Tag Archives: Product Recalls

Business

Fisher-Price reminds consumers of 2019 recall of Rock ‘n Play Sleepers after more deaths

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New York
CNN
 — 

Fisher-Price for a second time recalled its Rock ‘n Play Sleepers on Monday after at least eight infant deaths occurred after the initial 2019 recall, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

“On April 12, 2019, at the time the original recall was announced, over 30 fatalities were reported to have occurred in the Rock ‘n Play Sleepers after the infants rolled from their back to their stomach or side while unrestrained, or under other circumstances,” the commission said in a statement. “Since the recall, approximately 70 additional fatalities have been reported, which includes at least 8 fatalities that were reported to have occurred after the initial recall announcement.”

“Approximately 100 deaths have reportedly occurred while infants were in the products,” the CPSC indicated. “Fisher-Price notes that in some of the reports, it has been unable to confirm the circumstances of the incidents or that the product was a Rock ‘n Play Sleeper.”

The CPSC indicated that “consumers should stop using the Rock ‘n Play immediately and contact Fisher-Price for a refund or voucher. It is illegal to sell or distribute the recalled sleepers.”

The initial 2019 recall affected about 4.7 million sleepers. The sleepers were sold at stores such as Walmart, Target and Amazon from September 2009 to April 2019.

At the time of the initial recall, Chuck Scothon, general manager at Fisher-Price, said the company considered the recall the “best course of action” and would continue to stand by the safety of all its products.

“With these actions, we want parents around the world to know that safety will always be a cornerstone of our mission, that we are committed to these values, and will continue to prioritize the health, safety and well-being of the infants and preschoolers who utilize our products,” Scothon said during the initial recall.

– CNN’s Nicole Chavez contributed to this report

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Business

Dove, Nexxus and other dry shampoos recalled for cancer-causing chemical

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New York
CNN Business
 — 

Unilever has recalled certain Dove, Nexxus, Suave, TIGI and TRESemmé aerosol dry shampoos because of the potential presence of benzene, a chemical that can cause cancer.

The affected products were produced prior to October 2021 and were distributed at retailers nationwide, the Food and Drug Administration said in an announcement Friday.

They include products such as Dove Dry Shampoo Volume and Fullness, Dove Dry Shampoo Fresh Coconut, Nexxus Dry Shampoo Refreshing Mist and Suave Professionals Dry Shampoo Refresh and Revive.

Benzene is a human carcinogen. Exposure to benzene can occur by inhalation, orally, and through the skin, and it can result in cancers including leukemia and blood cancer, according to the recall notice.

Consumers should stop using the affected aerosol dry shampoo products and visit UnileverRecall.com for instructions on how to receive reimbursement for eligible products, the FDA said.

Unilever did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Last year, Procter & Gamble

(PG) recalled more than 30 aerosol spray haircare products, including many dry shampoos and dry conditioners, warning that the products could contain benzene. P&G also last year issued a similar recall for more than a dozen Old Spice and Secret-branded aerosol deodorants and sprays, warning that the products could also contain benzene.

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Business

Listeria outbreak leads to recall of cheeses sold at more than a dozen retailers

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CNN
 — 

Old Europe Cheese, Inc., based in Benton Harbor, Michigan, is issuing a voluntary recall of its Brie and Camembert cheeses because of a possible outbreak of listeria, according to the US Food and Drug Administration.

Affected cheeses were sold at about a dozen major retailers in the US and Mexico, the FDA said.

Recalled products contain a best-buy date through December 14, 2022, and were distributed between August 1 and September 28, 2022.

Retailers who likely sold the recalled cheeses include Albertsons, Safeway, Meijer, Harding’s, Shaw’s, Price Chopper, Market Basket, Raley’s, Save Mart, Giant Foods, Stop & Shop, Fresh Thyme, Lidl, Sprouts, Athenian Foods and Whole Foods, the company said.

