Yakima Products, Inc. of Beaverton, OR, in accordance with the requirements of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act has recently announced the recall of their FlipSide rear bicycle racks that mount to the receiver hitch of vehicles. Apparently a small number of units shipped from April 2008 through June 2011 have malfunctioned while transporting bikes.
It seems that the pin that holds the rack upright might be slightly too short in the affected units and can not hold the loaded rack upright.
Only those racks with a red knob in the photo are being recalled. Yakima will send the owners of those racks a new, longer pin along with instructions on how to replace the current red pin. The fix is reported to only take 15 minutes.
Yakima recommends the removal of this product from your vehicle and the owner fill out the online registration form, or call 1-888-925-4621 to speak with customer service.
Along with the FlipSide being recalled, Yakima also recalled the FrontLoader roof rack bicycle mount earlier this year due to the mount becoming loose or actually ejecting the bike while driving.