Vianca Grullon wears a life preserver in a photo taken before she was injured. Vianca suffered traumatic brain injuries when her family's Sea-Doo switch capsized in 2004. | Photo courtesy of family and attorney Judd Rosen
Published on October 30, 2025 at 12:18 pm
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Sea-Doo has issued a recall on its Switch pontoon boats, eight months after a Jacksonville couple sued the Canadian boat manufacturer after a capsizing left their daughter with traumatic brain injuries.
Sea-Doo on Oct. 17 sent owners a recall notice for Switches from model years 2022 to 2026. The U.S. Coast Guard had issued a marine safety alert on the boats the day before, stating that “multiple capsizings have led to several fatalities and severe injuries.”
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William Grullon and Sheila Feliciano sued Sea-Doo six months after their Switch nosed into the water on Aug. 25, 2024, while approaching Black Creek Marina. When it flipped, 15-month-old Vianca Grullon was trapped under the boat’s deck, underwater so long she suffered “catastrophic bodily injuries,” the suit claims.
The suit says improper distribution of passengers and cargo weight could overload the Switch’s bow and possibly lead to capsizing. The condition can worsen if too much water remains inside the pontoons, the suit says.
The Coast Guard also identified that issue.
Judd Rosen, atttorney for William Grullon and Sheila Feliciano, said Sea-Doo’s recall did not surprise him. He noted many incidents involving the Switch, including a Labor Day capsizing on a lake in Eustis, Maine, that killed three women.
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The company should have known about problems with the Switch “long before our client’s incident, and before these other families lost lives, and many other families throughout the world have suffered serious injuries and loss of life,” Rosen said.
He said Vianca Grullon still needs constant medical care. She requires a feeding tube and oxygen treatments, and “it is very sad to know that this type of incident was preventable, and there was no need for her to have these devastating injuries.”
Sea-Doo and its parent company, Bombardier, did not respond to Jacksonville Today‘s requests for comment. In response to questions after the lawsuit was filed, a Sea-Doo spokesperson said the Switch complies with all regulations of the American Boat & Yacht Council and the U.S. Coast Guard, and the company “takes any incident involving its products very seriously.”
The Sea-Doo recall
The Sea-Doo recall says sealant applied to the hull needs to be replaced by three gaskets. If a vessel already has gaskets, they need to be inspected, the recall notice says.
Sea-Doo also says owners and passengers need to be familiar warnings about overloading the front of the Switch. Warning labels should be installed in two locations, the company says.
The Coast Guard’s safety alert suggested that the Switch’s design was problematic. “Weather
conditions and poor seamanship do not appear to be significant contributing factors,” the alert says.
The Coast Guard warned that the Switch’s center hull allows water to enter when it is not moving. When the Switch’s bow rises at speed, that water empties. But until it fully empties, there can be issues with the boat’s balance, “especially with passenger weight forward,” the warning says.
The Coast Guard said it was evaluating whether Sea-Doo’s recall is adequate to solve the vessel’s hazards.
Between the Coast Guard warning and Sea Doo’s recalls, Rosen said, the Switch “shouldn’t have been on the market in the first place.”
“They tried to combine the speed of a Sea Doo with the comfort of a pontoon boat, and it just doesn’t work,” Rosen said. “They forgot about the most important thing: safety.”
