If you park a pressure washer against the wall of your garage after a weekend cleaning job, you probably assume it stays off until you touch it again. Federal regulators say that assumption doesn’t hold for thousands of Generac and DR Power electric-start pressure washers now under an expanded recall, because a faulty start/stop button can trigger the gas engine to switch itself back on with nobody standing anywhere near it.
A Switch That Won’t Stay Off
The Consumer Product Safety Commission says the electronic start/stop button on the affected units “can malfunction and self-start,” turning a machine that looks powered down into one that’s quietly burning gasoline again. In a closed garage, that engine has nowhere to send its exhaust except the air you and your family breathe.
This isn’t a new complaint. Generac first recalled 53,000 of these washers back in April 2022 after nine reports of units self-starting on their own, according to the company’s own recall notice. The May 2026 expansion adds roughly 16,260 more units in the United States and another 120 in Canada, per CPSC, after six additional self-starting reports surfaced.
Which Machines Are Covered
The newly added models are the Generac G0089111, G0088941, and G0088951, along with the DR Power DPW3109DEN, on top of the DR Pressure Washer PRO 3100 (DPW3100DEN, DPW3101DEN, DPW3102DEN) and Generac 3125 CON GAS PW ES units named in the original 2022 recall. They were sold at Home Depot, Menards, and Amazon between November 2021 and February 2026, generally for $500 to $590.
No injuries or property damage have been tied to either recall so far, CPSC says. That has more to do with luck than with the hazard being minor.
Why a Garage Turns This Into a Life-Threatening Problem
Carbon monoxide has no smell, no color, and no warning signs until a person is already showing symptoms: headache, dizziness, and nausea at first, then confusion and unconsciousness at higher exposure, according to CPSC’s carbon monoxide fact sheet. The agency’s guidance is blunt about gas-powered equipment: never run a generator or any gasoline engine-powered tool in or near an enclosed space like a garage, because even with a door cracked open, CO can build to lethal concentrations within minutes. More than 200 people die every year in the U.S. from carbon monoxide produced by non-automotive consumer products, and generators alone caused 92 of those deaths in the most recent year CPSC tracked in its data.
A pressure washer sitting unattended in a closed garage, restarting on its own because of a defective switch, is exactly the scenario that warning exists for. You don’t have to leave a door open or forget a safety rule for this one — the machine does the dangerous part by itself.
What Owners Should Do Right Now
Stop using the pressure washer immediately unless you’ve removed its rechargeable battery, in which case it can still be started manually with the pull cord while you wait for repairs. Generac is replacing the start/stop switch for free. Owners of the newly added models should call 800-396-9047; owners of the original 2022 models should call 855-625-2933. Both lines run 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central time, Monday through Friday, and Generac’s site walks through the same steps in writing.
Check the model number stamped on the frame against the list above before assuming your unit is unaffected. The two recalls together span seven model numbers across two brands built by the same manufacturer, and a machine bought secondhand or handed down from a neighbor is easy to overlook. If you can’t find the model number, Generac’s recall page includes photos of each affected unit so you can compare by sight.
Store It Smarter Even After It’s Fixed
Once repaired, treat any gas-powered pressure washer the way you’d treat a portable generator. Run it outdoors, well away from windows, doors, and vents, and let the engine fully cool before wheeling the unit back into an attached garage. A carbon monoxide detector mounted near the garage entry door is a cheap second layer of protection, and unlike a start/stop button, it doesn’t depend on anything mechanical working correctly to keep your household safe.
It’s also worth remembering that a recall repair fixes the switch, not the underlying physics. Any gasoline engine produces carbon monoxide the moment it turns over, whether that’s intentional or triggered by a glitch, so the storage habits matter just as much as the fix itself.
