Dynafit binding failures

My Dynafit Speed Radical bindings failed a couple weekends ago and Dynafit is denying the warranty claim since they are more than two years old, even though I have less that 30 days skiing on them. I've been asking around and so far everyone I've asked has either had the same problem or knows someone who has. It seems to me that Dynafit either chose an improper material or the design has severe stress risers causing premature failure.

If you or someone you know has had a failure like or similar to the issue below please post back here or contact me directly. I think Dynafit should be recalling or at least replacing these bindings when they fail.

www.cascadeclimber.com/misc/DynafitFailure.jpg

Loren
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That's interesting.  Maybe it's a sign of how much less I've been skiing but I've never seen a failure like that.  Maybe they changed something about the plastic? 

I have some older speed radical heel pieces going unused that I'd be happy to send you.  They never broke back when I was using them.  They won't have that type of heel riser but they won't be broken.  Send me a PM or e-mail message and we can arrange that.

(Modifying remark: they never broke there/like that for me. The overall heel unit certainly did break in other ways.)

Just took a quick look around the web:

Dynafit: 2 yr
Plum : 2 yr
G3 : 1 yr
ATK: 2 yr
Marker: "Warranty" link circles back to the homepage

This is an opportunity for some of the upstarts to differentiate themselves, as a properly-made tech binding can last much longer than two years. Until this season, my most recent pair was from 08/09. My first pair, 06/07 Comforts, are nearing the end of their service life after ~300 days.

@Sky: Did your Radicals have the anti-rotation pin? The break that Loren posted looks like others I've seen from around the time the anti-rotation pin was added.

I've never used a pair of Dynafits with an anti-rotation pin.  So maybe these pieces are incompatible and it wouldn't be helpful if I sent them to Loren.  That's too bad.  It's not all that surprising if a modificaiton led to new forms of breakage.

Charlie- I can totally understand a two year warranty for USE: Bindings that get 75 to 100 days of hard skiing per year and are just worn out. I have no problem replacing my gear when it wears out.

But these bindings have less than 30 days of use on them. And of those days, maybe 3 are lift skiing, with my kids. The rest are days like "Skin to Chair Peak. Climb. Ski out." Or runs to Muir.

So I consider this premature failure due to poor design or materials, and I don't think we should get stuck paying for that.

Additionally, someone pointed out that Dynafit issued a free replacement program for all Gen 1 Radical bindings. But Salewa failed to even mention that in their email to me:

"Hi Loren,
Sorry to see your issue here.
Unfortunately, our binding warranty only covers two years from the original purchase date.
In this case, I recommend you purchase the replacement rear housing from a local dealer.
If you tell me where you are, I can direct you to the nearest one.
Thank you,
Danny"

FWIW: Dynafit/Salewa replaced my Radical v1 binding a month ago...

My more recent Dynafits have an annoying failure. The little flip-tab-intermediate-heel-lifter spring is busted, so that little tab flops all around. If I'm skinning somewhere flattish, the tab flops down and I get a surprise heel lift. If I want it down it has a tendency to flop back up so I don't get the lift. Now I just tether it to the high-heel lift so I know that it won't flop around, but it's annoying not being able to use the shorter heel lift since I usually use that one a lot.

Anyone else get that failure? They are a few years old at this point, but I would definitely consider them lightly used. (young kids = not a whole lot of skiing...) I wonder if there is a cheap fix without replacing the whole heel.

Try going through a Dynafit dealer, they are supposed to mention the replacement program to owners of the first generation Radical heels (which you have) and send them in for the customer. They don't mention anything about vintage or state of binding integrity. The second generation housing has a reinforcing rib at the rear of the cylinder and thicker walls around the pivot post. You will have to remove the heels from the post to ship them - don't unscrew the base from the ski, just send the top part.

Bought a pair of brakes for my vertical St's at the north bend mountain shop and the shop guy put them on for me. Now and then one of the brakes would work itself out of its inserted place while touring and I would have to pressure it back in until it clicked. No big thing but then earlier this season when that happened the brake broke the plastic part on the binding that secured it in the flat walk mode so I took them off, and filed the broken plastic piece so it wouldn't affect my boot heel. Back to leashes. The brakes are one year old and back in the bag with instruction sheet and receipt so I guess I'll find out if I can get my money back or trade value at the shop, when I get over that way.

After over a week of slow, discombobulated replies apparently from various people all from the same email address at Salewa, but not a single phone call as requested, and only after I sent them a link to their very own voluntary Gen 1 Radical voluntary recall notice, they grudgingly agreed to replace my broken bindings. When I asked them why I had to go find out about the recall myself instead of them telling me, they said this is their busy time of year. Huh?

I'm glad to have them replaced, but I won't be recommending their bindings to people as I have been for the better part of 20 years.

Dynafits were never Plug and Play IME. It pays to know your gear. It's strengths, weaknesses and peculiarities. All of which are identified on the internet if you look.

I posted on your topic over at cc.com too, but it looks like you wrote more here.

I don't know, one bad customer support interaction in 20 years and you're done? Their recall was primarily aimed to be caught through retailers looking for it when they serviced customer's skis, and direct customer contact like yourself was the less likely event. I know it seems weak-sauce, but Dynafit NA is a small company and January and February are filled with on-the-road time-sucking events like Winter Outdoor Retailer, SIA, ISPO, and on-snow demo's all over the country. If they've served you so well for so long, I argue they deserve a bit of benefit-of-doubt this once.

This seems like the kind of thing that a reputable shop could have identified as a recall issue right away then gotten replacement parts from dynafit for you. Dynafit is a small but rapidly growing company and they don't have a call center setup just to field consumer issues.

I go easy on my Dynafit

Unrelated to this specific failure, but I recently discovered a big crack at the base of my heelpost on some older Vertical FT12s. Surely the whole post will shear off soon. Let me know if anyone has a spare Vertical heel unit (or just the baseplate/post) that I can buy off them. Dynafit/Salewa claims to have stopped carrying them, though I find that a bit odd considering the 2 yr warranty and the fact that they sold these bindings in retail <2 years ago.

You might be able to repair using B & D replacement top plates and volcanos

www.bndskigear.com/dynafitcustom.html

If not Skimo.co sells individual heel pieces

skimo.co/dynafit-binding-heels

The "Speed Turn" model is probably the closest equivalent.

I have been using Dynafit bindings for a long time, and in years past the customer service was absolutely flawless, but there is no doubt, that the quality of the product as well as their amazing attention to the customer has fallen off sharply. I have had lots of people tell me of problems with their newer bindings starting with the anti rotate pin. Hopefully that culture still lives in the company somewhere, and it will come back. If not there are company's out there pushing touring bindings into the future.