However, other retailers may have received the recalled products as well, and not all stores on the list may have actually received the cheeses in question.

Additionally, the FDA press release said that some recalled products may have been repackaged into smaller containers by retailers and sold with different labeling and product information.

Listeria monocytogenes is an organism “which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people and others with weakened immune systems,” the FDA said. It can cause high fever, headaches, stiffness, nausea and diarrhea. In pregnant woman, it can cause miscarriages and stillbirths.

The FDA has linked six cases of listeria from 2017 to 2022 to a strain found in samples taken at Old Europe Cheese’s Michigan facility, though the company’s products were not previously linked to the cases.

Cases were found in California, Georgia, Texas, Michigan, New Jersey and Massachusetts. Five of the six resulted in hospitalization; there have been no deaths reported, according to an investigation between the FDA, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local and state health officials.

The FDA is advising consumers who may have purchased any of the products to discard them, as well as use extra vigilance in cleaning and sanitizing any surfaces that may have come into contact with the products. FDA also noted that listeria can survive in refrigerated environments.

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Business

Ford Stock Falls After $1.7 Billion Verdict in Fatal Rollover Case

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Ford Motor Co.

’s shares slid nearly 5% in morning trading Monday, following news of a $1.7 billion jury verdict involving a fatal rollover accident in one of its older-model heavy-duty trucks.

A jury in Georgia on Friday reached the verdict after a three-week trial, determining punitive damages should be imposed on

Ford

F -4.98%

for selling 5.2 million Super Duty trucks that the plaintiffs’ lawyers argued had dangerously weak roofs vulnerable to collapsing in a rollover crash.

Ford’s stock, trading at about $15.12 a share Monday morning, fell more sharply than the broader market.

The lawsuit, brought by the children of the victims who died in the crash, centered on a 2014 accident in which a couple driving a 2002 Ford F-250 truck were killed when the right front tire blew out and the pickup rolled over. The victims, Melvin and Voncile Hill, were crushed inside the truck, according to court records.

“While our sympathies go out to the Hill family, we don’t believe the verdict is supported by the evidence, and we plan to appeal,” Ford said Sunday. “In the meantime, we aren’t going to litigate this matter through the news media.”

The verdict is believed to be one of Georgia’s largest and puts a spotlight on other older-model Super Duty trucks sold by Ford over a roughly 17-year period that the plaintiffs’ lawyers have argued have a similar roof design.

In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs’ attorneys allege that Super Duty trucks sold through the 1999-2016 model years had defectively designed roofs and Ford knew of the dangers posed at the time. The lawyers pointed to evidence they said showed that the trucks failed internal company testing and that in 2004, Ford developed a stronger roof but didn’t use it in sellable pickups until the 2017 model year, according to court documents.

Ford has identified 162 lawsuits and 83 similar incidents of roof crush in 1999-2016 Super Duty trucks, according to the pre-trial order.

Ford contends that Mr. Hill, the driver of the F-250 truck involved in the accident, improperly steered the vehicle after the tire ruptured, causing it to leave the roadway at a dangerous angle, the court records show.

Ford also said that the tire on the truck had the incorrect load-carrying capacity, which led it to fail, and the Hills had improperly used their seat belts, according to the court documents.

Often, high-dollar verdicts such as this one are later reduced by judges or the appeals court.

Write to Nora Eckert at nora.eckert@wsj.com

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Business

Ford Faces $1.7 Billion Verdict in Fatal Rollover of F-250 Pickup

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Ford Motor Co.

F -1.67%

is facing a potential $1.7 billion in punitive damages after a Georgia jury reached a verdict Friday in a case involving a 2014 rollover of a Ford F-250 pickup truck that left two people dead.

The Gwinnett County jury determined that damages should be imposed on Ford for selling 5.2 million Super Duty trucks with what plaintiffs’ attorneys said were dangerously weak roofs that could crush passengers in a rollover accident, according to James Butler, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs in the case.

