Possiable reason for Stihl red control levers

OddSawz said:

I heard that Stihl accidentally received a delivery of RED plastic pellets instead of BLACK. This wasn’t checked prior to loading into the smelting hopper and produced approximately 5000 red lever switches for the 044 model.

Rather than dispose of the red levers, the lead engineer forced the move to production assembly. His plan worked and now 5000 saws produced under his leadership have the special ‘Red Lever’.

He of course lost his job, but no one ever asks for a ‘Black Lever 044’ In their wanted ad when shopping for an 044.

I like that story though @Dave P 71801 we should stickie it

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Mad Professor said:

Black Levers Matter

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82F100SWB said:

That one doesn't hold water, lots of red levers besides 044's. I have 2 026's, an 024, an 034, an 038 and an 046 in red lever. My 044? Black lever...[emoji1787]

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Mad Professor said:

Black Levers Matter

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Dennisthemenace said:

White levers matter too, where can I get some?

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Ben Hur said:

064 raging bull red lever. Stock walks all over my 066 mag. Not sure what it is about this 064, it just feels different, sounds different and more powerful.

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Dave P 71801 said:

I was recently told by a long time dealer that the reason Stihl went black to red for a couple years then back to black was OSHA made a rule that emergency kill switches be red and then realized that the black was easier to see against the orange and changed the rule again. And that honestly sounds like something they would do can anybody confirm or disprove this?

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Stihl99 said:

This is my experience from industry coming from automotive automation world.
Osha does mandate an emergency stop button for energized power source / equipment must be red, newer stuff the past 20 + years have been red buttons or red with yellow circle labeled Emergency Stop
Disconnect switches are also red tipped or red/yellow combo. I have seen black e-stops and temp stops before, but they were replaced I have not seen one one in years now.
Osha made a big push in the late 90's early 2000's that all emergency stop button / switches to kill an energized source must be red.
Power Distribution Panels 480 volt or higher are still acceptable with the black rotating lockable disconnect switches, but that is all I have seen for years newly manufactured that were acceptable and not red in color.

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