In June’s recall roundup, we have the usual suspects: flammable kids’ pajamas, poorly wired lamps, self-firing crossbows, and collapsing ottomans. [More]
recalls
Suit Seeks $10 Billion Compensation For GM Vehicle Owners Over Brand Damage
By 6.18.14
If you’re keeping a running tally of the General Motors ignition switch defect lawsuits, you can add one more. The company faces a new lawsuit seeking compensation – in the tune of more than $10 billion – for owners of who have lost resale value on their GM vehicles. [More]
NHTSA Opens Investigation Into Fiat Chrysler Ignition Switch Issues
By 6.18.14
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is having a busy summer: The regulators on Wednesday opened two investigations into alleged ignition switch defects, this time related to several Fiat Chrysler minivans and sport utility vehicles. [More]
Lawmakers Not Exactly Thrilled By GM CEO Mary Barra
By 6.18.14
A lot has happened since General Motors CEO Mary Barra first appeared before lawmakers looking into the massive GM ignition switch recall tied to at least 13 deaths. The company has admitted a culture of incompetence while denying a cover-up, recalled another 3 million vehicles, and faces concerns that the total death count may be significantly higher than 13. So this morning’s hearing before a Congressional subcommittee was less friendly than Barra’s previous visit. [More]
CDC Concerned That We’re All Ignoring Chia Seed Recall
By 6.17.14
While Consumerist readers are generally up-to-date on the latest recalls, most Americans aren’t. Yet we hadn’t even shared the current recall of potentially salmonella-contaminated chia seeds that have sickened at least 65 people across the United States and Canada. [More]
Regulators, Manufacturers, Dealers, And Mechanics Get To Read About Car Defects — But Not Consumers
By 6.17.14
The thirteen-year-long mess of the GM ignition switch recall was, in part, a failure to see and identify patterns in the data. Over the course of a decade, individual consumers lodged complaints that, put together, could have revealed the whole problem sooner. But nobody got to look at the whole, because all of the service bulletins that carmakers like GM send to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration go into its database… and never come back out. Too bad so sad, says NHTSA, but lawmakers and auto-safety advocates are hoping to change that. [More]
There Are So Many Auto Recalls, People Tune Them Out
By 6.16.14
So far, 2014 has been a year of automotive recalls, beginning with the General Motors ignition recall. After just one company recalled 11 million vehicles, any other recalls just feel like piling on. Experts worry that consumers are starting to tune out and not pay attention to any recall announcements in the media at all. [More]
GM Recalls Another Half-Million Cars For Ignition Switch Problems, But Different Ones This Time
By 6.13.14
Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: General Motors has issued a recall of a half-million of its cars because if the driver’s knee hits the keys while they’re in the ignition, the key can pop out, causing the car to lose power and potentially crash. [More]
NHTSA Opens Investigation Into Defective Airbags Following Numerous Recalls
By 6.12.14
Just a day after Toyota re-issued a 2013 recall because shrapnel could fly toward passengers when the airbag deploys, federal regulators opened an investigation into whether the airbags used by five automakers could hurt people in the event of a crash. [More]
Wegmans Recalls Bagged Ice Because Metal Machine Fragments Aren’t Great For Cooling Beverages
By 6.12.14
In what may be a first for us, we bring you the news of a supermarket chain — specifically Alec Baldwin fave Wegmans — recalling thousands of pounds of bagged ice that may contain little bits of metal from the machine that produces the frozen water. [More]
Victims Of Saturn Ion Crash Accuse GM Of Letting Driver Plead Guilty To Accident She Didn’t Cause
By 6.10.14
The driver of a Saturn Ion who pled guilty to criminally negligent homicide, and the family of her boyfriend who was killed in the 2004 crash, have sued General Motors in federal court, alleging the car maker knew of the ignition problem that caused the crash but sat and watched while the driver was prosecuted. [More]
GM Admits Incompetence In Ignition Debacle, Denies Cover-Up
By 6.5.14
This morning, General Motors CEO Mary Barra discussed the findings of the car maker’s internal report on an ignition switch defect that went without a recall for more than a decade and has resulted in at least 13 deaths. The company’s findings claim that while GM screwed up big-time, there was no attempt by executives to cover the problem up. [More]
GM Is Super Sorry It Sent Recall Notices To Families Of Crash Victims
By 6.4.14
By this point, most owners of recalled General Motors vehicles don’t need a notice from the car maker to know their ignition switches need work. One group of people who definitely don’t need reminding of this fact are the families of those who died in crashes tied to the ignition defect. [More]
NHTSA Investigating Why Jeep Airbags Continue To Deploy On Their Own
By 6.2.14
When a car manufacturer initiates a recall and provides a remedy for the issue, you assume that fix is going to stick. But that may not be the case for the 2012 airbag-related recall of two Jeep models, as federal regulators are investigating why Chrysler’s fix has not eliminated the problem. [More]
Suspended GM Engineer “Forgot” He Had Bad Ignition Switch Fixed In 2006
By 5.30.14
Last year, the General Motors engineer who quietly signed off on a fix to an ignition problem that has resulted in at least 13 deaths claimed in a deposition that he had no knowledge of making this incredibly important improvement. But after Congressional investigators have turned up all sorts of evidence showing that he did indeed give the okay for this fix, the engineer reportedly says he simply forgot about it. [More]
Car Recallapalooza Continues As Ford Recalls 1.39 Million Vehicles
By 5.29.14
When we saw that Ford announced a recall of 1.39 million cars and sport-utility vehicles, we had to check back in the archives. Hadn’t we just posted about a Ford recall? Yes, it was only earlier this month that 692,000 vehicles were recalled because their airbags might not deploy. This latest batch mainly involves power steering failure in SUVs. [More]
May Food And Supplement Recall Roundup: Not So Dairy-Free
By 5.28.14
In our May Recall Roundup for food, supplements, and even a few over-the-counter drugs, there’s dairy in the dairy-free pancakes, Salmonella in the chili powder, and always a few precription drugs hiding in the “supplements.” [More]
Hummus Sold At Target, Trader Joe’s, Giant Eagle Recalled For Potential Listeria Contamination
By 5.23.14
Listeria monocytogenes is a foodborne pathogen that can have unpleasant consequences for most people, and serious, life-threatening consequences for people who are very old, very young, already ill, or who are pregnant. A company called Lansal, Inc. that manufactures hummus for Tryst Gourmet and the private-label brands of retailers Target, Trader Joe’s, and Giant Eagle, reports that the pathogen may be in their hummus and related products. [More]