The case was brought by the family of a Georgia couple, Melvin and Voncile Hill, who were driving a 2002 Ford F-250 Super Duty truck from their farm when the right front tire blew out and the truck rolled over, Mr. Butler said. The Hills were crushed inside the truck, he added.

Ford Chief Executive Jim Farley said last month that the company continues to be hampered by recalls and customer-satisfaction actions.



Photo:

Nic Antaya/EPA/Shutterstock

“While our sympathies go out to the Hill family, we don’t believe the verdict is supported by the evidence, and we plan to appeal,” a Ford spokesman said Saturday.

The $1.7 billion verdict is believed to be one of Georgia’s biggest in history and is unusually large for an accident-related lawsuit involving an auto manufacturer. Typically, damages in these types of cases run in the millions of dollars, and many are settled out of court. Often, high-dollar  verdicts are later reduced by judges or the appeals courts.

“The Hill family is glad this part of the case is finally over,” Mr. Butler said. “They intend to persevere and make Ford pay.”

On Thursday, the Georgia jury awarded plaintiffs Kim and Adam Hill, the children of the couple who died in the crash, $24 million in compensatory damages, Mr. Butler said. The jury allocated 70% of fault in the case to Ford, Mr. Butler said.

Ford executives have for years worked to tackle costly quality and warranty problems with their vehicles, including making this effort a priority under the current chief executive,

Jim Farley.

The company has issued 49 recalls this year, the most of any auto maker, according to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

“We continue to be hampered by recalls and customer-satisfaction actions,” Mr. Farley said on a July earnings call. “This affects our cost but more importantly, it falls short on our most fundamental commitment to our customers.”

Last year, Ford set aside more than $4 billion for warranty costs, up 76% from five years earlier. The car company’s total warranty expenses increased about 17% from 2016 to 2021.

Earlier this year, Mr. Farley brought on a new executive director of quality,

Josh Halliburton.

Before coming to Ford, Mr. Halliburton spent 17 years at J.D. Power, an independent research firm that specializes in assessing and studying vehicle quality.

“We are placing more time and emphasis on ensuring everything is done right upfront to prevent quality issues from manifesting later in the development process,” Mr. Halliburton said.

He added that he expects to see Ford’s warranty problems improve next year, but that it might take two to three years to see results with the most impact.

Write to Nora Eckert at nora.eckert@wsj.com

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Business

Tesla Faces Upgraded U.S. Probe Into Autopilot in Emergency-Scene Crashes

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U.S. auto-safety regulators have escalated their investigation into emergency-scene crashes involving

Tesla Inc.’s

TSLA 1.26%

Autopilot, a critical step for determining whether to order a safety recall.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a notice published Thursday that it was expanding a probe begun last August into a series of crashes in which Tesla vehicles using Autopilot struck first-responder vehicles stopped for roadway emergencies.

The agency said it was upgrading its earlier investigation to an engineering analysis after identifying new crashes involving Autopilot and emergency-response vehicles.

NHTSA also said it has expanded its examination of Autopilot to include a wider range of crashes, not only those at emergency scenes. The agency said it would further assess how drivers interact with Autopilot and the degree to which it might reduce motorists’ attentiveness.

Forensic data available for 11 of the crashes showed that drivers failed to take evasive action in the two to five seconds before the collision, the agency said.

The investigation covers an estimated 830,000 Tesla vehicles made from 2014 to 2021, including the Model 3, Model S, Model X and Model Y.

NHTSA said in its filing that it has identified 15 injuries and one fatality related to the crashes.

Tesla didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The electric-car maker’s stock was up 2.5% in midday trading Thursday, following news of a strong bounceback in production at its plant in China.

Autopilot, Tesla’s name for the advanced driver-assistance technology used in its vehicles, is designed to help drivers with tasks such as steering and keeping a safe distance from other vehicles. Tesla instructs drivers using the system to pay attention to the road and keep their hands on the wheel.

