Defective Products’ Category
BMW Fined $3 Million for Not Reporting Safety Defects Immediately
Monday, February 13th, 2012
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has fined automaker BMW $3 million for failure to report defects immediately, and failure to provide adequate information about safety defects.
According to the federal agency, it evaluated a total of 16 BMW recalls, including those for motorcycles as well as automobiles, since 2010 and found a number of instances where BMW did not report safety defects to the agency in time. Under federal law, automakers who discover defects in their vehicles must report these to the federal agency immediately, or within 5 business days of discovering the defect.
As part of the settlement with...
Consumer Reports Warns of Safety Risks of High Chairs
Sunday, February 12th, 2012
Consumer safety and advocacy group Consumer Reports is warning parents about the risks of using the Dream on Me Bistro highchair. The agency has designated these highchairs as Don't Buy: Safety Risk, and is warning parents that the highchairs do not come with key safety features.
According to Consumer Reports, the highchairs not contain important safety features that can prevent a child from falling off the chair. Consumer Reports conducted several tests on the Dream on Me Bistro highchair. The tests found that the highchair did not meet at least 2 key points of the tests.
For one thing, the highchairs...
Online Prescription Drug Websites Have Poor Safety Information
Friday, February 10th, 2012
According to a study that has just been published in the Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety Journal, most websites that hawk prescription medications fail to provide adequate safety information for consumers. The researchers found that in at least 92% of the cases, the general contraindications were missing, and there was no information about contraindicated medicines in about 47% of the cases. Additionally, only 7% of the websites actually listed the side effects of the drug.
The websites also did a poor job of providing general information that reduced the chances of medication errors. For instance, just 6% of the websites asked...
Hewlett-Packard Fax Machines Recalled Due to Burn Injury Hazards
Tuesday, February 7th, 2012
Hewlett-Packard, in association with the Consumer Product Safety Commission, has announced a recall of fax machines because of a possible burn injury hazard. The Hewlett-Packard fax machines included in the recall include model numbers 1040 and 1050. According to the company, it has received reports of several fires involving these fax machines.
A total of 1 million fax machines are being recalled. Out of these, about 980,000 machines have been recalled from the United States, while the remaining have been recalled from Canada.
According to Hewlett-Packard, it has received at least 7 reports of injuries from the fax machines...
Child Car Safety Seats Recalled Because of Harness Failures
Tuesday, January 31st, 2012
Britax Child Safety is recalling more than 14,000 infant car seats because of a possible risk of harness failure that could expose a child to the injury hazards in an accident. About 14,220 infant car seats are included in the recall which has been announced by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
According to the company, the recall is linked to a potential defect in the harness adjuster, which can cause the harness to fail to restrain the child. This could cause the harness to become detached from the seat, rendering the straps unable to restrain the child. The National...
Defective Children’s Toys Seized at Houston Port
Wednesday, January 25th, 2012
Federal consumer safety investigators have seized more than 25,000 defective children's toys at the Port of Houston, more than any other consumer product imported into this country. Those toys included a number of hazards, ranging from choking and strangulation hazards to lead poisoning risks.
The approximately 25,000 toys that were seized were part of 117,000 foreign products that were seized at the Port of Houston between 2010 and 2011. These recalled products included lighters, mattresses, and electronic devices.
The Port of Houston is one of the busiest ports in the country, and not surprisingly, 19 federal investigators have been assigned to...
Concerns about Safety Risks of Painkiller Zohydro
Friday, January 6th, 2012
Concerns about the potential addiction risks of a new painkiller are beginning to mount. Experts say that the painkiller Zohydro is at least 10 times more addictive than Vicodin. It contains a pure version of hydrocodone, a painkiller that is often used to treat moderate to severe pain. In fact, Houston personal injury lawyers are already concerned that the addiction risks of Zohydro could equal those of Oxycontin.
Those concerns are being also echoed by the National Coalition against Prescription Drug Abuse, whose chairman recently told Fox News that he was concerned that Zohydro could become the next...
Portable Grills Recalled Due to Fire Risk
Thursday, January 5th, 2012
The Consumer Product Safety Commission is drawing attention to the recall of more than 4,500 portable gas grills, because of the risk of gas leak and fire hazards.
The 4500 O-Grill portable gas grills were manufactured by Uni-O Industries Corp. of Xiamen, China. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission recall alert, these grills may leak gas, and pose a potential explosion and fire hazard. The recall includes the Iroda-o grill models 1000 and 3000. The models were manufactured before 2010. These were sold across the country at major retailers between November 2008 and December 2010.
The gas grills...
CPSC Recalls Children’s Robes Due to Fire Risks
Thursday, December 29th, 2011
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued a recall of children's robes, because these don't meet federal inflammability standards, and are susceptible to fires.
The recall involves more than 1,000 fleece robes for children that were imported by Hanna Andersson of Oregon. The robes were manufactured in China. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, these robes do not meet inflammability standards, and pose a possible burning hazard to a child.
So far, there have been no injuries reported from the use of these robes, but the Consumer Product Safety Commission believes that the risk is strong enough to recall the...
Enfamil Formula Maker Insists Product Is Safe, Even As Retailers Pull Product from Shelves
Tuesday, December 27th, 2011
Mead Johnson Nutrition Company, the manufacturer of Enfamil Premium Newborn formula insists that the product is completely safe, and has been properly tested, even as retailers around the country rushed to pull the formula from their shelves.
Last week, a 10-day-old boy in Missouri died after he contracted a deadly bacterial infection. He had been fed the Enfamil Newborn formula which his parents had purchased at a Wal-Mart in Missouri. Wal-Mart reacted immediately by pulling the product from more than 3,000 stores nationwide. Now, other retailers including Safeway and Walgreens say that they will pull the Enfamil Newborn formula from...
