Malibu Boats issues safety alert

Malibu Boats sent out a safety alert for some of its bowrider models ranging from model year 1986 to 2011, following an incident involving 2000 Malibu Response LX boat.

The statement from Malibu reported that a passenger was washed out of the bow seating area during a bow swamping incident. The passenger was then hit by the propeller and died.

The company said in a statement that “Malibu now prohibits passengers in the bow area of similar boats while the boat is in motion. This reduces the boat capacity by two passengers. Malibu will provide updated capacity labels and warnings stickers reflecting this new safety policy.”

Malibu also noted that the boat involved in the incident was manufactured by Malibu Boats West, Inc. (“West”), which is not, and has never been, a subsidiary of the company but was a separate legal entity whose assets were purchased by Malibu Boats LLC in 2006.

“Malibu was not involved in the design and testing of this model and other models developed by the other company prior to 2006,” Malibu said in its statement.

Malibu has determined that the Response LX and similar models designed by Malibu Boats West, Inc., may be particularly susceptible to this kind of accident. Therefore, for the following models, Malibu now prohibits passengers in the bow area while in motion:

• 1986 – 2002 Sunsetter
• 1989 – 1994 Euro-f3 Sunsetter
• 1990 – 1993 Mystere 215LX Euro-f3
• 1993 – 1998 Echelon LX
• 1995 – 2014 Response LX
• 1998 – 2003 Sportster LX
• 1999 – 2006 Sunsetter LXi
• 2002 – 2007 Sunsetter (23) XTi
• 2003 – 2008 Sunsetter 21 XTi
• 2003 – 2011 Response LXi

Boat owners can enter boat information at www.malibuboats.com/safeboating and Malibu will send warning stickers and an updated maximum capacity label specific to the particular boat.