Hewlett-Packard has been instructed to pay a civil penalty of $425,000 for failing to report issues with their lithium-ion battery packs that posed burn hazards. According to an article in the Consumer Reports, HP apparently knew of 22 incidents regarding their defective products but failed to immediately report the situation to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). Those incidents resulted in injuries to at least two consumers. HP reportedly conducted studies between March and April of 2007 and failed to notify the CPSC of their findings until July of 2008 by which time there were reports of 31 faulty battery packs.

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is issuing a defective product warning concerning safety alert pendants because they may pose a strangulation hazard. According to a news article in Consumer Reports, FDA is saying that at least four deaths have been attributed to these devices. In its notice, the federal agency said that there were six reports between 1998 and 2009, of serious personal injury or death. This includes three deaths in the United States and one in Canada. All were caused by strangulation after the device’s cord that is worn around a person’s neck became entangled on other objects.
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Medtronic has issued a defective product recall for some of its LifePak CR defibrillators because humidity may cause them to malfunction. According to a news report, these defibrillators were manufactured and distributed between July 9 and August 19, 2008. Defibrillators are medical instruments that are designed to fix abnormal heart rhythms by delivering electric shocks. Company officials say the recalled products may break down in humid conditions and may fail to analyze heart rhythm accurately. As a result the defibrillator may fail to send the required electric shocks or delay sending it, which may result in serious personal injury or death to patients. The company has not yet announced the scope of this defective product recall.
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Wal-Mart has issued a defective product recall for about 1.5 million Durabrand DVD players because of a potential fire hazard, according to a CNN news report. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and Wal-Mart issued the recall after the retailer received 12 complaints of the DVD players overheating. In five of those cases, the overheating started a fire resulting in damaged property. No injuries have been reported as yet. The DVD players, imported from China, were sold at Wal-Mart stores from January 2006 through July 2009 for $29. The recalled DVD players come with a remote control and are silver with a U-shaped opening at the top to insert the DVD. Consumers are asked to stop using these defective products right away and return them to Wal-Mart for a full refund.

I’m glad that Wal-Mart has recalled these dangerous and defective products that apparently cause fires. It’s indeed fortunate that no one has been injured so far due to these product defects.
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Several computer makers are recalling about 100,000 Sony laptop batteries after at least 40 reports of the defective products overheating and causing burn injuries to consumers. According to this news report, users reported smoke or flames from the batteries. Burn injuries and property damage as a result of these batteries catching fire have also been reported. Companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Toshiba are involved in this global recall.

Sony officials are saying that these particular product defects seem to have been caused by a problem with a production line during October 2004 and June 2005. Sony VAIO notebook computers are apparently not affected by this recall. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), about 32,000 batteries were being voluntarily recalled in the United States.
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