The electric-car maker has long maintained that driving with Autopilot engaged is safer than doing so without it. Tesla points to internal data showing that crashes were less common when drivers were using Autopilot. Some researchers have criticized Tesla’s methodology.

In opening its initial probe last year, NHTSA said that it had identified 11 crashes since early 2018 in which a Tesla vehicle using Autopilot struck one or more vehicles involved in an emergency-response situation. In its latest filing, the agency said it discovered six additional crashes involving Teslas and first-responder vehicles where Autopilot was in use.

U.S. safety regulators are probing crashes involving Teslas, suspecting the company’s Autopilot system might be involved. WSJ’s Robert Wall reports on how some motorists may mistakenly think Autopilot is a self-driving feature that doesn’t require their attention. (Video from 3/18/21)

The expanded probe of Autopilot is the latest sign that U.S. auto-safety regulators are getting more aggressive in scrutinizing advanced vehicle technologies that automate some or all of the driving tasks.

NHTSA is getting ready to release new crash data this month that will give the public its first detailed look at the frequency and severity of incidents involving what are known as automated driving or advanced driver-assistance features, The Wall Street Journal has reported.

More than 100 companies are subject to an agency order requiring them to report crashes in which such systems were in use. Among those included are operators of autonomous-car fleets, like

Alphabet Inc.’s

Waymo and

General Motors Co.

’s Cruise LLC.

The technology under scrutiny includes lane-keeping assistance and cruise-control systems that keep a fixed distance behind a leading car, as well as higher-tech systems such as features that can guide a car along highways with minimal driver input.

Autopilot has become a particular focus for U.S. regulators in recent years, prompted by incidents in which drivers have misused the technology, overriding safety functions to operate a vehicle without their hands on the wheel, for example. Some critics also said the term Autopilot risks giving drivers an inflated sense of the system’s capabilities.

NHTSA said in its latest filing that driver use or misuse of Autopilot doesn’t necessarily preclude the agency from determining whether the technology is defective.

“This is particularly the case if the driver behavior in question is foreseeable in light of the system’s design or operation,” NHTSA said. Auto makers are legally required to initiate a recall if a safety defect is discovered in their vehicles.

Separately, NHTSA has opened a broader investigation into several dozen crashes where advanced driver-assistance features are suspected to have played a role. While the probe covers vehicles made by any car company, incidents involving Teslas represent most of the cases under examination, including several with fatalities.

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Business

VW recalls 246,000 Atlas SUVs due to issue with airbags, brakes

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Volkswagen recalled 246,000 Atlas and Atlas Cross Sport SUVs in the U.S. and Canada because of a wiring issue that could cause problems with the airbags, windows and brakes of the cars.

Damage to the wiring of the cars could result in airbags deploying “later than designed,” which could lead to injury of people in the vehicle, according to a report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The wiring issue could also cause other problems in the cars, including the vehicle’s windows rolling down on their own and its electronic parking brake inadvertently engaging at low speeds.

Currently, the company does not have a fix for the issue, according to the report, however Volkswagen will offer a reimbursement program for recalled vehicles.

The recall includes the 2019 through 2023 Volkswagen Atlas, as well as the 2020 through 2023 Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport.

Volkswagen will notify owners and dealers by mail on May 10, 2022, if their vehicles are included in the recall. The company will also reach out again when a fix is developed so owners can bring in their SUVs for repair.

In the meantime, owners can check the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s website to see if their cars are included in the recall by searching their vehicle identification number, or VIN.

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Business

Rodent infestation leads to recalls at more than 400 Family Dollar stores

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A woman walks by a Family Dollar store on December 11, 2018 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City.

Spencer Platt | Getty Images

Discount chain Family Dollar is voluntarily recalling several of its products that shipped to more than 400 stores in the South after a U.S. Food and Drug Administration investigation uncovered a rodent infestation at a distribution center in Arkansas.

