Consumer Law

CPSC Drags Its Feet on Critical Safety Warnings

By Deepak Gupta

  A new Public Citizen report, Hazardous Waits: CPSC Lets Crucial Time Pass Before Warning Public About Dangerous Products, takes the Consumer Product Safety Commission to task for failing to compel manufacturers to provide prompt notice of hazardous products and raps the CPSC for dragging its feet on passing those warnings on to the public.  A study of 46 cases since 2002 in which the CPSC fined companies for violating the reporting law ? which calls on manufacturers to notify the agency "immediately" after learning of product safety risks ? found that companies waited an average of 993 days, or 2.7 years, before informing the CPSC. The CPSC then delayed an average of 209 additional days before warning the public. 

The hazards that were kept from the public are serious. They included coffee makers and vacuum cleaners prone to catching fire, treadmills that spontaneously accelerated to an Olympic miler?s pace, all-terrain vehicles with throttles that became stuck in the ?go? position, bicycles with forks that could break under normal use, and infant swings that could cause strangulation and were implicated in six deaths.

The settlement agreements reveal that manufacturers have little respect for the disclosure law.  Besides failing to notify the CPSC of safety defects, many manufacturers withheld key details from the agency when they finally did file.  Omitted details included customer complaints about products, efforts to redesign products to resolve design flaws and information about the death of a consumer. 

Although the CPSC fined manufacturers for late reporting, the agency itself was slow in providing the same information to the public.  For example, the agency received a report in February 2001 about an all-terrain vehicle with an oil line subject to disconnecting and spewing steaming oil on its driver and surroundings.  The defect was eventually blamed for injuring 18 people, some with serious burns, and causing 42 fires.  But the CPSC did not tell consumers until April 2003 ? more than two years after the manufacturer informed it of the hazard. 

One major cause of delay is the manufacturers? ability to sue the agency to block public disclosure of information about hazards.  The mere threat of lawsuits deters the agency from acting.  Among Public Citizen?s findings: 

• Graco waited 11 years to report its faulty infant swing, which was linked to reports of 181 falls that resulted in six deaths and nine serious injuries, including bone fractures and concussions.  Graco made the report only after CPSC staff contacted the company. 

• Hoover waited five years to report a vacuum cleaner with a faulty switch that had caused at least 96 fires. The CPSC then took another 279 days before negotiating a recall and informing the public.

• By February 2000, Polaris Industries had received 1,147 reports of faulty oil lines on its ATV, including 42 instances where the hot oil started a fire and 18 cases in which the oil seriously burned a rider. But the company didn?t report the defect to the CPSC for another year.

The CPSC relies on prompt and thorough reporting by manufacturers because the agency conducts little independent testing and inspects few products. Public Citizen?s findings illustrate the need for Congress to give the agency more authority and resources. In crafting legislation to reauthorize the CPSC, which is currently under negotiation in Congress, the report concludes that lawmakers should:

• Provide the CPSC with the freedom to inform the public about risks promptly. Currently, the CPSC cannot act unilaterally to inform the public about hazards without risking lawsuits by manufacturers. Congress should give the agency the ability to provide critical information to the public without undue interference and delays by industry.

• Grant authority to levy higher fines and seek effective criminal penalties. The CPSC?s current cap on civil penalties of $1.8 million per violation of reporting requirements is a pittance compared to the cost of conducting recalls. This gives companies an incentive to leave the agency in the dark about defects. Congress should eliminate the cap or raise it to at least $100 million per violation.

• Provide the CPSC with a significantly larger budget and staff. The agency received a meager $63 million in 2007 to protect the public from dangers posed by millions of products. Congress should boost it to at least $150 million.

• Give state attorneys general broader enforcement powers. A major criticism of the CPSC is its failure to enforce the law effectively. Congress should allow state attorneys general to enforce the law and give them authority to seek all of the remedies available to the CPSC.

Full post as published by CL&P Blog on February 01, 2008 (boomark / email).