Chinese company fined $600K for not disclosing product danger, delaying recall
Filed under: Recalls, Consumer Ally
An American subsidiary of the Chinese electronics and appliances giant Haier Group was assessed a $587,500 penalty for failing to promptly disclose that it knew wires were breaking in its fans, posing a risk of fire, thus delaying its recall.Haier America Trading Llc. agreed to pay the fine to settle allegations that they collected information about 14 incidents -- including an injury -- between May 2004 and October 2004, but didn't report to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission until December of that year. And that, the CPSC said, only happened after commission staff approached the company.
Companies are required to immediately inform the CPSC when they learn one of their products poses a risk of serious injury or death. The product was recalled in November 2005.
"Prompt reporting in this case could have prevented fires and injuries," new CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum said in a statement. "Companies have a responsibility to immediately let us know of potential hazards, and we will hold them to their duty."
The stern language appears to signal a heightened interest in holding companies to federal consumer safety laws. The laws largely involve voluntary compliance, which some companies seem far more interested in following than others.
CPSC spokesman Scott Wolfson told WalletPop that the tone is indicative of Tenenbaum's intent to get companies to comply with federal safety laws.
"The faster a company reports to us the quicker we can take action to make sure other consumers aren't at risk," he said.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
7-21-2009 @ 2:32PM
babafar said...
This company is the worst company to do business with. When I first bought their toaster oven it included a $20.00 rebate. After pestering them for 6 months I finally got the rebate. This year I was notified about the recall. I mailed back the toaster cord as requested and waited for the new toaster to arrive. That was in the beginning of June. Today I finally received my new toaster. I will never buy their products again. Plus they are the worst toaster ovens I've ever owned.
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7-21-2009 @ 11:52PM
non ya business said...
big news..... just another cooperation raping the public..... more greedy pricks more concerned with the buck and not product quality..... they don't say things are not made like they use to be.... everything today is CRAP made cheep and very DISPOSABLE.....the day i spend $4 grand for a TV is the day i need to have my head examined.... electronics today are not worth the shelf space they take up.....
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7-21-2009 @ 2:42PM
Andrea said...
Really? A Chinese company? Tell me it ain't so!
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7-21-2009 @ 2:43PM
Bill said...
Once again another company shipping defective goods to the United States; will we ever learn.
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7-21-2009 @ 2:51PM
Davey Crocket said...
Keep outsourcing your manufacturing to Socialist Communist countries then guess what.......you become a socialist country having to pick up the bill for the un-employed and under insured. Great going GOP...Rob the treasurey...Rob the 401K's, then pay the bankers back twice for the scam now we get the bill along with 20 million illegals.....Maybe Siberia isn't all that bad these days??
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7-21-2009 @ 2:52PM
paul said...
I purchased a de-humidifier from them two years ago. It died a week after the warrantee. They said "sorry ... it must be bad luck".
I paid big bucks for what I thought was a real professional model that would last a few years and not 12monthes. The unit would probably operate ok if I could get it started.
So then I tried to order the replacement part which was the electronic start controller. They won't sell it to me. They told me to "purchase another new unit".
I dont respond well to this type of business ethics. I'll continue to do my best to let everyone know about my history with "Halier".
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7-21-2009 @ 7:59PM
charles reed said...
NO PROBLEM, BUY AMERICAN FROM NOW ON.
7-22-2009 @ 1:06PM
Kathy said...
The worst part is they will take your old unit (since they are recyclers) fix it and resell it as new! Double the profit for them. They take our "E Waste" and recycle it constantly.
They collect our "garbage" and recycle it into new items, have you heard about the tainted chinese drywall?? MSNBC reported in May 2009 "EPA finds suspect materials in foreign drywall" - that may cause corrosion in homes and possibly sicken people? OH, let us not forget about the tainted wheat gluten that killed our pets, hmmm, think - do we not have 2 types of wheat gluten, one for animal feed and one for food grade? I mean really, how does a manufacturer tell the difference, is it just the label?? Wonder how much melamine tainted wheat gluten made it into (and is in) the human food chain. Lets us not forget about the tainted pharmaceuticals China knows we cannot check everything that is shipped to us as it is too vast, and really, so what if they are caught for poisioning us? What is the big deal, they may get a fine, and omg, have to issue a recall after people get sick and die! Most people don't realize that even though a product states "Product of USA" doesn't mean ALL the ingredients are from the USA! Odds are the bulk wheat gluten is from China. Don't think that drug your doctor prescribed is from the USA, most bulk drugs come from other countries......buyer beware!