In addition to the recall, Family Dollar on Saturday also temporarily closed the 404 affected locations, according to the New York Times. A spokeswoman did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

The FDA said in a release Friday that it recently inspected the facility in West Memphis, Arkansas, after it received a consumer complaint. According to the agency, regulators found live and dead rodents “in various states of decay.” They also found “rodent feces and urine, evidence of gnawing, nesting and rodent odors throughout the facility, dead birds and bird droppings, and products stored in conditions that did not protect against contamination.”

More than 1,100 dead rodents were found following a fumigation at the facility in January 2022, the agency said. Regulators also discovered what appeared to be “a history of infestation,” it said. A review of the company’s internal records indicated the collection of more than 2,300 rodents from March to September of last year.

“No one should be subjected to products stored in the kind of unacceptable conditions that we found in this Family Dollar distribution facility. These conditions appear to be violations of federal law that could put families’ health at risk,” Associate Commissioner for Regulatory Affairs Judith McMeekin said in a statement. Rodent contamination can cause salmonella and other infections diseases, the FDA said. Family Dollar said it was not aware of any reports of illness related to the recall.

Family Dollar said in a release Friday that products covered by the recall include all drugs, medical devices, cosmetics, dietary supplements and human and animal food products that were stored and shipped from the center to 404 stores across Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi and Tennessee.

The alert covers purchases from Family Dollar stores in those six states from Jan. 1 of this year to the present. Products shipped directly to the store by the distributor or manufacturer aren’t included. The recalls also don’t extend to any other locations.

“Family Dollar is notifying its affected stores by letter asking them to check their stock immediately and to quarantine and discontinue the sale of any affected product. Customers that may have bought affected product may return such product to the Family Dollar store where they were purchased without receipts,” the company said.

A full list of the affected locations can be found here.

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Business

Tesla Stock Is Dropping. Here’s What’s Really Behind the Slide.

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Tesla shares are dropping. Recalls and uncertainty could be responsible. A third reason, however, is most likely.


Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Text size


Tesla

stock can’t go up forever, and finally turned lower on Tuesday. Reports of recalls and uncertainty about the company’s deal with Hertz are two potential reasons, but a third factor may be the real key.

Tesla (ticker: TSLA) stock was down 1.6% in morning trading, following a slump of as much as 5% before the open. The


S&P 500
and


Dow Jones Industrial Average
were up 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively.

Tesla stock has been on a tear. It has risen eight of the past nine trading sessions, and has gained 70% over the past three months. Its shares have been buoyed by signs that the company really has won the EV race, signing a deal with Hertz (HTZ) for 100,000 electric vehicles. Companies such as


Ford

Motor (F) and


General Motors

(GM) have announced enormous spending plans to try to close the gap.

No surprise, then, that the stock would react badly to potentially negative headlines. First, Musk himself tweeted that Tesla had yet to sign a contract with


Hertz

(HTZZ). Then came the announcement that the company would be recalling 11,700 vehicles.

The Musk tweet, however, was intended as a positive. The Hertz deal is Tesla’s first large fleet sale. Fleet sales tend to be lower-margin. Fleet buyers look for volume discounts and don’t often buy all the high-end options individual consumers do.

Musk has assured investors, on


Twitter

(TWTR), a couple of times that Tesla is selling all the cars it can make and isn’t giving any discounts these days.

Hertz shares initially took a hit because of the tweet, starting off with a loss of about 6% in premarket trading. But nothing happens in a vacuum.

Hertz’s peer


Avis Budget

(CAR) reported better-than-expected results Monday evening, sending the stock up about 1% in premarket trading, despite year-to-date gains of about 360%. Rental-car demand and operating metrics are improving.

In late morning trading, it looked as if meme traders were squeezing short sellers, as they did with


GameStop

stock at the start of the year. Avis stock was up 162% to $450 a share, bringing Hertz is along for the ride with a gain of about 16%.

