After the Food and Drug Administration announced a seasonal ban on cilantro imports from the Puebla state of Mexico, Walmart and Kroger are pulling cilantro grown in that region from store shelves as a precaution. Evidence points to the cilantro as a culprit in outbreaks of cyclosporiasis, a gastrointestinal illness, and an FDA investigation turned up evidence of sanitation problems in the fields where cilantro is grown. [More]
safety
Yellowstone Park Officials Reminding Visitors Not To Get Too Close To Animals Just To Get A Good Selfie
By 7.23.15
That question your parents asked you at least once in your life is coming into play now at Yellowstone National Park: officials are warning visitors not to get too close to wild animals to get a good selfie, even if everyone else is doing it. [More]
Bill Would Create Program To Notify Drivers Of Safety Recalls When Applying For Registration
By 7.22.15
Earlier this year, legislators introduced a bill that would require consumers to fix any outstanding safety recall on their vehicle before a registration renewal would be granted. While that measure has gone nowhere since March, a newly introduced highway reauthorization bill includes a provision that would create a pilot program for a similar plan. [More]
After Two Reported Deaths, IKEA Offering Free Wall Anchoring Kit For 27M Dressers & Chests That May Tip Over
By 7.22.15
When kids are around furniture, there’s no guarantee that they’ll treat chairs, tables and dressers as such, and instead, might see them as fun things to climb. But scaling furniture that isn’t meant to be scaled could cause it to tip over and crush a young person — especially if it isn’t anchored to the wall. That danger is leading IKEA to offer a free wall anchoring kit for a total of about 27 million chests and dressers, after two deaths were reported from furniture that fell and crushed children underneath. [More]
Woman Breaks Window To Free Toddler Locked In Hot Car
By 7.21.15
Whenever the temperature rises, we unfortunately hear stories of children who are left behind in hot cars, whether intentionally or sometimes accidentally, when adults forget they’re there. One passerby wasn’t about to let a toddler stay locked inside a hot car in Kansas, however, grabbing whatever she could find to bust the window open and free the child. [More]
Senate Committee Votes Down Several Auto Safety Reforms
By 7.20.15
Since automakers began recalling vehicles in force last year – punctuated by the millions of models covered by General Motors’ massive ignition switch defect and Takata’s explosive airbags – lawmakers have been trying to push through reforms that would make it more difficult to keep potentially deadly automobiles on the roadways. But proposed laws such as those that would impose fines on owners of vehicles who don’t follow-through with recall repairs or barring used car dealers from selling vehicles with unrepaired recalls likely won’t see the light of day after being voted down by a Senate committee last week. [More]
T-Mobile On The Hook For $17.5M After Nationwide 9-1-1 Outage
By 7.17.15
How important is it that telephone companies provide constant access to 9-1-1 service? Americans make an average of more than 27,000 of these emergency calls an hour, so when a nationwide wireless provider is unable to connect its users to 9-1-1 for even a few hours, they can be on the hook for millions of dollars. [More]
Cribs Recalled After Reports That Brackets Can Break, Trapping Or Injuring Infants
By 7.16.15
All recalls are important to take note of, but those related to the safety of products used specifically for the youngest consumers – babies – are often of the utmost importance. And while a recent recall for Bexco is relatively small, because there’s a risk of entrapment of infants the issue falls into the “take note” category. [More]
GM’s Colorado, Canyon Trucks Reportedly At Risk For Same Fire Issues As Recalled Hummers
By 7.15.15
Following reports yesterday that General Motors knew that hundreds of thousands of Hummer vehicles were prone to fires because of potential electrical shorts before recalling the vehicles under the threat of an investigation by regulators, it now appears that two other models produced by the car maker may have the same issues, yet they remain on the road. [More]
Lawsuit Asks Major League Baseball To Put Up Safety Nets All The Way To Foul Poles
By 7.13.15
I’ve been going to baseball games since I was old enough to walk, and I’ve even had regular seats in prime foul ball territory. Yet I’ve never managed to snag an errant ball (and luckily, I’ve never had to duck out of the way from a flying bat). If a new lawsuit has its way, my dream of someday catching a foul ball will become even more of a fantasy. [More]
FDA Requiring Stronger Heart Attack & Stroke Warnings For Many Common Painkillers
By 7.10.15
The Food and Drug Administration is looking to make consumers more aware of potential risks for heart attack and stroke associated with a popular class of painkillers that many of us use on a frequent basis for everyday aches and soreness. [More]
You Can Add Wasps To The List Of Things That Can Divert Flights
By 6.26.15
Time and again we’ve reported on incidents in which an unruly passenger diverts a plane. But what about an unruly insect? Apparently it’s possible, as Allegiant Airlines says a recent flight had to make an unscheduled landing because of an unticketed wasp. [More]
Subaru Recalls 72,000 Vehicles Because Automatic Braking Systems Are Supposed To Actually Help Drivers
By 6.26.15
The ability to brake may be one of the most essential safety features of a vehicle. But part of that intricate system – specifically the automatic braking component – just isn’t working like it should for tens of thousands of newer Subaru vehicles. [More]
Allegiant Air Pilots Once Again Raise Concerns With Airline’s Safety Practices
By 6.23.15
Pilots of Nevada-based budget carrier Allegiant Air are once again expressing their concerns that the airline’s bare minimum approach to maintenance and operations comes at the cost of passenger safety, this time in a letter to the company’s board of directors. [More]
Regulators Identify All Vehicles Recalled For Defective Takata Airbags
By 6.18.15
Consumers worried that they may be driving around with what some have likened to an explosive device in their steering wheel and dashboard can breathe a small sigh of relief, as federal regulators say all 33.8 million vehicles equipped with potential shrapnel-shooting Takata airbags have been identified. [More]
72-Year-Old & His Dog Die In Hot Car After Power Locks Malfunction
By 6.11.15
A Texas man and his dog both died while stuck inside his 2007 Corvette earlier this week after the power locks malfunctioned and the driver was apparently unable to find the manual release. [More]
Google Issues First Monthly Report On Traffic Incidents Involving Its Self-Driving Cars
By 6.5.15
Before Google’s self-driving cars become an everyday reality for consumers, the company not only needs to test the vehicles extensively, but it also has to make sure the public isn’t put off over concerns that the technology is unsafe. Amid recent reports that they’ve already been in minor accidents, Google has now started releasing public reports detailing traffic incidents involving its driverless cars. [More]
BMW, Honda & Fiat Chrysler Identify Some Additional Vehicles Affected By Expanded Takata Recall
By 5.28.15
Automakers began identifying which of their models are affected by the recently expanded Takata airbag recall Thursday, with Fiat Chrysler, BMW and Honda adding hundreds of thousands of vehicles to their already overflowing roster of cars in need of replacement safety devices. [More]
