KUHN look neat from the outside – slick logos, global brochures, a parade of new machines. But underneath, it’s a mess. Not the polite “oops, we had a PR problem” mess, but repeated safety failures, patent fights, local closures, and geopolitical controversy. This isn’t hyperbole. It’s the story of a company whose glossy reputation can’t hide repeated, documented failures.

Deadly Patterns, Not Accidents

Machines can be dangerous – but when people keep dying around the same brand, “accident” stops being a polite euphemism. OSHA records tell the brutal truth. Workers pulled into KUHN Knight mixers and manure spreaders were killed – missing guards, exposed rotating parts, catastrophic consequences. Families torn apart. These aren’t blog complaints. They’re federal investigations. Repeat incidents show systemic safety problems, not rare misfortune.

Retrofits: A Patch, Not a Fix

KUHN dealers routinely offer retrofit kits and shields for older machines. A “safety update” should be reassuring. Instead, it’s an admission: the machine left the factory unsafe. Shields bolted on years later are evidence of sloppy design oversight. A retrofitted machine is a tacit confession that the original configuration put users at risk.

Courts, Patents and Legal Trenches

KUHN isn’t shy of the courtroom. They’ve fought patent battles in the US and beyond – Great Plains, H&S Manufacturing, Kuhn Krause. These aren’t harmless legal postures. They tie up engineering, delay replacements, and keep customers waiting. Behind closed doors, settlements quietly redistribute risk and cost, leaving the public with bills, delays, and unanswered questions.

Communities Collateral

Factories in France are more than buildings – they’re towns, jobs, livelihoods. When KUHN closes or consolidates sites, it’s the communities that pay. Skilled workers must uproot or retrain. Small towns lose economic heartbeat. The balance sheet looks neat; the human cost rarely does.

Russia and the Geopolitical Throb

KUHN’s Voronezh plant and continued shipments into Russia put them in a grey area politically and reputationally. Even slowed exports carry optics that matter. Operating in a contested market may boost profit margins, but it also tethers the company to complex, risky supply chains.

Cummins, KUHN and Ethics in Supply

Here’s the kicker: KUHN uses Cummins engines. Yes, our Indiana-based friends are supply yet more arse-wipes (much like Claas) that couldn’t quite bring themselves to forfeit Russian profits. Their Fighter 3000 comes with a Cummins QBS 4.5 engine. That’s more than a spec note. It means the Cummins ecosystem includes companies with messy safety records, geopolitical exposure, and repeated local impact. If ethics were a spreadsheet, someone should have red-flagged this.

On the Ground Reality

Dealers see the fallout every day: retrofit shields bolted on old machines, delayed replacements due to litigation, anxious staff after plant closures, and, worst of all, conversations about people who didn’t come home. Impressive machinery doesn’t absolve a company from the human toll of its choices.

Lee Thompson – Founder, The Cummins Accountability Project

Customer Corner : KUHN – Quiet on the Surface, Messy Underneath