Safe At Home in 2025?

About 300 incidents of “accidental activation” and 250 fires; at least 18 fires caused extensive damage. In addition, about 40 injuries were reported and seven fires killed pets.

These ranges were unpredictable. One consumer reported the range turned on when he walked by it, melting a plastic container but thankfully nothing else. Other consumers reported their range began smoking and melted from the inside, as well as causing small fires. About 1.1 million ranges were recalled in August 2024.

59 incidents involving the product’s power cord and socket, including sparking, smoking and/or melting. Eight fires were reported, most recently in a fitness facility. No injuries were reported. They sold for $3,400 to $10,800. No injuries have been reported. About 30,000 were recalled in April 2024.

17 complaints of the vacuum cleaners smoking or putting out a burning smell, including six reports of the battery pack catching fire. There were three reports of minor property damage and two minor burn injuries. About 142,000 were recalled in February 2024.

31 fires including significant fire and smoke damage to homes. Most of these were previously recalled in 2022.

Used to charge phones magnetically without a wired connection. 171 incidents 171 incidents, including 39 fires with $20,000 in property damage, 13 burn injuries and 132 cases of “bulging or swelling batteries.”

In one case, a 47-year-old woman reported using the charger on her couch when it exploded, emitting smoke and fire. It burned her leg, sofa and carpet. About 132,000 of the items were recalled.

HTRC These battery chargers were connected to 32 fires or other thermal incidents, including five reports of significant property damage. A couple in their 30s recounted an incident with the recalled charger that reportedly caused the battery to ignite and burn the garage wall, causing more than $1,500 in damage. About 34,600 were recalled in December 2024.

These Chervon North America batteries for lawnmowers and outdoor tools were linked to 100 “thermal incidents” including fires, melting and smoking. There were 49 reports of property damage and eight reports of minor burns and/or smoke inhalation.

In one incident, a 35-year-old man reported his lawnmower battery spontaneously self-combusted and caused a fire in his garage, destroying a car valued at $8,000 causing a total of $13,000 in property damage. About 63,000 of the batteries were recalled in December 2024.

In August 2009, about 200,000 Frigidaire and Kenmore electric ranges were recalled because the top heating elements could turn on spontaneously, fail to turn off or heat to different temperatures. The company received 126 complaints, including four minor burn injuries and two cases of minor property damage.

During the 15 years between the original 2009 recall and May 2024, the company received 212 additional complaints of the ranges “behaving erratically.”

The reports included 14 fires and eight burn injuries. These customers either didn’t know about the original recall, didn’t understand the hazard or didn’t like the recall offer – a repair or $50 refund.

The remedy offered was a free repair or, if the range wasn’t repairable, a $50 gift card and up to $60 to haul the range away when they buy a new one and submit receipts. The ranges were sold from June 2001 through August 2009 for $1,000 to $2,500.

The company reannounced the recall in May 2024 because of the ongoing incidents, fires and injuries.

In May and June 2022, American Honda Motor Inc. of California started distributing 391,800 lawnmowers and pressure washer engines. The lawnmowers cost $550 to $1,100; the pressure washer engines cost $370 to $550.

In just over a year, Honda had received 2,197 incident reports, including seven minor injuries, caused by “improperly manufactured” camshafts in the engines that “can cause the starter rope to suddenly retract when pulling to start, posing an injury hazard.” The company announced a recall with free repairs in September 2023.

From September 2023 through May 2024, Honda received 2,966 more complaints, including 38 reports of minor injuries. It reannounced the recall in May 2024 — with free repairs — and included 200 more potentially defective engines.

As with the Frigidaire and Kenmore electric ranges, people with the Honda lawnmowers or pressure washer engines who filed the nearly 3,000 complaints either didn’t know about the original recall, didn’t understand the hazard or didn’t like the recall offer of a free inspection and repair.

In December 2021, Essential Medical Supply Inc. recalled about 272,000 portable bed rails under four different models after an 86-year-old man died involving one of the company’s the Endurance Hand Bed Rail model in his home in December 2012. It’s not known whether other near tragedies or incidents were reported.

