August 2004
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What you can do: Where to find help, whatever the product
If you’re not online, you’re out of luck. The main source of information is www.recalls.gov , the federal government’s new portal to recalls of all stripes. You can connect to the six agencies that handle recalls; report unsafe products; research the recall history--sometimes farther than a decade back--of many secondhand cars and other products; and register to receive a free weekly e-mail newsletter from the Food and Drug Administration and breaking safety announcements from the Consumer Product Safety Commission. You can find useful recall information every month and in our ongoing Recalls database, and at many manufacturers’ and some retailers’ Web sites. Improve your odds of learning about a recall by filling out registration cards that come with most new products. Ignore any questions about your age, income, and interests. Below, details about who’s in charge of removing faulty products, how those products usually do their damage, and where to find help: Household goods, appliances, lawn equipment, clothes, and more. Mowers that leak fuel, fire-prone printers, and collapsing chairs were among the approximately 40 million products the CPSC sought to recall last year. The agency’s home page is at www.cpsc.gov. Search for past or present recalls by product category (for example, toys), type (toaster), brand name, or the date the recall was issued. To report a hazard by telephone, call the agency’s hotline at 800-638-2772, press 1, and then 3. Children’s products. Except for child car seats, regulated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, recalls of products made for children are overseen by the CPSC. You can look for many common flaws before tragedy strikes: small parts on toys that could break off and choke a child; sharp points; drawstrings, implicated in strangulations; and cribs, particularly older ones, with slats spaced much wider than 2 3/8 inches. Wide slats could let a baby’s body slip through but trap the baby’s head. Vehicles, tires, and child car seats. Defects range from inaccurate labeling about tire pressure to failing brakes. To find out about auto recalls, check with your dealer. If you get the runaround, peruse easy-to-read monthly recall archives by visiting www.nhtsa.dot.gov. Click on “Recalls,” then on “Monthly recall reports.” You can also do a manual search for your vehicle. If you suspect a hazard but there is no formal recall, click on “Complaints,” “Defects investigations,” or “Service bulletins,” which could flag problems. To report a problem by phone, call NHTSA’s hotline: 888-327-4236. Recalls related to vehicle emissions are handled by the Environmental Protection Agency; go to www.recalls.gov/epa.html. Although child car seats must come with registration cards, three of four recalled seats are never repaired. And 2.3 million were recalled in 2003. To find out whether a seat you own has been recalled since 1990, go to www.odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars /problems/recalls/childseat.cfm. Avoid buying a secondhand seat.
To report a serious food-borne illness or a drug you suspect has been tampered with, call 301-443-1240. For the latest U.S. Department of Agriculture recalls, visit www.fsis.usda.gov/FSIS_Recalls. To report a problem with meat or poultry or to ask about a recall, call the USDA hotline at 888-674-6854. The FDA has a hotline for other products, including seafood: 888-723-3366. The Food Allergy Network, at www.foodallergy.org, provides details on risks posed by nuts, dairy foods, shellfish, wheat, and more, and lets you sign up for e-mail about allergen-related recalls. Boats. Visit www.uscgboating.org and click on “Recalls & safety defects.” From there, you can file a complaint or link to a database to see if your boat was recalled. |
