The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) on Wednesday filed an administrative complaint against Amazon.com, to force the world’s largest retailer to accept responsibility for recalling potentially hazardous products sold on its online platform.
CPSC said in a statement on its website that the specific products are defective and pose a risk of serious injury or death to consumers and that Amazon is legally responsible to recall them.
The products include 24,000 faulty carbon monoxide detectors that fail to alarm, numerous children’s sleepwear garments that are in violation of the flammable fabric safety standard risking burn injuries to children, and nearly 400,000 hair dryers sold without the required immersion protection devices that protect consumers against shock and electrocution, the statement explained.
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The Commission voted 3-1 to approve the complaint, which seeks to force Amazon, as a distributor of the products, to stop selling these products, work with CPSC staff on a recall of the products and to directly notify consumers who purchased them about the recall and offer them a full refund.
“Although Amazon has taken certain action with respect to some of the named products, the complaint charges that those actions are insufficient,” the CPSC said.
CPSC Acting Chairman Robert Adler said, “Today’s vote to file an administrative complaint against Amazon was a huge step forward for this small agency,” says Acting Chairman Robert Adler. “But it’s a huge step across a vast desert—we must grapple with how to deal with these massive third-party platforms more efficiently, and how best to protect the American consumers who rely on them.”
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Amazon said in a statement it was "unclear" why the CPSC rejected its offer to expand its recall program, including for products sold by third parties, or sued to force actions "almost entirely duplicative" of what it had taken.
The company said it had removed "the vast majority" of the products in question from its store and provided full customer refunds.
Customer safety is a top priority and we take prompt action to protect customers when we are aware of a safety concern,” Amazon spokesperson Mary Kate McCarthy said in a statement in response to the CPSC’s complaint.