7-21-2009 @ 3:00PM
pwall said...
Surprise, in return for outsourcing our industries we get junk consumer goods to buy. I hope our military gets better quality equipment from their Chinese and other foreign sources, many of whom are not friends. Me thinks a deadly combo of greed and stupidity has infected our elected reps and Corporate barons.
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7-21-2009 @ 3:40PM
Lynn said...
I hate to tell you this but it's not just congress it's us the consumer. Instead of supporting our American economy by buying American we have opted for the cheap chinese products to save money. Walmart is the biggest offender of convincing the consumer that prices are low at Walmart so shop there and make the owners billionaires while we deal with the cheap garbage they pass onto the consumer as a good deal. You spend twice as much money buying cheap as you do when you buy quality. Secondly, by insisting on high wages and cheap overall prices American manufacturers had no choice but to go out of the country to give us what we want even at the cost of many high paying jobs. It is greed all the way around. And all of us are to blame. Buy American and put our people back to work.
7-21-2009 @ 3:01PM
Joanne Carnline said...
Are we helping to make China a rich country or what ?
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7-21-2009 @ 4:46PM
Dom said...
We are helping China get rich with our money so they have the funds to build nuclear missile carrying subs. Are we stupid or what ?
7-21-2009 @ 3:08PM
craig said...
That fine isn't enough. If we are going to continue to give them our jobs and money then they should be held accountable at a much higher scale. Especially after the last few years of the recalls of bad product.
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7-21-2009 @ 3:11PM
robust1 said...
The Chinese, like the Japanese are very skilled craftspeople when it comes to the merchandise they've made for years. Unfortunately, these western and foreign (to them) products take some tries to get right. Eventually, their quality will be very good. I blame the greed of American corporations for the rise of China as a manufacturer. I think the CEO's of those corporations should have to go live there.
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7-21-2009 @ 3:53PM
George-NYC said...
First of all, China makes crappy items, but we must not forget the companies that outsource to China to cut cost and maximize their profits.
Most of all we're all partly to blame for buying all this crap and supporting the flow of crap. We've live in and become a disposable society.
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7-21-2009 @ 4:21PM
Jim said...
Unbelievable. A Chinese company made a dangerous product that injured people (or pets) and failed to report the danger and paid a small fine to close the issue. Write your representatives and tell them you want NO MORE CHINESE PRODUCTS.
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7-21-2009 @ 4:34PM
Bob said...
Next week, Obama will apologize to the Chinese for buying defective products. To demonstrate the sincerity of his apology Obama will give them the rest of our missile guidance systems secrets. China, as a token of its good will in accepting this information, will give a promise to ask the North Koreans to not make nuclear bombs.
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7-21-2009 @ 4:35PM
Rhonda said...
Is that all they had to pay?!
I'm sure with the money they are making using cheap overseas labor and selling the product here for serious profit makes that tiny fine similar to a little slap on the hands. What about the people that bought the product in good faith and ended up putting themselves in danger?
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7-21-2009 @ 4:44PM
Dom said...
Chinese products? don't everyone know that they produce junk?
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7-21-2009 @ 4:44PM
Me said...
Yet you idiots keep buying foreign crap! Lets review shall we; Buying Foreign hurts jobs at home, lack of jobs hurts the economy and the trickle down effect kills off more jobs and the ball keeps rolling. Buying Foreign crap can also be dangerous to your health and sometimes be fatal! I have come to the conclusion that Americans are most generally morons that are directly responsible for our own demise! I like to relate it this way, if I have (2) people in my family who need some extra cash (1. My Son 2. A distant cousin in Germany) yet I only have enough to give to (1) of them who am I going to help out? Americans need to WAKE UP and realize that America needs to come first period end of story!!
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