Seattle Injury Lawyer Blog

Hoverboards are prone to catching fire and are, therefore, “unsafe,” according to the U.S. Consumer Product Commission. The agency made the declaration in a letter released Feb. 18, which urged self-balancing scooter manufacturers to gain UL certification before selling more hoverboard products in Washington and nationwide.

According to the CPSC, there were 52 reports of hoverboards igniting in 24 states between Dec. 1, 2015 and Feb. 17, 2016. The resulting fires causedmore than $2 million in property damage and led to the destruction of two houses and a car. The acting director of the agency said that most of the fires could have been avoided if the hoverboards had been constructed to meet the voluntary UL safety standards.

The CPSC letter said that if agency employees find imported hoverboards that do not meet safety standards, they may seize them. The agency also indicated that it may seek a U.S. recall of non-compliant hoverboards, which are considered to be “defective.” The letter urges hoverboard manufacturers to ensure their future products meet the electrical standards outlined in UL 2272, which is aimed at self-balancing scooters. They are also encouraged to make sure all lithium ion batteries within the hoverboards meet the requirements under UN/DOT 38.3, which addresses dangerous goods for lithium ion batteries and metal.

Many residents of Washington like to include organic foods and supplements in their diets to avoid potentially unhealthy chemicals, but one organic supplier has had to issue a recall due to contamination from a living source. Products in Garden of Life’s Raw Meal powdered shake and meal replacement powder line have been connected with cases of Salmonella virchow infection in several states.

The product recall started on Jan. 29 and was expanded to include over two dozen additional products on Feb. 12. According to Garden of Life, organic moringa leaf powder from a specific supplier was the likely source of the contamination, and the company plans to reformulate all Raw Meal recipes to omit the leaf.

Health officials in Minnesota advised against consumption of any powders bought on or after Nov. 1 of last year, and they also cautioned not to use any powders with best-used-by dates of September 2017. The officials specified that all of the infected consumers at the time of the report had either used a vanilla or chocolate variety of a Raw Meal product.

Honda owners in Washington may have received notice of an expanded recall of cars that have defective Takata air bags. Since 2008, more than 6 million vehicles have been recalled due to faulty inflators on Takata air bags. There have been nine U.S. deaths connected with the inflators, and eight of them were in Hondas. The latest round of recalls is on late-model cars including the 2016 Acura ILX.

Honda issued the letter to dealers on Jan. 30 saying that it planned to recall as many as 2 million Acura and Honda vehicles. However, on Feb. 2, two U.S. senators said that all 24 million cars with Takata inflators should be recalled.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that its investigation into the recalls and the faulty inflators is still ongoing. NHTSA recalled about 19 million vehicles with Takata inflators through the end of 2015, and in January, Takata said that it planned to recall more than 5 million inflators located on the driver’s side.

Some Washington motorists may own a vehicle that was among the more than 51 million that were recalled in 2015. This set a new record, and there was a total of nearly 900 separate recalls. Most of the recalls related to air bags made by Takata Corp. that have so far been responsible for the death of eight people and injuries to more than 100 others. The faulty inflators meant the air bags were prone to explosion, and about 19 million vehicles were recalled in connection with the inflators.

Recalls were up because Takata Corp., along with General Motors and Fiat Chrysler, faced significant fines for being slow to report problems with vehicles. In response, auto makers have stepped up their recalls in an effort to fix defects as quickly as possible.

A National Highway Traffic Safety Administration official says that fixing these problems is crucial. While most defects are fixed within 18 months, 25 percent still are not. The agency is calling for public opinion on an expansion of approaches to notifying consumers of recalls such as email or text messages.

Washington parents need to be aware that Perrigo, a manufacturer of children’s cough syrup sold at various retailers recently recalled five batches of children’s cough syrup. The problem with the syrup is that the dosing cups that were included have wrong markings, leading to concerns about possible overdoses.

The cough syrup is sold under a variety of different brand names and contains 100 mg of guaifenesin and 5mg of dextromethorphan. The company stated that it has notified the Food and Drug Administration and is issuing a voluntary recall to protect consumers. The company also stated that it was not the one that manufactured the dosing cups.

When taken in too high of a dose, dextromethorphan can cause serious side effects. Perrigo reported that potential side effects include coma, death, seizures, hallucinations, respiratory depression, tachycardia and others. The company has advised parents to not try to guess at the correct dose and to throw away the dosing cups. A medical professor said parents who notice any of the side effects occurring should immediately seek medical care for their children.