The bed rails were sold nationwide at medical supply stores and online for $36 to $98 from October 2006 through October 2015. The company in 2021 offered refunds only on bed rails sold or imported after Oct. 31, 2015, with the amount of the refund prorated based on bed rail’s age. The company didn’t offer refunds on bed rails bought during the previous nine years; customers were instructed to just dispose of them.

By April 2024, two additional deaths were reported, caused by entrapment, the company said. These occurred after the 2021 recall. An 86-year-old man died at an assisted living facility in Connecticut in December 2022 and a 99-year-old man died at his home in California in August 2023.

The company and the CPSC reannounced the recall in 2024 because of the ongoing risk of entrapment and asphyxiation. Both the company and regulator again stressed the danger, asking people to check assisted living facilities and homes that use portable bed rails to make sure they aren’t any of the recalled models.

In the 2024 announcement, the company hadn’t changed its policy of not offering refunds for bed rails purchased before November 2015.

The Endurance recall was one of three involving adult bed rails in 2024 and one of nine recalls in the last four years. That led the CPSC to issue an urgent warning in November.

A total of 3 million bed rails were covered by the nine recalls and two warnings about other products where the manufacturer wouldn’t cooperate with a recall.

The 11 types of bed rails are connected to an undisclosed number of “serious injuries from head, neck, or chest entrapment and 18 reported deaths,” the CPSC said. (See the full list here.)

The regulator urged anyone involved in the care of an elderly or disabled person to make sure that any bed rails are installed properly, used correctly and haven’t been recalled.

These swings were sold from October 2010 to January 2024. Between 2012 and 2022, five babies ages 1 month to 3 months died in connection with these products. Nearly 2.2 million of these products were recalled on October 10, 2024.

These ranges, sold from May 2013 through August 2024, have been involved in accidental activation incidents since 2013. The ranges were associated with about 250 fires before 1.1 million were recalled on August 8, 2024. (This is a different product than the recalled Electrolux Frigidaire and Kenmore ranges.)

It’s not publicly known why these recalls took so many years.

If the company prolongs the negotiations or doesn’t cooperate at all, the CPSC can try to force a recall through litigation, but that can take years.

The Consumer Product Safety Act’s Section 6(b) prohibits the CPSC from publicly disclosing derogatory information about a product unless it has notified the company and waited 15 days. That gives the company enough time to file a lawsuit to block the disclosure.

To avoid court battles, the CPSC often negotiates recalls with companies, which can take weeks, months or years.

However, the 15-day wait doesn’t apply if the Commission “publishes a finding that the public health and safety require a lesser period of notice,” per 15 U.S.C. 2055 (6)(b)(5)(D).

In July 2018, Vitamix Corp. of Cleveland recalled about 105,000 blenders because the containers could separate from the base, exposing the blades and putting users at risk of severe cuts. At least 11 people reported lacerations because of this problem. The blenders had been sold nationwide since April 2017 for $24 to $500. Vitamix offered free repair kits.

In June 2024, Vitamix reannounced the recall, covering an additional 464,000 blenders, after 16 more people suffered lacerations when the blades were unexpectedly exposed. Vitamix offered free repair kits to all customers, including those who had received repair kits after the 2018 recall.

In one case, in January 2023, a 42-year-old woman was using a Vitamix blender she and her husband purchased in November 2020 – after the 2018 recall. The jar came loose from the base while mixing, the complaint said. The woman tried to stop the blender from spraying the contents

But “the jar dislodged from the base, resulting in severe lacerations to her middle and ring fingers” and “significant blood loss.” She got stitches at urgent care and later had a procedure to “realign the tissues” damaged by the blood loss. It took a month for the woman to regain use of her hand for basic activities.

A year later, her ring finger still didn’t function properly and she still had intermittent pain, the complaint said. “It is noteworthy that the product details indicate that if a jar is not mounted or screwed properly, the blender is designed to detect thisand should not initiate its functioning,” the complaint said.

In June 2021, Black + Decker started selling its “easy garment steamer” for $16 to $23 in stores such as Bed Bath & Beyond, Target and Walmart. Just more than a year later, in November 2022, the company had received 241 complaints about the small appliance shooting out hot water unexpectedly. A total of 32 burn injuries were reported, including two second-degree burns. The company announced it was recalling 518,500 garment steamers, saying customers could receive a free replacement part for the top of the steamer.

