JD warns about grey market tractors

[cowboydoc]

After a recent post about grey market tractors here is what JD has to say.

 

[markct]

one thing thats always gotten me about the whole grey market tractor thing, is how the manufacturers always claim its for safety reasons, so does that mean we americans are so much dumber we need more safety features to save our ****, or do they just not care about the other countries people as much lol! i remember once that i was reading a dealer or manufacturers website that listed the reasons why gray market tractors were unsafe for the us market, i rember a few of them, they said the throttle pulled towards you to increase it, and they said thats opposite the us standard, then they said no rops, then no seatbelt, no pto safety gaurd, and i got to thinkin, that perfectly fits the description of an 8n ford, or for that matter most any us tractor from that era! i just dont get what all the danger is about a grey market tractor, i think its more of just they are losing money to the greys so thats why they are worked up

 

[Dutch445]

I really believe that letter from Deere is geared towards the Self Propelled Forage Harvester market. Deere builds machines for use all over the world, and many other worldwide markets do not have the same safety or design requirements needed in the US market. There are a lot of dealers bringing these choppers over to the US, then after the unsuspecting farmer buys it, he finds out that Deere won't warranty repairs, and the parts can be very different inside the machine. Now there is a can of worms trying to fix the machine, and the Deere dealer doesn't want to be liable for repairing a machine that isn't within US safety standards. I haven't heard much talk of other machines, tractors etc... but there may be similar issues.

 

[Dutch445]

MarkCT,
I do think that our country is ahead of other countries when it comes to safety. A piece of farm machinery is one of the most dangerous piece of machinery to be around, and OSHA and the manufacturers are battling huge lawsuits that mostly stem from us stupid consumers that don't follow safety guidelines or disable safety switches etc.

I would believe that the money the manufacturers are losing is from lawsuits , not competition from grey market machines. Even a dealer is responsible for safety on a machine. Our dealership has been involved in several lawsuits, and I'm sure a lot of others are also, involving injuries from machinery. And yes,, when the courts award the injured party, both dealer and manufacturer will pay. Like we all know, sue everybody and anybody. Even the guy that unhooked his lawn tractor safety switch and cut's his arm off when he rolls it over mowing an extreme grade will sue, and i'm sure there are cases they can win if there is the slightest question that the machine was at fault. Remember the McDonalds coffee suit.

 

[cowboydoc]

I called the dealer on this and it applies to any gray market piece of machinery, tractors, etc. and not just the Harvesters.

You are exactly right about the liability issues. Parts interchanging is another issue. We had a frivolous lawsuit a couple years back and the lawyer for our insurance told us that 20-30% of COGS and services in the US is related lawsuits. You don't have this extra cost in other countries as they do not have the suing going on like we do.

 

[MikeFromVA]

Maybe they just have this kind of press release to cover their butts when someone has an accident on a gray market tractor. When that person goes to sure JD, JD can point at the press release and say "We warned you"...

 

[Bob_Skurka]

<font color="green"> so does that mean we americans are so much dumber we need more safety features to save our **** </font>

I think what it means is that trial lawyers get multi-million dollar settlements by sueing the pants of manufacturers because juries are often too stupid to lay the blame on the person who abused the system. One of the vice-presidential candidates made literally tens of millions of dollars doing exactly this before he got into politics. Pediatricians are sued so often that in many rural areas it is hard to find someone to deliver a baby who is actually an expert because their insurance is so darn high because of frivolous lawsuits. I know doctors who pay upwards of $200,000 a year in malpractice insurance . . . not because they did anything wrong, but rather because they are in high risk areas of medicine. Lawnmower manufacturers have been sued by people who cut their fingers off using them as hedge trimmers. Ladder manufacturers get sued when people fall off ladders . . . have you seen all the warning stickers on ladders!!! Over 50% of the price you pay for a ladder is to pay for pesky trial lawyers. So back to John Deere and their grey market machines, each country has its own rules, JD makes a tractor for the US that meet US rules. . . JD makes tractors for other countries that meet those rules. The rules are not the same. If one of those machines ends up here, JD can get sued FOR NO GOOD REASON just because some knucklehead ran over his foot or drove the tractor into a ditch or whatever becuase all the safety stickers are in some other language, etc etc etc

 

[slowrev]

Bob,
Been thinking on this and I have never heard of a lawsuit about someone getting hurt on an AG tractor. Rolllover deaths, mangled limbs, BH related deaths I personally know of, but no lawsuits.
On consumer ridingmowers, etc yes, but not on REAL AG equipment...hmmm

Ben

 

[cowboydoc]

Couldn't agree more Bob and that is what this is all about with Deere and every other gray market deal.

 

[milkman]

About two miles from me, a guy was using a JD tricycle type tractor with a loader around a pond bank, the tractor turned over on him and he got hurt, he sued JD because he said the narrow front end was an unsafe design, and won. I don't know what he got, but it was more than he should have gotten IMO. It just infuriates me when people do something and get hurt, then want to make it someone else's fault. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif