Be on the Safe Side: Pay Attention to Product Recalls

June 29, 2012 (Press-News.org) The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission wants consumers across California and around the country to be on the lookout for dangerous or recalled products. The CPSC routinely issues nationwide recalls for a variety of commonly used products. Consumers can generally return defective products to the store where they were originally purchased for a refund, exchange them for a non-defective item or obtain replacement parts free of charge.

Warnings Ignored

A spokesman for consumer safety watchdog group Kids in Danger warns parents and other caregivers that the great majority of products that are recalled do not ever make it out of circulation. It is a shocking fact that as little as 10 percent of the units of a dangerous or defective product to be returned or repaired.

Children use many of the recalled products, and the Kids in Danger director urged parents to act to protect their children from products that have been shown to be dangerous. While it is impossible to shield children from every possible threat to safety, parents can remove these known hazards from their homes.

Consumers' failure to respond to the CPSC's alerts is dangerous. For instance, a furnace was recalled eight years ago due to a tendency to start fires. Recently the CPSC had to issue another recall of the same furnace, citing 400 reports of accidents or injury involving the defective heater. Alarmingly, a whopping 93 percent of the incidents occurred after the earlier recall, when consumers should have known to remove the furnaces from their homes.

Some Current Recalls

Banzai brand inflatable pool slides have been recalled after a woman was killed and two other people were severely injured. Other recreational items recalled include 240,000 units of Adventure Playsets, which could collapse, and 5,000 units of Pacific Cycle Dartmouth Swing Sets, whose seats can split or crack.

With summer upon us, the CPSC is especially urging consumers to keep track of recall announcements for warm weather items. Besides the play equipment mentioned, certain models of other seasonal items like ceiling fans and portable gas grills have been recently recalled.

Better Safe Than Sorry

While an experienced California personal injury attorney can be a great help in obtaining compensation for victims, it is always better to avoid injury in the first place. The CPSC website is a great source for information about recalled products. Once people have discovered they own defective products, they should follow through and return, replace or repair them.

In the unfortunate event that someone is injured or even killed by a defective product, it is possible to sue those responsible for the products to recover money for medical costs, lost wages, wrongful death and pain and suffering.

Article provided by Rose Klein & Marias LLP
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