However, by April 2024, the company said that since the recall 1-1/2 years earlier, it had received 317 additional complaints about hot water shooting out from the steamers. The complaints included 82 burn injuries; seven were second-degree burns.

Notably, 94 of these complaints involved steamers that were either repaired as part of the initial recall or were models with the updated design that supposedly eliminated the problem, the company said. Among these complaints were 19 burn injuries.

The company then recalled 1.6 million steamers, including one new model and three older models. And instead of offering repairs, it offered full refunds.

Besides the 94 complaints involving repaired or redesigned steamers, this case involved 223 complaints from customers who either hadn’t heard about the recall or ignored it.

● In 2022, it sued Leachco Inc. of Oklahoma over four models of infant loungers that the CPSC said posed a suffocation hazard. The CPSC opened its investigation after two infants died, one in 2015 and one in 2018, in connection with the infant loungers. The case is still in court.

● In 2021, the CPSC sued Thyssenkrupp Access Corp. over allegations that its residential elevators had dangerous gaps that children could fall through. The CPSC reported three incidents: A 2-year-old who died, a 3-year-old who suffered permanent disability and a 4-year-old hospitalized after being entrapped and crushed.

● In 2021, the CPSC sued Amazon in an effort to force the company to recall products the regulator said were hazardous: 24,000 carbon monoxide detectors that didn’t put out alerts, children’s sleepwear that violated flammability safety standards and nearly 400,000 hair dryers not equipped with immersion protection to help consumers avoid shock or electrocution.

After a multi-year legal battle, the CPSC in 2024 determined that Amazon is a “distributor” of consumer products and required to comply with laws about unsafe products. Amazon maintains it’s a “third-party logistics provider” and isn’t required to comply with the product safety laws aimed at retailers, distributors, importers and retailers.

The CPSC in January 2025 unanimously voted to hold Amazon responsible for notifying customers and motivating them to return or destroy the products by issuing a refund or other incentive. The CPSC’s decision is on hold after Amazon filed a motion in January to stay the decision.

On March 14, 2025, Amazon sued the CPSC.

Topfun Folding Step Stools sold by FuTai Household Supplies, of China. Sold exclusively on Amazon. The CPSC tallied 39 complaints that the step stools collapsed or tipped over when someone was on it, leading to 13 injuries including a concussion, fractures and muscles, ligament or tendon injuries. FuTai didn’t respond to the CPSC’s recall push.

E-bike Batteries: Unit Pack Power batteries manufactured by Shenzhen Unit Pack Power Technology Co. of China.
Company refused any recall the CPSC found acceptable.
CPSC received 13 complaints of the batteries overheating, including seven fires with “substantial” property damage. The batteries were also connected to multiple fires in the United Kingdom, where four online platforms were ordered to stop selling the batteries.

The CPSC advises consumers to use only those micromobility products that have been designed and manufactured for compliance and that safety compliance has been certified by an accredited laboratory. E-bike owners should also avoid sleeping or leaving their homes while the batteries are charging, the CPSC says. E-bike batteries also should not be charged with any charger besides one from the e-bike manufacturer.

Infant loungers: Mamibaby, Yoocaa, DHZJM, Cosy Nation & Hyhuudth Loungers.

Five babies died in three of these products; theother two products have the same design and manufacturer. The loungers were advertised as sleep products but pose the risk of suffocation, entrapment or falls.

The CPSC confirmed that Ningbo Tree Nest Children Products Co. of China is the manufacturer of at least three of the products and believes it’s the manufacturer of the other two as well. Ningbo Tree Nest hasn’t agreed to a recall. The products were sold on platforms including Walmart.com and Amazon.

While the manufacturer didn’t agree to a recall, two of the third-party sellers did: Hangzhoumeixiajianzhushejiyouxiangongs of China issued notices but no refunds for two of the loungers that were sold on Amazon.com. And He Nan Ji Bu Gong Yi Pin You Xian Gong Si, of China issued notices and offered refunds for the Yoocca-branded loungers that were sold on Amazon. Amazon also agreed to contact customers.

