[Spridgets] Faulty Fuses - no LBC but may save your other vehicles.

[Timothy H. Collins]

I have a cousin who works at GM. He sent this note that is going 
around there. Can't verify that it's true, but judging from the 
quality (or lack thereof) of recent off-shore products it may be true.

The note reads:
We have now had two vehicles come into our department with extensive 
wiring harness damage.  Both of these vehicles had a replacement 15 
amp fuse instead of the GM fuse.  The fuse does NOT "pop" causing the 
wiring harness to catch fire.  The fuse has a clear, hard plastic 
blue body with the amperage stamped into the top there is no white 
paint on the fuse.  There are no identifying marks on the fuse to 
tell who is making it. The fuse is distributed by Harbor Freight, I 
attached a picture of the box of fuses.  Your dealers should look out 
to make sure that suspect wiring problems are not caused by these 
defective aftermarket fuses.  The 15 amp fuse on this particular 
truck did not "pop" even at 50 amps. The fuse in the second picture 
still tests "good" even after a direct short across the battery.  We 
tested six of these fuses and none of them pop.

Tim Collins
1966 AH Sprite