Behind the Scenes

We won a victory for our most vulnerable in December: with bipartisan support, Congress passed the STURDY Act. This landmark law will help stop child injuries and deaths from furniture tip-overs. Beginning in mid-2023, all new dressers and other clothing storage furniture in the U.S. will have to meet strong stability requirements before going to market. 

A turning point in this decades-long fight was the lab testing CR developed in 2018, which showed how different dressers performed when 50 lb to 60 lb weights were hung from the drawers. CR’s Chief Scientific Officer James Dickerson recalls, “We designed tests to compare a dresser’s stability, and it became abundantly clear that one could design an intrinsically stable dresser at an affordable price point. Quite simply, some dressers were designed with inherent stability and others were not…but they all could be. The testing results cut through the arguments from manufacturers.”

CR undertook an in-depth investigation where we reported on the experience of parents like Janet McGee, who lost her son in 2016 to a dresser tip-over incident. Janet was in touch with other parents who suffered similar tragedies, and was passionate about preventing families from suffering the same pain and loss she endured. Many parents were working alone until CR helped them organize as a group and connect their personal stories to the change needed from industry and government. Parents Against Tip-overs (PAT) grew to more than a dozen advocates and has been recognized by leaders of the Consumer Product Safety Commission as the most successful parent advocacy group of its kind. 

CR’s Gabe Knight worked closely with PAT to get the law across the finish line and shared, “It’s hard to express enough gratitude to all the Parents Against Tip-overs—our courageous friends transformed their grief into action and selflessly shared their most painful experiences with the media, with policymakers, with industry, with other parents, so we could build the case for change.” 

CR is also grateful to partners like Kids In Danger and the Consumer Federation of America. As a result of our combined efforts, many manufacturers and retailers ended their opposition to strong standards and ultimately supported the legislation. Nothing can make up for the hundreds of young lives needlessly lost, but we can at last look forward to seeing tip-over deaths and injuries in the home decline—and save more parents from unimaginable heartbreak.

The story begins when a Colorado River guide crossed paths with a finance director and romance bloomed in the Grand Canyon. Owen shared his love of Consumer Reports, having grown up with a father who faithfully sought out the “frequency of repair” data in the annual auto issue. Patti shared a love of giving from her family. 

The Baynhams knew CR for product evaluations, but during a visit to our headquarters in 2016 they learned about CR’s advocacy for responsible standards. “CR is not like other organizations,” Patti shared “it is about social justice in terms of ensuring that products around the world are made responsibly, sold responsibly, and managed responsibly. People with money can get around that but people without money can’t—they have to buy what’s cheapest or what’s offered to them. So CR is making sure everyone is protected…and that’s important to me. ”

The Baynhams joined CR’s President’s Circle of donors who give $1,000+ and they chose to give on a monthly basis. Patti told us “I’ve been in finance for 40 years and I recognize how important it is to forecast your receipts accurately—it’s critical to be able to put plans in place. If you can’t in good faith assume you are going to have the money coming in, you have to cut programs or risk getting into huge financial trouble. Lots of nonprofits go forward on hope and a prayer…because so many people just give at year end.”

“(Giving monthly,) it’s a whole lot easier for me to say this is how much we want to give as a baseline and it’s a whole lot less work at the end of the year when we’re busy doing other things. We believe that by giving regularly we are doing more to make nonprofits successful than if we gave the same amount at year end.”

CR is deeply grateful to Owen and Patti for their generous and regular support. If you would like to join them as monthly donors, you can sign up at cr.org/champion. And for more information about the President’s Circle, please contact Olivier Szlos at olivier.szlos@consumer.org or call 914-378-2881.

When your phone or computer is broken, you often get two choices: Hand it over to the manufacturer’s expensive repair service, or throw it away and buy a new one. Each year, it is estimated that 100 million smartphones and 41 million computers find their way to US landfills. But, according to a 2021 CR survey, 84% of Americans agree with a policy to require manufacturers to make repair information and parts available either to independent repair professionals or to product owners. Consumers in New York state now have that right for digital devices. The Digital Fair Repair Act empowers New Yorkers to fix smartphones, computers, tablets, and other digital devices by a repair service they choose—or to repair it themselves—rather than being forced to go through the device manufacturer. CR advocate Chuck Bell shared that thousands of New Yorkers emailed and called Governor Kathy Hochul to encourage her to stand up to industry opposition and make this the first law of its kind in the nation. Chuck noted “This is a huge milestone—once manufacturers make it possible for consumers in one state to fix their products, the barriers start to come down across the country and for that matter across the world.”

Johnny Mathias joined Consumer Reports in the fall as Director of Corporate Strategy & Engagement. He brings more than a decade of experience in corporate, policy and electoral campaigns, and led engagement with the tech industry at Color Of Change. Johnny lives in Oak Park, Illinois and has a BA in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland. 

Q: What brought you to CR?
My Dad has been a CR member for my entire life and I’ve been reading his issues since I was a kid. I was deeply concerned about the value proposition of a midsize sedan 20 years before I ever purchased a car! When I was 12, I remember taking the magazine to Best Buy to purchase my first discman. It was only later in my life that I realized the magazine was helping to nurture a fundamental part of my worldview. Consumers deserve good quality products that not only serve their needs but also represent their values from companies that are thoughtful and honest about their impact on the world. 

Q: What are you most excited about at CR?
I’m excited to work with experts like Delicia Hand who is zooming in on digital financial products. The way people bank and engage in the economy is changing rapidly. It’s an amazing opportunity to set standards for companies who are helping consumers pay their friends, access credit, and send money to people in other countries. 

I’m also working with Will Wallace and Oriene Shin, our safety policy experts, about what more we can do in online marketplaces. These days, e-commerce platforms are product search engines. Deciding to start at Amazon or Walmart or Costco may be the most important purchase decision you make. Those platforms need to take responsibility for the safety of all the products they sell. 

Q: What does a fair and safe marketplace look like?
It’s one where consumers can choose between multiple competing options—in broadband we’ve shown that if you have more choices, price and service are better for consumers. And we need choices we understand—so many products have pages and pages of terms of service that don’t provide meaningful consent, and use legal minutia to scare consumers away from exercising their rights. Over my lifetime, many products have gotten immensely more capable, but their support has declined tremendously. Companies need to stand behind the products and services they provide. 

Q: We heard you are involved with a local food co-op — is food a passion?
Food is a passion and a large part of how I spend my time outside of CR. I’m a member of the board at the Sugar Beet Food Co-Op in Oak Park, just a couple of blocks from home. It does a great job of providing high quality food, along with good jobs and community building. When it’s cold, my happy place is in the kitchen with my dutch oven. Throw in some onion with some butter and anything that comes after is bliss. My mom now lives in Dublin, and March for me is about St. Patrick’s Day. I bring Irish soda bread into the office, make shepherd’s pie, and corn a beef brisket. I enjoy celebrating our overlooked Irish (and Irish American) culinary culture.