Camzimo bike helmets sold by Shanxixijuanguojimaoyiyouxiangongsi. The company does business as Amzomn. (Yes, Amzomn.) The helmets don’t meet U.S. safety standards and could put riders at risk of a head injury. Consumers with the helmet were encouraged to cut the straps and throw it away.

SafPow and AMPOWSURE lithium battery chargers. The two companies refused a recall. Chargers are labeled as “universal” but aren’t and may be incompatible with charging some of the products where compatibility is advertised. That can cause the battery to ignite. The CPSC received 47 complaints of fires or other “thermal incidents,” including three burn and smoke inhalation injuries and three reports of property damage amounting to $100,200. Were sold on Amazon and eBay.

Despite fewer consumer protections with online shopping, it’s estimated that more than 40% of clothing is purchased online today, along with 17% of consumer electronics and 14% of toys and children’s products. Overall, e-commerce is expected to skyrocket, from $1.2 trillion in 2024 to $1.8 trillion in 2029, according to Statista. In 2022, e-commerce sales stood at $1 trillion, according to the CPSC.

“It remains a difficult area for the agency,” CPSC Commissioner Alexander Hoehn-Saric told U.S. PIRG Education Fund. Regarding e-commerce companies, he said: “I don’t believe they’re doing enough to police themselves.”

He added that he believes regulators and lawmakers should continue to monitor e-commerce retailers to protect consumers. “I’m not convinced it will all just happen voluntarily.”

Temu in particular hasn’t earned a reputation of cooperating with the CPSC. In 2023, for example, the CPSC made four recall requests involving dangerous high-powered magnets sold exclusively on Temu. Neither Temu nor the manufacturers cooperated with any of them, so the CPSC issued warnings to the public and named the companies. No recalls in 2023 involved products sold on Temu.

In 2024, however, eight recalls involved products sold exclusively on Temu because the companies all cooperated. There were no warnings in 2024 for products sold on Temu, meaning no cases where companies weren’t cooperative.

CPSC Acting Chairman Peter Feldman has long focused on potential threats from e-commerce purchases.

Asked whether Temu is being more cooperative these days. Feldman noted that the CPSC’s current operating plan includes his amendment to “designate foreign e-commerce platforms like Shien and Temu as top enforcement priorities.”

“Whether or not Temu has seen the writing on the wall,” Feldman said, “the Commission intends to remain quite active in this space.”

What does all of this mean? Lawmakers, regulators, consumer advocates and U.S.-based manufacturers are increasingly worried about international e-commerce purchases because there’s less transparency, accountability and recourse. In some cases, a purchase may seem like it’s being shipped from within the United States. You figure out that’s not true when the notification says shipping is international and will take two to three weeks.

Regulators believe many products produced overseas don’t comply with U.S. safety standards. For example, toys sold in the United States must adhere to more than 100 tests and safety standards.

Consider these cases in point: In our 2024 Trouble in Toyland report, we highlighted numerous examples of children’s toys available on Temu or Shein for $1 or $2, including free shipping from halfway across the world. Those same products typically sell for $15 or $25 from a U.S. manufacturer. Why the huge difference?

Besides increased labor and material costs, the U.S. manufacturers likely put their products through federally required testing by a certified, independent lab. Experts say there’s no way companies could sell products like these at such low prices and still make any profit, even a few pennies, if they paid for independent testing.

It’s clear many of these products weren’t properly tested because they violate a measurable federal standard. It would seem much easier for manufacturers to avoid violating known federal standards, such as for toxics, child-proof containers or infant sleep products, than to foresee every possible defect that could cause an electrical product to overheat or cause a piece of furniture to break.

It’s not surprising to us that inadequate testing is a bigger problem with products sold only online.

Among all recalled products in 2024 – those sold only in traditional stores or in stores and online – 30% violated a testable federal safety standard, such as levels of lead in paint or flame-resistance in mattresses. However, among recalled products sold only online, 64% violated a known federal safety standard.