For Tesla stock, the recall might be a bigger deal than the status of the sale to Hertz. The cars are being recalled because of a software-communication error that can activate automatic emergency braking. The fix is an over-the-air software update. Tesla has faced more regulator scrutiny over driver-assistance features in recent months.

What’s more, Tesla recently introduced a “beta” version of its latest full-self-driving software to Tesla drivers who qualified for the upgrade. Tesla believes its software makes vehicles safer. Regulators, however, still need to adjust to cars being improved by software updates and how to handle changes made to software to fix bugs.

Any news, however, could have sparked a selloff in Tesla stock. The stock is extremely overbought, which is to say that it is rising quickly relative to its own history. When things get extreme, stocks can revert to the mean. Tesla’s relative strength reading is at 94. A reading of 50 is, essentially, normal and levels of above 70 generally have traders looking for a drop.

Coming into Tuesday, Tesla stock has outperformed the S&P 500 by about 77 percentage points over the past 100 days, as Datatrek Research pointed out in a Tuesday note. That’s a lot, but not unheard of for Tesla.

“Crazy as it sounds, the stock’s recent rally is pretty normal action for this name,” the research outfit said. With outperformance like that, investors don’t really need an excuse to take profits.

Tesla stock has a long way to go before it will look ripe for a hit.

Write to Ben Levisohn at ben.levisohn@barrons.com

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Business

Tesla Stock Is Dropping. Here’s What’s Really Behind the Slide.

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Text size


Joe Raedle/Getty Images


Tesla

stock can’t go up forever and shares are finally falling in premarket trading Tuesday. Reports of recalls and Hertz-deal uncertainties are two reasons the stock might be down. A third reason, however, might be more responsible for the decline than the other two.

Tesla (ticker: TSLA) stock is down about 4.3% in premarket trading.


S&P 500
and


Dow Jones Industrial Average
futures are both little changed.

Tesla stock has been on a massive tear. It’s up eight of the past nine trading sessions and has gained 70% over the last three months. Its shares have been buoyed by signs that the company really has won the EV race as it signed a deal with Hertz (HTZ) for 100,000 electric vehicles and companies like


Ford

(F) and


General Motors

(GM) announced massive spending plans to try to close the gap.

No surprise, then, that the stock would react badly to headlines. First, Musk himself tweeted that Tesla had yet to sign a contract with


Hertz

(HTZZ). Then came the announcement that the company would be recalling 11,700 vehicles.

The Musk tweet, however, was intended as a positive. The Hertz deal is Tesla’s first large fleet sale. Fleet sales tend to be lower margin. Fleet buyers look for volume discounts and don’t often buy all the high-end options individual consumers do. Musk has assured investors, on


Twitter

(TWTR), a couple of times that Tesla is volume constrained—selling all the cars it can make—and isn’t giving any discounts these days.

The recall might be a bigger deal. The cars are being recalled because of a software communication error that can activate automatic emergency braking. The fix is an over-the-air software update. Tesla has faced higher regulator scrutiny over driver assistance features in recent months.

What’s more, Tesla recently introduced a “beta” version of its latest full self-driving software to Tesla drivers who qualified for the upgrade. Tesla believes its software makes vehicles safer. Regulators, however, still need to adjust to cars being improved by software updates and how to handle changes made to software to fix bugs.

Any news, however, could have sparked a sell of it Tesla stock. The stock is extremely overbought. Overbought is a technical term that looks at how fast a stock is rising or falling relative to its own history. When things get extreme stocks can revert to the mean. Tesla’s relative strength reading is at 94. A reading of 50 is, essentially, normal and a reading above 70 is when traders start looking for a drop.

Coming into Tuesday, shares were up about 18% over the past five days. Investors don’t really need an excuse to take profits. Tesla stock has a long way to go before it really starts to take a hit.

Write to Ben Levisohn at ben.levisohn@barrons.com

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