Following the news that Google’s new Home Mini connected-home hubs were recording users thousands of times per day because the device refused to stay asleep, Google has permanently disabled the touch-sensitive panel on the top of the Home Mini. [More]
Quality & Safety
Google Permanently Disables Home Mini’s Top Touch Panel After Device Recorded When It Shouldn’t Have
By 10.12.17
Cascadian Farms Granola, Whole Foods Raisin Bran Recalled For Undeclared Nuts
By 10.11.17
Peanut and tree nut allergies are sneaky and can be life-threatening, which is why foods that might have even traces of them are supposed to have declarations on their packages. Two different companies, Cascadian Farms and Whole Foods, have recalled cinnamon raisin granola and raisin bran respectively, because they may be contaminated with different nuts for very different reasons. [More]
Why You Should Care About An Aluminum Supply Scandal In Japan
By 10.11.17
A modern supply chain is a complicated thing. That car you drive might be made in the U.S.A., but — as we learned from the Takata airbag recall — the parts inside it, from raw elements to fully-assembled electronic systems, come from a tangled web of companies all over the world. Which is why it’s a big deal affecting consumers all over the world when one company’s parts turn out not to be at all what they were supposed to be. [More]
Toys ‘R’ Us Recalls 29,000 ‘Wiggle Ball’ Toys Over Choking Hazard
By 10.10.17
Kids love wiggly, easy-to-grasp toys. Some kids also like putting little pieces of brightly colored plastic in their mouths. So when one of those wiggly toys has pieces that can break off and find themselves in a baby’s mouth, it’s time for a recall. [More]
Playtex Recalls Kids’ Dishes That May Peel, Creating Choking Hazard
By 10.6.17
Do the construction or the princess kids’ dish designs that accompany this post look familiar? Does your child have a similar plastic plate, bowl, or eating set that features animals, superheroes, or other kid-friendly themes? If so, check over those plates and bowls: They may be one of millions of dishes that could have its plastic coating peel off, posing a choking hazard to the child. [More]
Publix Recalls Meat Loaf Mislabeled As Pot Roast
By 10.6.17
It would be a little bit confusing to open a microwaveable pot roast and find a microwaveable meatloaf instead. However, it could be seriously problematic for people with food allergies, since while meatloaf has bread crumbs and soybean oil, pot roast doesn’t. That’s why the incognito meatloaf has been recalled. [More]
High-Tech Features Distract Drivers for Dangerously Long Periods, AAA Study Finds
By 10.6.17
High-tech infotainment systems—the ones that allow drivers access to navigation, audio, and phone features—are distracting drivers for dangerously long periods of time, a new study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety has found. [More]
Costco Has Actually Been Selling Survivalist Food Packs For Years
By 10.5.17
With natural disasters across North America in the news lately, it’s understandable that you might be thinking about ways to prepare your family for a disaster in your area. A great place to start turns out to be Costco, which sells a surprising variety of dehydrated food kits that can keep four people fed for a year, or 192 people for a week. [More]
Firefighters In Michigan Delivering Free Pizza To Folks With Working Smoke Alarms
By 10.5.17
Sure, we all put off certain household tasks like changing the battery in the smoke alarm — but what if you could score a free pizza just for keeping things in working order? [More]
Company Fined $1.9M For Continued Sale Of Recalled Coffee Carafes
By 10.5.17
A company that made coffee machines for the Black & Decker brand now faces a $1.9 million penalty for allegedly failing to notify safety regulators of a known defect, then continuing to allow the sale of carafes that the company knew was dangerous. [More]
Report: That Grocery Store Salmon You Bought May Be Subsidizing North Korea’s Nuclear Weapons Program
By 10.4.17
It may look like an ordinary package of salmon, but according to a new investigative report, that fish you bought for dinner may actually be funneling money into the pockets of the North Korean government, and possibly supporting less than ideal working conditions for factory workers in the process. [More]
Volkswagen, Porsche Recall 125K Vehicles Over Engine Fires
By 10.4.17
Gasoline may make your engine go, but if there’s a fuel leak, it can also make your engine go up in flames. That’s why Volkswagen and its Porsche brand are recalling more than 124,000 vehicles. [More]
Big Tobacco Will Admit In New Ads That All Cigarettes Are Bad For You, Intentionally Addictive
By 10.4.17
Eleven years after a federal court ordered the country’s biggest cigarette producers to produce a series of warning ads informing people about the dangers of their products, Big Tobacco is finally preparing to publish those “corrective statements” in TV ads, newspapers, online, and in cigarette packaging. [More]
FDA Tells Bakery: “Love” Is Not An Actual Ingredient In Your Granola
By 10.4.17
To quote Sir James Paul McCartney (CH, MBE), “Can’t buy me love, everybody tells me so / Can’t buy me love, no no no, no.” You also can’t, according to the Food and Drug Administration, list “love” as an actual ingredient in your granola. [More]
Ground Turkey That May Contain Metal Shards Recalled From Publix, Weis, And Aldi
By 10.3.17
You can add bread crumbs, eggs, and spices to a lump of ground turkey to make a tasty meatloaf or meatballs, but one thing that definitely doesn’t belong in the mixture is pieces of metal. Ground turkey sold under store brand labels at grocery chains Publix, Weis, and Aldi has been recalled because it may have “metal shavings” in it. [More]
Nearly 650,000 Jeep & Dodge SUVs Recalled Over Potentially Degraded Brakes
By 10.3.17
Fiat Chrysler recalled more than half a million SUVs this week because it can be dangerous when your brakes don’t work properly. [More]
Apple Investigating Reports That Some iPhone 8 Plus Displays Detach
By 10.2.17
Apple’s iPhone 8 has only been on the market for a short time, but some customers have already claimed their devices experienced a potential battery issue, prompting the tech company to open an investigation. [More]
27% Of Vehicles At Carmax Have An Open Safety Recall
By 9.29.17
Even though CarMax, the nation’s largest seller of used cars, has been called out publicly by safety advocates and federal regulators, a new report claims that more than 1-in-4 vehicles being sold by CarMax is currently under an open safety recall.
[More]