Efforts to eliminate the so-called de minimis exemption could help keep some unsafe imports out. De minimis rules often allow lower-priced goods to avoid the same level of scrutiny. Since 2016, de minimis laws allowed shipments valued at $800 or less to evade the same rules that apply to shipments valued at more than $800. Those laws include allowing the low-value shipments to avoid paying taxes or tariffs.

“If de minimis closed, Americans would be safer,” CPSC Commissioner Rich Trumka said in an interview. There are questions about whether it would apply to international mail, which is the way most direct-to-consumer purchases are delivered, such as those from Temu and Shein, he added. But he stressed that something needs to be done.

“Dangerous products are coming into our country. We deserve visibility into what’s coming in here,” Trumka said.

On Jan. 17, 2025, U.S. Customs and Border Protection proposed changing what shipments qualify for the exceptions. This followed a September White House announcement aimed at tightening import rules to stop countries from claiming a de minimis exception on a huge chunk of their shipments to the United States.

This is a bipartisan issue, with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle supporting ways to improve product safety, protect U.S. businesses from unfair competition, stop overseas companies from evading U.S. taxes and plug a loophole often used to ship illegal drugs such as fentanyl into the United States.

Changes in these laws and more resources at the border should improve product safety.

Trumka said the CPSC needs more staff at the ports, where it works alongside Customs and Border Protection. “More people. It’s that simple,” he said. “If we have more people, we can do more to stop dangerous products from getting into the country.”

The CPSC is woefully understaffed. Looking only at the ports of entry, the CPSC has 57 full-time staff (FTEs) for the nation’s 328 ports of entry. The agency overall has about 534 employees.

The CPSC has proposed hiring additional staff to handle soaring volumes of international shipments from overseas manufacturers. With just low-value shipments into the United States, which claim to fall under the de minimis exception and often don’t get as much scrutiny, the volume increased from 503 million shipments in FY 2019 to nearly 1.4 billion shipments in FY 2024, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Besides evading as much scrutiny, these shipments also claim to be exempt from duties and taxes.

Crackdowns on de minimis shipments may help some, but U.S. consumers’ hunger for inexpensive products is likely to continue, often without regard to quality.

That’s why PIRG Education Fund is working to educate consumers about how to evaluate online retailers and make choices that protect their safety and their wallet.

“I think it’s important to keep a light on these issues,” Hoehn-Saric said. Shoppers should consider what will happen if there’s a problem with a product. “They should make sure they’re buying on a platform that will step up.”

In the last two decades, we had the highest number of product recalls in 2007, fueled by more than 100 children’s products with excessive levels of lead in paint used on the products. In 2007, there were limits on lead in children’s products, but only if the lead was in paint or surface coatings. That left children unprotected from other potential lead exposures, even though lead is a known neurotoxin that can cause brain damage, learning disabilities and behavioral problems.

The maximum level for paint and surface coatings of toys and other children’s products was 600 ppm, a standard set back in the 1970s. Among the products recalled for lead in 2007:

● About 1.7 million Thomas & Friends wooden train and railway toys because the surface paint contained excessive lead levels. The original recall was expanded in a fewer months later to include more toys.

● Nearly 1 million toys with characters from Sesame Street, Dora the Explorer and other popular children’s TV shows. The toys’ surface paint contained lead levels above the allowed limit.

● Millions of other products ranging from school supplies to jewelry to stuffed animals.

Because of that, Congress in 2008 passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act that, among other things, implemented safety standards for lead and other toxics in products that children play with, wear or interact with. Levels of lead can be easily tested.

Despite that, six children’s products were discovered with excessive levels of lead in 2024, and two contained excessive levels of phthalates, another toxin. Of the six, three contained only lead; three contained lead and cadmium or phthalates. The products with toxins included children’s jewelry, foam art supplies for painting, children’s garden sets and a croquet set.

Lead is particularly concerning because you can’t see it or smell it, but it could be harming children without detection until years later.

Biometric gun safes are designed to allow the safe to be opened only by someone whose fingerprints are paired with it. With six of these brands of safes recalled in 2024, they could be opened by others, and were opened in at least 168 cases that were reported to the companies, according to the CPSC. In one of those cases, a 6-year-old boy opened the safe without authorization. Fortunately, no injuries were reported in these cases. About 260,000 safes were recalled.

