How a Product Recall Works

June 21, 2012 6:30 AM

Improving Your Powers of Recall

Six government agencies oversee product recalls, creating a morass for consumers hoping to determine if something they own has been pulled from the shelves. There's a good chance they do: Half of U.S. households are likely to own a product that's been recalled in any given year. Here are strategies to make your home genuinely safer.

STUFF YOU ALREADY OWN

Start by performing triage: Identify products, such as car seats or ATVs, that are most likely to pose an immediate danger if defective and see if they are listed at recalls.gov (or simply enter the brand and model into a search engine along with the word "recall"). A growing number of apps, blogs, Facebook pages, and Twitter feeds also announce recalls.

STUFF YOU PLAN TO BUY

Register all new purchases with the manufacturers. (You're not required to provide demographic information; basic contact info is fine.) Alternatively, you can register them with various recall-tracking entities; the CPSC offers such a service, as does wemakeitsafer.com.

RECALLED POSSESSIONS

In many cases, just knowing about the problem may help you avoid it. After assessing the risk posed by recalled products I owned, I decided to ignore topple-over warnings for a toddler's chair, send for the fix offered for our kid's bike trailer, and replace the childproof locks on our kitchen cabinets. One thing you can't do: sell your recalled gear. That's illegal.

EVERYTHING ELSE

The majority of injuries aren't the result of product defects but consumer misuse. Learn how to properly secure your pool fence, use that new power tool, and install your child's car seat?improper installation is the single greatest danger children riding in them face.

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