One frequent comment on posts such as Saturday’s ““This Weight Watchers Meal Includes A Free Frozen Frog” is that Americans are too far removed from where our food really comes from, and it’s unreasonable to expect that our food be 100% critter-free. Is it? [More]
Quality & Safety
Here's The Repair Process For Toyota Accelerator Pedals
By 2.3.10
The Providence Journal of Rhode Island filmed a service director at a Toyota dealership fixing an accelerator pedal. If you own one of the recalled models, Consumer Reports’ Cars blog recommends that you learn the warning signs of pedal trouble and get to a dealership as soon as possible if you notice any of them. [More]
Great, Now People Are Complaining About Toyota's Brakes
By 2.3.10
Toyota is having a hell of a time lately. According to CNNMoney, “more than 100 complaints alleging poor brake performance have been lodged with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration against the 2010 Prius.” In addition, there have been 14 complaints in Japan. Ouch, if it’s not one pedal it’s another, eh? [More]
A TV On A Dresser Can Crush Your Kid To Death
By 2.2.10
It probably hasn’t occurred to you that each year there are nearly 26,000 people treated in emergency rooms for injuries sustained by tipping furniture and TVs. It certainly hadn’t occurred to us. Our sister-publication, Consumer Reports, put together a video demonstration showing how your kid can get crushed climbing up a dresser towards your TV. [More]
Epic Toyota Cluster#$@% Continues: Repair Kits Shipping To Dealers
By 2.1.10
2.3 million Toyotas will need to be repaired and the kits to do so are being shipped to dealers this week, says Bloomberg. The repair should take about 30 minutes and Toyota says they are “confident” the problem isn’t electronic. [More]
This Weight Watchers Meal Includes A Free Frozen Frog
By 1.30.10
Noreen tells Consumerist that she made an exciting discovery yesterday. Her Weight Watchers Smart Ones frozen meal, a fettucine alfredo dish that is supposed to be meatless, included a free protein-rich side dish. A tiny frog! [More]
Zipcar Pulls Recalled Toyotas From Service
By 1.29.10
Zipcar is concerned about the runaway stuck pedal Toyotas of doom, and so they have pulled all the recalled models from their fleet until Toyota gets their #@$% together.
Behold Zipcar’s press release: [More]
Honda Dealer Mocks Toyota, Touts Cars' Non-Deathtrap Status
By 1.29.10
Well, this is classy. The photo at left purports to be of a Honda dealer in Dallas taking advantage of Toyota’s own private carpocalypse. That is, the serious gas pedal issue that has led to the recall of 2.3 million vehicles and halted production and sales of Toyotas. Hondas, as we all know, are free of mechanical defects. [More]
Toyota Stops Selling 8 Popular Car Models
By 1.27.10
A week after issuing a recall on over 2 million vehicles due to faulty acceleration pedals, Toyota has announced it will stop selling 8 popular models in the U.S., as well as shut down 6 U.S. factories, while it deals with the problem. The faulty pedals were made by a U.S. manufacturer but have also been installed in cars sold in Europe, although Toyota hasn’t said what it plans to do outside the U.S. for now. Update: SafetyResearch.net says Toyota was required by law to stop selling the models after it announced the recall last week, so it’s actually kind of strange that it waited five days. [More]
1.2 Million Pounds Of Cured Meat Recalled For Salmonella
By 1.24.10
1.2 million pounds of Daniele International salami, sausage, and other cured meat products have been yanked out of stores and recalled due to possible salmonella contamination. The meats are linked to 184 sick individuals in 38 states. At least 35 people have been hospitalized, but none have died. [More]
Toyota Recalls 2.3 Million More Cars For Sticky Pedals
By 1.22.10
If you thought you were in the clear because you own a Toyota model that wasn’t included in last year’s mega-recalls, you’d better check your car against the company’s latest list of vehicles being recalled for stuck-accelerator issues. This time, the recall includes Rav4s, Camrys, Highlanders, Corrollas and more. So, what should you do if you own an affected car? Just be careful, since, as of now, “Toyota is working quickly to prepare the correction remedy” and won’t do anything to help you. [More]
Recall Roundup: When Glitter Attacks
By 1.21.10
This week in recalls: flaming sparkly things, collapsing chairs and bikes, and chicken pot pies seasoned with metal pins. A little something for everyone! [More]
1.5 Million Strollers Recalled Due To Finger-Chopping Danger
By 1.21.10
If you’re a parent with a Graco stroller who values your child’s fingertips, you might want to take a look at this recall, in which 1.5 million of the rolling digit-guillotines are being summoned far, far away from munchkins until they’re repaired. [More]
Counterfeit Alli Won't Cause Runs, Might Raise Blood Pressure
By 1.19.10
The Food and Drug Administration has warned shoppers to be on the lookout for counterfeit versions of the weight-loss drug Alli. The real version of Alli contains orlistat, a drug with side effects that include “an urgent need to defecate,” as those with delicate sensibilities like to put it. The fakes are made with sibutramine, a controlled substance that has been linked to high blood pressure in some studies. [More]
E. Coli Recall: 864,000 Pounds Of Ground Beef
By 1.19.10
Huntington Meat Packing Inc. is recalling 864,000 pounds of beef due to potential E. coli contamination. Inside, the six different Huntington products subject to the recall. [More]
FDA Wants Tobacco Companies To Submit Ingredients List By June
By 1.18.10
“Tobacco products today are really the only human-consumed product that we don’t know what’s in them,” the director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products said to the Associated Press. To address that, the agency has told tobacco companies to provide a list of the ingredients in their cigarette brands by June 2010. The FDA says it won’t publicize a lot of the data in order to protect trade secrets, but that by June 2011 it will publish a list of “harmful and potentially harmful” ingredients, at which point tobacco companies will have to start listing the amounts of each one on their products. [More]
FDA Is Mad: Funky, Smelly, Barfy Tylenol Has Been A Problem Since 2008
By 1.15.10
The FDA is @#$%# pissed off at McNeil, the company that makes smelly, barfy Tylenol and other products, because apparently this problem has been going on since 2008. [More]