However, a 5-year-old boy from Michigan was injured by a self-inflicted gunshot after he was able to get a gun from a Stack-On brand safe that was thought to be secure, according to a CPSC announcement in January 2025. The CPSC issued an urgent warning for consumers to stop using Stack-On brand biometric gun safes, pistol vaults and lock boxes distributed by Alpha Guardian and Stack-On.

There were two other incidents with children accessing Stack-On gun safes with unpaired fingerprints besides the one involving the injured 5-year-old. Stack-On refused to agree to an “acceptable” recall, the CPSC said.

The six recalls:

The six recalls:
Biometric Gun Safes Recalled Due to Serious Injury Hazard and Risk of Death; Imported by Awesafe

Biometric Gun Safes Recalled Due to Serious Injury Hazard and Risk of Death; Sold Exclusively on Amazon.com by BBRKIN

Machir Recalls Biometric Personal Safes Due to Serious Injury Hazard and Risk of Death Bulldog Cases Recalls Biometric Gun Safes Due to Serious Injury Hazard and Risk of Death

SA Consumer Products Recalls Sanctuary Quick Access and Sports Afield Biometric Gun Safes Due to Serious Injury Hazard and Risk of Death

Academy Sports + Outdoors Recalls Redfield 12- and 18-Gun Fireproof Safes Due to Serious Injury Hazard and Risk of Death

About 62,000 smoke or carbon monoxide detectors by three different companies were recalled because they didn’t alert people to unsafe levels of smoke or carbon monoxide as they were supposed to. Seven cases of the detectors not working were reported, according to the CPSC. There were no injuries.

The three recalls for smoke alarms/carbon monoxide detectors:

Honeywell Recalls System Sensor L-Series Low Frequency Fire Alarm Sounders and Strobes Due to Risk of Failure to Alert Consumers to a Fire

CHZHVAN Combination Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Detectors Recalled Due to Failure to Alert to Fire; Sold Exclusively on Amazon.com by Haikouhuidishangmaoyouxiangongsi

New Cosmos USA Recalls Combination Natural Gas and Carbon Monoxide Alarms Due to Failure to Alert Consumers to the Presence of Natural Gas and to the Risk of Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

About 3,600 gas boilers were recalled because they could emit hazardous levels of carbon monoxide. No incidents or injuries were reported.

The two recalls:

U.S. Boiler Company Recalls Gas-Fired Hot Water Residential Boilers Due to Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Hazard

Crown Boiler Recalls Home Heating Boilers Due to Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Hazard

Two cases of the kits breaking were reported. The kits were sold by New Age Furniture / Alliance4Safety under more than 30 brands. No injuries were reported.

Alliance4Safety and 33 Furniture Companies Recall Millions of Plastic

New Age Furniture Tip-over Restraint Kits Due to Tip-over and Entrapment Hazards to Children

On March 21, 2024, a recall was announced for 290,000 Happiness USA Liquid Rolling Candy products after a 7-year-old boy got choked when the ball dislodged. He had to have emergency surgery to remove the ball, the CPSC said. This case could have ended differently.

In October 2023, a 7-year-old girl in New York died in connection with Cocco Candy Rolling Candy after the ball came loose and became trapped in her throat. Earlier in the year, 70 million Slime Licker roller ball candy products were recalled after two reports of the roller balls detaching from the hand-held container.

On March 21, 2024 – the same day as the Happiness USA recall, the CPSC issued an urgent warning for consumers to avoid buying or using these roller ball types of candy.

Bolstering the resources of the CPSC and CBP to provide more staffing at the border would help stop dangerous imports, especially toys and other products, from entering the country. The bipartisan Securing America’s Ports of Entry Act would provide more CBP staffing, although not necessarily focused on counterfeits and other dangerous products.

Passing the Ban Water Beads Act (the House version) or Esther’s Law, (the Senate version) would restrict the sale of water beads as toys marketed for children. The bills were introduced following the July 2023 death of a 10-month-old baby in Wisconsin who had swallowed water beads, and the serious injury of a 9-month-old baby in Maine who had swallowed water beads, which caused an intestinal obstruction that required surgery.

