Petzl

Stop use until inspected

Ball-Lock carabiners product safety bulletin
Name of product: Am'D Ball-Lock, William Ball-Lock

USA only Clearfield, Utah (October 18, 2006) Petzl America voluntarily announced a recall of Petzl M34 BL Am'D BALL-LOCK and M36 BL WILLIAM BALL-LOCK carabiners with the new metal locking sleeve due to the possibility that the sleeve can be unlocked without pressing the green button, so the locking system acts as a TWIST-LOCK, instead of a BALL-LOCK. Affected units were sold during March and July, 2006. No incidents or injuries have been reported. This information does not apply to the older nylon-sleeve locking system, but only to BALL-LOCK carabiners with the metal locking sleeve manufactured in March and July, 2006. This recall is in effect only in the USA - it does not affect BALL LOCK carabiners sold in other countries (see press release - pdf format, 50 Kb).

If you have a Ball-Lock carabiner with the metal sleeve, check the batch number engraved on the spine of the carabiner. Affected product will display a number between 06076 and 06178. If you have any affected product, you may:

  1. Inspect it following the simple procedure below, or return it to the place of purchase or to Petzl America for inspection and possible replacement.
  2. If you do your own inspection, you may return any non-conforming product to the place of purchase or to Petzl America for replacement.

For assistance in any matter related to this recall, please contact Petzl America at 877 807 3805 or rcl.bl06@petzl.com.

BALL-LOCK metal sleeve inspection procedure

  1. Unlock, open and close the carabiner once as shown in the technical notice:
    - Am'D BALL-LOCK technical notice
    - WILLIAM BALL-LOCK technical notice
  2. Grip the spine of the carabiner with your right hand so that your thumb is on the wider end of the carabiner (end opposite the hinge).
  3. Firmly grip the locking sleeve by wrapping the fingers of your left hand around it.
  4. Without pressing the green button, twist the sleeve firmly in the direction normally used to unlock the carabiner.

Inspection results

A non-conforming product will unlock easily with a single firm twist. Please do not apply excessive force as a single firm twist is all that is required to unlock a non-conforming product.

Conforming product will resist a firm twist and remain locked; again, please avoid excesssive force.

WILLIAM BALL-LOCK - M36 BLAm'D BALL-LOCK - M34 BL