisty, high speed road descent might be very high. i never envisioned the problem being at the other end of the temperature spectrum. not that the SRAM guys didn’t, i just never thought of it.

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when i went to SRAM’s intro it seemed to me that all the focus was what might and would happen at the other end of the spectrum. it was about when the hydraulic fluid boils and what stresses might overload the system. they took bikes equipped with these systems to the italian alps, as i recall, and put big boys on these bikes and had them ride down the stelvio or some hill like that. i think the concern was that the stress on the system during road bike use might actually outstrip that of MTB use, because the braking requirements during a long, steep, twisty, high speed road descent might be very high. i never envisioned the problem being at the other end of the temperature spectrum. not that the SRAM guys didn’t, i just never thought of it.

Which is why when writing design specs for a new product development one typically tries to “bound” the expected use cases. Ambient temperature range is obviously one of those inputs.

The next step is to then identify how you’ll go about actually verifying that the design has met those specifications; through analysis or through design verification testing on prototypes, pilot production units, and finally initial production samples.

It seems like something may have been missed in those 2 steps…

Another tool to use to attempt to find the weak points of a design is called HALT/HASS testing. This involves exposing the test articles to progressively more stressful ranges of temperature and vibration until something breaks…and then determining if it makes sense to improve/change the design to alleviate that failure. The thing is, the stress levels that caused the breakage may be well above the expected use case, but improving the design is going to dramatically reduce the likelihood of failures in the field and make the design more robust to abuse.

11

Dan,

You’re in California, of course cold (proper cold) didn’t occur to you :slight_smile:

Even as a kid in Canada, I would ride 25km each way to high school (to save my bus money for whiskey, but that’s another story). Back in the 70’s cycling in Canada was pretty rare, and with snow on the ground it was even rarer. To be fair, my mother wouldn’t let me ride if there was toooo much snow on the ground, or if it was toooo cold. Too much snow and too cold is of course a relative thing, so I got to ride longer than was sensible. BUT, like they say, you learn more from your mistakes than your successes :slight_smile:

And not to forget, rim brakes are only ornamental in properly cold temperatures also

12

It was single digits to low teens in Bend last weekend.

One would think that would still be within the design specs…the wisdom of actually riding in those temps not withstanding :wink:

It was 2 degrees in Boulder last weekend. My hubby raced with his Crux w/SRAM Red 22 hydraulic disc brakes and experienced brake failure. My fingers kept freezing to the point where I couldn’t feel my shifters so I decided to skip it.

My hubby raced yesterday (the brakes had been bled and worked on after the freezing race) and had no problems but it was 40 degrees. Although, those brakes have been a problem since he got them. They have had to be bled three times since he got the bike in August.

It kind of sucks that SRAM has made no announcement about how it will handle this recall. CX Nationals in less than a month, and state championships are going on now. I’m hoping they will have an update on Monday.

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Even as a kid in Canada, I would ride 25km each way to high school (to save my bus money for whiskey, but that’s another story)
Well, I kinda want to hear the story … :^)

And not to forget, rim brakes are only ornamental in properly cold temperatures also
So true.

14

All right then…

When I started 9th grade, my parents sent me to a private school in the next town. Mum would give me $8 for the bus (remember, I’m old). If I rode my bike, I could keep the $8, so I rode as long into winter as I could tolerate.

As I was flush with cash each Friday, I was looking to see what trouble I could find. The older boys could buy whiskey for $5 a bottle plus a $1 handling charge, so I’d drink a bottle at lunchtime with a friend or two and have a couple of $ left over. I’d sober up enough (sort of) to ride home after school.

I’d ride as long into winter as I could, and only take the bus on properly snowy or really cold days. Of course the bike was made of steel bar and not tube (or at least felt like it). I had no bike shorts or jersey, no gloves or even a drink bottle! For the first year mum made me ride with a flouro orange flag on a fishing rod type pole. That didn’t make me look gay. NOT! I remember several times getting blown off the road bty transport trucks driving sooooo close to me. I’d crap myself of course. And I’d invariably end up in the gravel with skinned knees, butchered palms and a flat tire (they used to roll off the wheel very easily). I’d give the truck driver the finger and look for somewhere safe to straighten my handle bars and fix my tire. Some days I’d be so cold I could barely get the cap of the valve to hook up the pump. Apparently a drinking habit doesn’t mix well with 14 year old boys.

Our school had a bike-a-thon to raise money for something. It was 4x40km loops. I was the only kid in school to finish. Some parents made it, but not many. I would rider 40km, drink a couple of big glasses of water from the only aid station, have a sandwich or some cookies, and head off for another 40km. I was not impressed when the day heated up, but that was nothing compared to the wicked as chaffing I got from riding in cutoff jeans.

When mum found out that her 14 year old son was drinking a bottle of whiskey each week, she put a stop to the cycling (by not letting me keep the money if I rode) so I just took the bus to and from school. :frowning:

To this day, I still love riding my bike (I commute to work every day on my bike) but I can’t stand Scotch Whiskey! :-). I’m not fast, but I love riding and I now have 11 bikes and my wife just gave me a bike shed for my birthday (subject of another thread)

There you have it, the genesis of my love of cycling.

The good thing about riding regularly was that it gave me great leg strength and that got me fit for the ski season. I could ski faster and for longer than my friends, so got better than them. I turned pro when I was 16 (just before I turned 17) and had a 10 year career as a ski pro. That lead to a love of food and partying which sommewhat surprisingly, does not lead to a great triathlon career. LOL

15

It was single digits to low teens in Bend last weekend.

One would think that would still be within the design specs…the wisdom of actually riding in those temps not withstanding :wink:

It was 2 degrees in Boulder last weekend. My hubby raced with his Crux w/SRAM Red 22 hydraulic disc brakes and experienced brake failure. My fingers kept freezing to the point where I couldn’t feel my shifters so I decided to skip it.

My hubby raced yesterday (the brakes had been bled and worked on after the freezing race) and had no problems but it was 40 degrees. Although, those brakes have been a problem since he got them. They have had to be bled three times since he got the bike in August.

You can count 2 more failures at the Res. Mine and a few others have faired just fine, though.

16

Engineering is a race between engineers building bigger and better idiot-proof machines, and the Universe building bigger and better idiots.

In this, people who cycle in extreme cold could be considered as using the product outside of the intended purpose. For example, if you take a standard Chevy pickup truck to upper Alaska, no-one will be surprised when it fails to start. Chervrolet is not about to change a widely accepted product line just to accomodate an outlier set of users. Instead, they offer an add-on package at greater cost. IMO, if you’re riding in single digit temps, you need your head checked.

That SRAM has decided to do just this speaks volumes about their commitment to quality and safety. I suspect it’s probably a materials or coatings issue, but I firmly believe that SRAM will get on top of it quickly.

As an aside, I’m a little stunned that they’ve sold 19,000 sets already. That’s a lot of bikes, and a much bigger niche than I expected.

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That didn’t make me look gay. NOT! I remember several times getting blown off

ISWYDT

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Taking a wild guess…improper o-ring spec such that they did not seal when temps got too low.

19

A bottle a week of the hard stuff at age 14. Wow.

But great story !

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Taking a wild guess…improper o-ring spec such that they did not seal when temps got too low.

You know…they never DID say what the first recall was about…

I’m wondering if there’s a systemic issue that’s causing everything. No matter though, it’s a HUGE black eye for them…ouch.