Consumerist

Quality & Safety

Domino's Gross-Out Video Star Gets 24 Months Probation

Last spring, two morons videotaped themselves doing unspeakable things to the food they were about to serve at an unidentified Domino’s restaurant. The video was posted to YouTube, and the situation didn’t end well for anyone.

Based on a few clues, Consumerist commenters tracked the specific location down. The employees behind the video lost their jobs, that location closed a few months later, and no one could eat products from Domino’s without imagining that parts of their meal had been crammed up someone’s nose. While camerawoman Kristy Hammonds is still waiting for her trial, star Michael Setzer has been sentenced to 24 months of supervised probation.

recalls

Yet Another Toyota Prius Goes Rogue, Smashes Into Wall

By Chris Morran 3.10.10

Things went from bad to worse to downright awful for Toyota on Tuesday as yet another of their Prius hybrid vehicles was involved in an accident involving a stuck accelerator pedal. [More]

recalls

Toyota Still At Loss For How To FIx Problem WIth Prius

By Chris Morran 3.9.10

A day after a 2008 Toyota Prius went rogue at speeds over 90mph on a California interstate, Toyota has admitted that, even though the Prius is on the current recall list, they don’t quite know how to fix the problem. [More]

safety

Don't Let Your Battery Charger Expose Your PC To Hackers

By marcperton 3.9.10

If you’re using the Energizer Duo battery charger, and have connected it to your PC to check the charge levels of the batteries, you may have inadvertently exposed yourself to a program that could give hackers access to your computer. The charger has been discontinued, and Energizer recommends removing the software along with the file that enables the backdoor. [More]

recalls

Toyota Prius Runs Wild At 90mph With Stuck Accelerator

By Chris Morran 3.9.10

This is probably not how Toyota wanted their week to start. Yesterday afternoon in Southern California, a man called 911 because he was unable to unstick the accelerator pedal of his 2008 Toyota Prius and continued to drive at speeds of over 90 mph until finally coming to a stop. [More]

florida

Advice: Do Not Shave Your Privates While Driving

By Meg Marco 3.8.10

Much is said about distracted driving. Don’t text, don’t talk on the phone, don’t eat soup. Apparently nobody bothered to tell one Florida woman not to shave her privates while driving. Clearly, this was our mistake. [More]

recalls

Toyota Workers Say Bosses Have Ignored Safety Concerns For Years

By Chris Morran 3.8.10

Adding a bit of fuel to the anti-Toyota fire, six Toyota manufacturing employees now say they wrote a memo to company executives in 2006 voicing concerns about vehicle safety and long-term impact on the company, only to be completely ignored. [More]

recalls

Salmonella In Common Food Additive Leads To Recall Of Pretty Much Every Food Ever

By Laura Northrup 3.7.10

Hydrolyzed vegetable protein is a flavor enhancer, similar in composition and tastiness to the much-maligned monosodium glutamate, that is seemingly unavoidable. Thanks to salmonella contamination in the HVP paste at Basic Food Flavors, Inc. in Las Vegas, the FDA has recalled every food containing the product, ranging from salty snacks to salad dressings to soup and gravy mixes. The list of recalled foods containing the product is still growing, and encompasses familiar brand names ranging from Walmart’s Great Value brand to McCormick to Trader Joe’s. Now we now get to find out exactly how complex our food supply is and how widely used an additive HVP is. [More]

food

Foodborne Illness Costs U.S. $152 Billion Annually, Still Good Excuse To Skip Work

By Laura Northrup 3.3.10

It may seem like a minor inconvenience when you’re home sick with some kind of foodborne illness, but the overall cost of these illnesses to our economy is huge–and staggering when you consider how many foodborne illnesses are preventable. A new study from the Produce Safety Project, a Pew Charitable Trusts initiative, shows that foodborne illness costs $152 billion nationwide each year in medical care and quality of life. [More]

recalls

Think Your Recalled Toyota Is Fixed? Maybe Not

By Chris Morran 3.3.10

As Toyota continues to slog through the millions of cars and trucks on it massive recall list, several drivers whose vehicles have been to the dealer and back are saying that there cars are still experiencing problems with sudden acceleration and bad braking. [More]

recalls

Nissan Recalls 540,000 Cars

By Ben Popken 3.3.10

Due to potential problems in brake pedal pins and fuel-gauge components, Nissan is recalling 540,000 cars, 179,000 of which are in the US. [More]

jetblue

AUDIO: Listen As A Kid Directs Air Traffic At JFK

By Chris Morran 3.2.10

We know that JFK is woefully understaffed in the air traffic control tower, but this is downright silly. The FAA has confirmed that a newly uncovered audio file is indeed that of a young child controlling air traffic over the radio to planes waiting to depart the busy NYC airport. [More]

recalls

Data Shows Toyota Might Be Crashiest Cars On The Road

By Chris Morran 3.2.10

Toyota might be getting a pity party at home in Japan for the skewering the car company is receiving over their recall of 8 million vehicles, so this latest report will probably turn them into saints. A new look at almost 13,000 speed-related complaints over the last decade shows that Toyota led the pack in with the most complaints involving a crash. [More]

readers

Banquet Spaghetti Meatballs Box Vs Reality

By Ben Popken 3.2.10

On the left is a box of Banquet brand frozen spaghetti and meatballs. On the right is what is inside. Disappointed at the lack of visible meatballs, reader reader Sonia snapped the photos and sent them in. On the one hand, that’s what you get for eating $1.00 Walmart frozen pasta and meatballs. On the other, well, couldn’t they have left at least one in? [More]

recalls

GM To Recall Chevy Cobalts, Various Pontiacs Due To Steering Problems

By Meg Marco 3.2.10

GM has announced that it is recalling 1.2 million vehicles to address a power steering problem that has been linked to 14 crashes and one injury. [More]

recalls

American "Overreaction" To Recall Is Winning Toyota Sympathy At Home

By Chris Morran 3.1.10

Apparently the Stateside uproar over the recall of 8 million Toyotas — and worries that the company may be attempting to conceal potential defects — has had the inverse effect in the car company’s homeland. According to a new report, the Japanese public thinks America is overreacting to the situation. [More]

walmart

Walmart: Just Take This Chicken For Free, We Don't Actually Sell It

By Meg Marco 3.1.10

Reader DW sent us a gross picture of some nasty gray ham from Walmart (see below) and also let us know that there is mysterious non-Walmart chicken showing up in the store. The people who work at Walmart don’t know where the chicken is from, but they will give it to you for free. [More]

studies

Study Finds Consumers Want Their Food Labeled As Inspected For Safety

By Phil Villarreal 3.1.10

A Michigan State University study found the majority of consumers look for labels that signify products they’re buying were inspected for safety, and that about a third are willing to pay more for such labeling. [More]

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