The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced today that Hewlett-Packard Company (HP), of Palo Alto, Calif., has agreed to pay a civil penalty of $425,000. Thesettlement agreement (pdf) has been provisionally accepted by the Commission (3-1). The settlement resolves staff allegations that HP knowingly failed to report immediately to CPSC, as required by federal law, that certain lithium-ion battery packs contained a defect or created an unreasonable risk of serious injury or death. The lithium-ion battery packs can overheat, posing a fire and burn hazard to consumers. The packs were shipped with new HP Notebook computers, sold as accessories or provided as spare parts for various HP models. CPSC staff alleges that by September 2007, HP knew of about 22 incidents associated with the lithium-ion battery packs. At least two of these incidents resulted in [...] Read more »
California is the latest state to tell 6 and 7-year-olds to they must continue in their car seats. A new measure that took effect Jan. 1 will require car seats for children until they are 8, or 4 feet 9 inches tall. Under current law in the state, kids must be in car seats until they are 6 or 60 pounds. The measure—signed by Gov. Jerry Brown after similar bills were previously vetoed twice by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger—moves closer to guidelines from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The penalty for violating the new law will be a minimum of $479 for a first offense, according to a spokesman for the California Office of Traffic Safety. The NHTSA recommends booster seats for 8 to 12-year-olds, or until the child can fit properly into a [...] Read more »
The Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers about a potential mix-up between powerful prescription pain drugs and common over-the-counter medications like Excedrin and Gas-X made at a Novartis manufacturing plant. The problem is a result of major manufacturing problems at a Lincoln, Nebraska, facility which was shut down last month. The Swiss drugmaker has recalled bottles of Excedrin, Bufferin and other medications which may have included mixed up pills. Now the FDA says some of those over-the-counter pills may have accidentally been packaged with powerful prescription painkillers made at the same facility. The opioid drugs are sold by Endo Pharmaceuticals as Percocet, Endocet, Opana and Zydone. The recalled drugs include Excedrin and NoDoz products with expiration dates of December 20, 2014 or earlier, as well as Bufferin and Gas-X Prevention products with expiration dates [...] Read more »
CPSC is launching an easy-to-use registry for small batch manufacturers, which can be found at www.SaferProducts.gov. Congress directed CPSC to establish this registry for small batch manufacturers in Public Law 112-28, which was signed into law by President Obama on August 12, 2011. Small batch manufacturers, defined as those who earned $1 million or less in total gross revenues from sales of consumer products in 2011, and who produced in total no more than 7,500 units of at least one consumer product in 2011 can register for calendar year 2012 at www.SaferProducts.gov. Qualifying small batch manufacturers are not required to third party test for compliance with certain children’s product safety rules during 2012 for products which they produced no more than 7,500 units of in the previous calendar year. This new registry does not exempt small batch [...] Read more »
Nissan Motor Co. announced the recall of nearly 34,000 Sentra compact cars because of a battery cable problem that could cause the engines to stall. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration documents say that a zinc coating on the cable bolts could be too thick which could cause a voltage drop that can damage the engine control computer. The documents say the cars can stall while moving and it may not be possible to restart them, increasing the risk of a crash. The problem affects 2010 and 2011 Sentras equipped with MR-20 engines that were built from May 11, 2010, to May 22, 2010, and from July 8, 2010, to Oct. 25, 2010, according to the NHTSA documents. Nissan says it will replace the positive battery cables and covers free of charge starting on or before [...] Read more »
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with Winning Key (WK) Manufacturing and Topwin Toys (HK), of China and their U.S. distributor Toys Distribution Inc., of Los Angeles, Calif., announced a voluntary recall of the baby rattles pictured to the left. The recalled rattles can break into small parts, posing a choking hazard to young children and violating the federal safety requirements for rattles. In addition, the size of the handle on some of the rattles is small enough to enter an infant’s mouth, lodge in the throat and cause a choking hazard or lead to bruises and lacerations. The recall includes plastic rattles sold in various pastel colors and shapes, including a toy phone, animal, small buggy and sea horse. The rattles were sold in sets of five or eight rattles per box. “HANDBELL [...] Read more »
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with Hamilton Beach Brands Inc., of Glen Allen, Va., today announced a voluntary recall of the Hamilton Beach® classic chrome 2-slice toasters. When the toasters are first plugged into the outlets, the heating element can be energized although the toaster lifter is in the up or off position, which can pose a fire hazard if the toaster is near flammable items. Hamilton Beach has received 5 reports of toasters being energized when first plugged into an outlet. There have been no reports of injuries or property damage. The Hamilton Beach recall involves model 22602 toasters. The model number is printed on the bottom of the toaster. The toaster has a chromed steel exterior, a front control panel with a rotary toast shade selector and function buttons arranged [...] Read more »
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced today that Build-A-Bear Workshop Inc. (Build-A-Bear), of St. Louis, has agreed to pay a civil penalty of $600,000. The settlement resolves CPSC allegations that Build-A-Bear failed to immediately report a defect involving its toy bear beach chair that resulted in incidents and injuries to consumers. The sharp edges of the chair’s folding wooden frame can pinch, lacerate or amputate a child’s fingertip if the finger is caught between the frame as the chair is folded. Build-A-Bear sold the beach chairs through its website and at Build-A-Bear stores between March 2001 and October 2008. The company became aware of 10 reports of injury between July 2007 and January 2009, yet did not report to the Commission until March 2009. Federal law requires manufacturers, distributors and retailers to report [...] Read more »
California Highway Patrol discovered unidentified man in Redwood City off Interstate Highway 280. CHP officers responded to reports of a body on the roadway on the Farm Hill Boulevard offramp of I-280 at around 1:18 a.m., according to CHP officer Art Montiel. The man was traveling south on I-280 and lost control of the vehicle just north of Farm Hill Boulevard and ran off the road. The vehicle hit a tree just south of the Farm Hill Boulevard offramp, and the man was ejected from the vehicle, landing on the offramp. The man was pronounced dead at the scene, Montiel said. Montiel said it appeared another vehicle hit the body after it landed on the roadway. Officers are investigating the incident, and Montiel said that there is no suspicion that alcohol was involved in the crash. [...] Read more »
A unidentified motorist was found dead in a vehicle along Interstate 580 early this morning after authorities were called to reports of a wreck, the California Highway Patrol said. The CHP received a call around 2:27 a.m. after a passing motorist spotted a crashed vehicle in the eastbound right-hand shoulder near First Street. Officers called emergency crews to extricate the driver, who was pronounced dead at the scene. Further details about the crash were not immediately available. The wreck has been cleared from the roadway and there are no anticipated delays resulting from the crash. Alexander Hawes, LLP is a nationally-recognized and award-winning personal injury law firm with offices in San Jose and San Francisco. We are passionate about our clients and our community. We are advocates for our clients and we invite you to [...] Read more »