About 7,800 children were treated in emergency rooms from 2016 through 2022 for injuries or illnesses caused by water beads, according to data from the CPSC.

The Sunshine in Product Safety Act, or similar legislation would allow the CPSC to warn consumers more quickly about all kinds of dangerous products, including toys, in advance of a recall. It was first introduced in 2021. It was reintroduced in March 2023 in the House and Senate. Unilateral warnings from the CPSC are good, but not nearly as good as a recall.

Empowering the CPSC with mandatory recall authority in cases where the CPSC believes a product represents a grave threat, based on reports from hospitals, fire departments, coroner and complaints from consumers. The CPSC should also be authorized to recall a dangerous product when a company isn’t being responsive, especially an international company.

Passing the CAP Act would increase the civil penalties companies could face if they violate product safety laws and endanger people, especially children.

Empower the CPSC to continue to research the risks of phthalates and other toxics. Laws were passed on lead and some phthalates in children’s products. There are more toxic chemicals we should learn more about.

The bipartisan INFORM Consumers Act went into effect June 27, 2023. The law requires online marketplaces to verify “high-volume” third-party sellers by authenticating the seller’s government ID, tax ID, bank account information, and contact information. And makes it much more difficult for a bad guy to use burner accounts, unless he or she had multiple government-issued IDs. “A high-volume seller is defined as any seller that, in a continuous 12-month period, has entered into and completed 200 or more discrete sales or transactions and, as a result, has accumulated an aggregate total of $5,000 or more in gross revenue.”

But the law won’t stop smaller sellers, who might sell fewer than 200 items in a year. And it doesn’t do anything to deal with counterfeits at brick and mortar stores.

Our product recall system is broken. Companies should be required to do more to notify customers about recalls and by requiring companies with recalled products to have a consumer-friendly process to get a refund, repair or replacement.

We know this is possible because so many companies large and small do this already. Half of the companies that offered refunds in 2023 had a reasonably easy remedy request process, according to research and an analysis we published last month in our Too Much To Recall report.

When recalls are difficult to get, dangerous products remain in people’s homes, with the potential for even more calamities.

The CPSC is supposed to protect the public from dangers that may exist with thousands of different kinds of consumer products.

The CPSC has the authority to set mandatory safety standards; influence voluntary safety standards; require labeling; force hazardous products to be removed from store shelves; order product recalls; educate the public about product safety; and collect and analyze data about injuries, death and incidents.

The CPSC reviews about 8,000 unintentional product-related death certificates each year, and tracks at least 15.5 million injuries each year that are treated in emergency rooms and associated with consumer products.

Online platforms often point to the 1996 Communications Decency Act insulate them from responsibility for products sold illegally on their websites.

Clarifying that e-commerce sites must follow the same rules as other retailers and distributors would give the CPSC more authority. The CPSC then could pursue enforcement against platforms such as Facebook Marketplace and eBay, just like the regulator does with big box retailers. Currently, the CPSC can’t require an online marketplace to remove a product from its platform or notify the CPSC of hazards or injuries unless the marketplace is a manufacturer, distributor, importer or retailer.

Push companies harder to do more to alert customers to recalls. Besides notifying customers who’ve provided contact information, companies could amplify the recall through social media, and targeted advertising and newspaper legal notices. The CPSC should also push companies to offer an easier process to request a refund, repair or replacement; the onerous process that exists now deters consumers from getting dangerous products out of their homes.

Improve the CPSC’s saferproducts.gov website. For consumers searching for past complaints or incidents about a particular product, it’s often not easy to find reports. For example, if you search for reports about an XYZ brand refrigerator and you type in “XYZ refrigerator,” it will show you every report mentioning either: any product made by XYZ, or any brand of refrigerator.

It can be cumbersome to wade through the complaint summaries of reports that aren’t what you’re looking for. Using the site’s “advanced search” function does help a bit. But the search results are erratic And if you want to amend a search where you entered numerous search parameters, the process just isn’t very user-friendly.