The parent company of GE Appliances is mounting its defense in one of the first cases over the safety of emissions from gas stoves – a lawsuit that does not allege any physical injury.The same day New York banned gas appliances in new residential buildings, Haier US Appliance Solutions, which purchased GE Appliances in 2016, filed a motion to dismiss a proposed consumer class action on May 3 in San Francisco federal court. Lawyers at Dovel & Luner sued Haier in March, arguing plaintiff Charles Drake would not have purchased or paid as much for his gas stove if he had known its emissions were harmful.Drake’s and a similar case, brought by the same lawyers against BSH Home Appliances Corporation, were filed in March after media coverage of gas stove emissions exploded. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has said it is considering regulation that many feared would lead to a ban on gas stoves.The CPSC is not planning imminent regulation, Haier says, having instead sought public comment to further investigate.”Thus, although recent news articles have speculated about an association between gas stoves and various health concerns, these claims remain disputed and the subject of ongoing research,” the motion to dismiss says.”Yet, according to Drake, GEA should be held liable for not cautioning against use of its own properly functioning product or redesigning its product to reduce energy use.”CPSC Chair Alexander Hoehn-Saric said in January his agency had no intention of banning gas stoves and was simply “exploring new ways to address health risks.”However, New York isn’t waiting around for federal guidance. The state passed legislation that bans natural gas and other fossil fuels in new residential buildings, prohibiting appliances like gas-powered stoves and furnaces.Should GEA challenge New York’s ban, it could use a similar defense that it is employing in the Drake class action. In its motion to dismiss, GEA says the regulation of natural gas stoves belongs to the federal government under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act.
Category Archives: product recall
Electrolux Home Products fridge recalled by ACCC
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission recalled the faulty Electrolux Home Products Beefeater Refrigerator series on Tuesday after concerns were raised about safety.
Sold both nationally and internationally, the fridges being recalled include the single and double door versions designed for outdoor use Water can penetrate the sealed electrical control board located on the rear of the refrigerator,” the ACCC warned.
“The refrigerator may cause a fire, posing a risk of injury to a consumer, and damage to property.”
Affected stock include model numbers BS28200 and BS28130 and have serial numbers ranging from 72900000 to 95299999 and 00100000 to 04599999 only.
Consumers are urged to check the serial number on their fridge. Picture: ACCC
Consumers are urged to check the serial number on their fridge. Picture: ACCC
Those products being recalled were sold at the following retailers:
Barbeques Galore
Bing Lee
JB Hi-Fi Group
Betta Stores
Winning Group
Hardings Hardware
Muirs
Independent Gas Centre
Bi-Rite Electrical
Retravision
Retravision Commercial
Spartan Electrical & Furniture
Crane/Tradelink
Elgas
E & S
Dorsett Retail
Pacific
Domayne
Consumers are being urged to immediately turn the faulty fridge off, disconnect it from electricity and contact Electrolux to arrange for a free repair.
Samsung recalls over 600K washing machines after injury, fire complaints
Samsung USA recalls over 600K washing machines after injury, fire complaints Samsung is recalling about 663,500 top-load washing machine units due to a fire hazard, the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced Thursday.
There have been 51 reports of washer incidents that involved smoking, melting, overheating or fires, according to Samsung, 10 of which caused property damage. Three customers reported smoke inhalation injuries.
Samsung says an issue within the control panel of the affected models could cause overheating or melting. Customers with Wi-Fi-enabled machines are advised to download Samsung’s over-the-air software update to remedy the problem.
OPSS Issues Grill Safety Warning
The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) has issued a safety warning relating to the use of gas grills on certain Belling, Stoves and New World gas range cookers manufactured by Glen Dimplex Home Appliances (GDHA).
If the gas grill is used with the door closed, there is a risk that dangerous levels of carbon monoxide can build up, posing a significant risk of serious injury or death to those within the immediate environment.
For further information, consumers should contact GDHA on 0800 110 5728 or via their website:
LG recalls its clothes dryers in South Korea; offering repair for free
LG, on Wednesday, stated that it had recalled its dryers from South Korea. This decision was taken owing to customer complaints regarding an important component of the dryer.
LG has made a statement saying, “Although we couldn’t find safety issues or defects regarding our dryers, we decided to voluntarily recall the products in order to serve our customers sincerely.”
The firm has even gone further to say that it will happily provide free repairs on its dryers for all its customers. Earlier, the servicemen with the required expertise in repairing these appliances were being sent to the customers’ place in case of any complaints received. However, now LG has said that it will contact customers by itself first and offer to repair their dryers for free.
Korea Consumer Agency (KCA) had given a recommendation to LG, which it had accepted post which it has been offering to repair its TROMM Dual Inverter Heatpump Dryers absolutely free of cost. LG has been offering free repairs since August this year.
What was the complaint regarding these dryers?
Apparently, there were consumer complaints that there were too much lint and dust accumulation inside the condenser of the dryer. A condenser is responsible for removing the moisture from the clothes by the process of air circulation within the dryer. All of LG’s clothes dryers come with an automatic condenser cleaning system. This simply means that there is no need for users to clean the parts all by themselves.
LG has also stated that it has no intention of paying an amount of $85 as compensation to every consumer who has purchased its dryers. This proposal was put forth by the KCA. LG further went on to say that it is completely following the principles of its Quality Assurance program.
Has this sort of incident occurred before?
Whirlpool had found itself in a similar situation before, where a few of its washing machine models posed fire risks. Apparently, the washing machines that belonged to the Hotpoint and Indesit brands were recalled due to an issue with a few units in the door locking system of the appliance. As a result, this problem caused the entire appliance to overheat, which became a major fire threat. These faulty machines became responsible for about 79 of the total fires caused.
In December this year, more than half a million machines belong to the above two brands were ordered to be recalled by Whirlpool. These machines were sold between 2014 and 2018, out of which about 20% of the appliances reported this defect.
Likewise, the tumble dryers manufactured by Whirlpool too reported some defects, and they were recalled in huge numbers at the beginning of this year. In July, Whirlpool had recalled about 800,000 dryers after pressure from the government to issue a notice regarding the same. Again, these faulty dryers were responsible for fire hazards, although there is no connection between the faults in the washing machines and the dryers.
Roughly, about 750 fire incidents have occurred during an 11-year span, all due to these faulty dryers. About 5.3 million tumble dryers belonging to Hotpoint, Indesit, Creda, Swan, and Proline posed fire hazards.
Although Whirlpool has decided to roll back its faulty models completely, it has been criticized for not handling the situation well enough. If reports are to be believed, these faulty appliances may not be replaced before January 2020, which means customers owning these appliances may have to manage without washing machines and dryers during the Christmas period.
Well, one can only hope that the recalled faulty appliances are replaced with good ones that do not have any complaints
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