Consumer Reports Recalls Gift for Safety Hazards

May 8, 2002 7:29 am EST, By Justin Hyde

DETROIT (Reuters) - Consumer Reports magazine, the bible of wary shoppers, gave about 15,000 new subscribers an unexpected welcome for signing up -- a defective tire pressure gauge and a flashlight that could overheat and start a fire.

Federal regulators said on Tuesday that Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports, would take back a glove compartment organizer it had sent as a gift that included the flashlight and tire gauge.

U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration warned owners that they should immediately remove the batteries from the flashlight and throw it and the tire gauge away.

"Consumers Union learned a valuable lesson," Consumers Union President and Chief Executive Jim Guest said in a column slated to run in the next issue of the magazine under the headline "Caveat Emptor Hits Home."

"We need to test any product that we offer as a premium in our own labs with the same rigor with which we rate the products you see in Consumer Reports," he said.

Consumer Reports has 4 million subscribers for its advertisement-free magazine of product tests for everything from automobiles to yogurt. Consumers Union says it spends $20 million a year testing products, supported through donations and subscriptions. The organization, whose mission is to "test products, inform the public and protect consumers," also lobbies for tougher state and federal consumer protection laws.

Consumer Reports said it received eight complaints from subscribers in late April about the kits. Two people reported minor burns from the flashlight, while others reported its case had melted and two complained about the tire gauge's accuracy.

It tested the Chinese-built flashlight and gauge in its labs, and both failed. The magazine said it notified the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission, and was in the process of sending letters to subscribers who received the kits when the federal agency announced the recall Tuesday.

Consumers Union said it was urging the importer it bought the devices from to also do a recall. Subscribers who received the kit will get six extra issues of the magazine if they return the flashlight and gauge or tell Consumers Union they threw them away. They can also cancel their subscription early.

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2002

Answers

Poor CR! Oh the humiliation!

-- Anonymous, May 10, 2002