SALT LAKE CITY -- The Hoaldridge family said they feel relieved and hopeful since the off-road terrain vehicle company, Polaris recalled two of their model RZRs.
“When the manufacturer came out with the recall we were so happy that they cared enough about our situation,” said mother Nicole Hoaldridge.
Both Nicole Hoaldridge and her husband, BJ, wanted the Polaris UTV recalled after an accident on the vehicle took the life of their 15-year-old daughter.
“Our number one goal was to make sure that this didn't happen to anybody else,” Nicole Hoaldridge said.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission worked with Polaris to recall 133,000 RZR off-road vehicles, both the 900 model, that the Hoaldridge’s daughter Baylee was inside, and the 1,000 model.
“First thing, consumers need to do is stop use immediately,” said CPSC chairman, Elliot Faye. “Please do not ride these vehicles do not let anyone ride these vehicles.”
Faye said the internal components were overheating and causing the UTVs to catch fire.
In the CPSC report, it states it received 160 reports of the two models catching fire. One of those includes Baylee’s death, and 19 others included first-, second-, and third-degree burns.
They ask you to call Polaris for repairs.
In the meantime, the Hoaldridges are repairing their hearts by helping other families at The University of Utah Hospital’s burn center. They are making baskets on wheels filled with every day necessities.
“Out of nowhere I'll just get hit, where I just miss her so much,” Nicole Hoaldridge said. “I just try to lose myself in making these baskets.”
The baskets are laundry baskets so families can roll them over to the hospital’s laundry room instead of carrying all their overnight clothes there and they are stuffed with meal cards, toothbrushes, shampoo and snacks.
“We want to help families that have been through what we have been through,” BJ Hoaldrige said.
They were inspired by Baylee’s determination to survive, and now they are determined to never let her strength be forgotten.
