Lilly, O'Toole & Brown Blog

Product Liability

2/11/2008
Brian
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Delayed Notification From CPSC Means More Injuries

A January 31, 2008 report from Public Citizen details how it takes the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) an average of seven months between receiving notification that a product is dangerous or defective and distributing that information to the public. The CPSC, which is responsible for "protecting the public from unreasonable risks of serious injury or death," offers an online database which lists all product safety news and recalls.

The database is a great thing. The problem is that it takes a product so long to be recalled or appear in the database after the manufacturing company and the CPSC know about it. The CPSC has the authority to fine companies for taking too long to report their hazardous products. Since 2006, companies fined for this took an average of 993 days to report the potential harm of their products.

That's 2.7 years between learning of the defect and notifying the CPSC. The only thing worse than that is that it took the CPSC an additional 7 months, on average, between being notified and telling the rest of America.

Specifically highlighted in the Public Citizen report were

A vacuum cleaner known to catch fire
Treadmills that spontaneously change the runner's pace
ATVs with throttles that can get stuck in the "go" position
Infant swings known to cause strangulation (and responsible for at least six infant deaths)

Public Citizen is a non-profit consumer advocacy organization that represents consumer interests in Congress.

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