The outdoor gear brand Black Diamond Equipment, Ltd. issued a recall, subject to user inspection, of carabiners, nylon runners and quickdraws due to the possibility of malfunctions. The company voluntarily cooperated Wednesday with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in issuing the recall.
The issue with the carabiners and quickdraws concerns "defects in the gate that could cause the carabiner to fail or function incorrectly," said the company in a statement. "In some carabiners, the gate rivets (in solid gate carabiners) and wire ends (in wiregate carabiners) attaching the gate to the carabiner body may not be properly manufactured, potentially resulting in the gate becoming detached."
Black Diamond urges users to take the following steps to inspect their equipment:
- For solid gate carabiners: gates are properly riveted.
- For wiregate carabiners: gate wire ends are properly formed.
- For screwgate locking carabiners: the gates and locking sleeves are assembled correctly and function properly.
- All carabiner gates fully close when released from any position.
The recall concerns nearly all carabiners manufactured in 2015.
The company is also concerned with its nylon runners. Some of these contain tape splices and will fail if used to support the weight of a human.
In the sport of climbing, the integrity of safety equipment is a paramount concern.
