WASHINGTON — A December 2020 lawsuit involving the United States government and Kidde, a North Carolina-based fire extinguisher manufacturer, has been settled.
According to the documents that were just made available, Kidde does not admit that the law has been violated and believes the settlement is appropriate to avoid the time and expense of litigation.
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As part of the settlement, Kidde will pay $12 million to the United States as a civil penalty.
While they don’t admit any fact or allegation in the complaint, Kidde agrees that the facts alleged in the paperwork will be taken as true “solely for purposes of any subsequent civil litigation filed by or on behalf of the United States to enforce its rights to payment under this Section.”
Kidde will immediately report to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) whenever they have information that any consumer product distributed and manufactured or imported by Kidde contains a defect which could create a “substantial product hazard” or creates an unreasonable risk of serious injury or death.
Under the settlement, Kidde will also continue to operate under a compliance program designed to ensure compliance with the safety statutes and regulations enforced by the Commission.
You can read more about the details of the settlement by clicking HERE.
“The problem with the Kidde fire extinguishers is they may not spray,” Action 9 investigator Jason Stoogenke first reported. “The extinguishers may take too much strength to get them to work, or the nozzles may fly off and hurt someone.”
Kidde told the CPSC about the issues in 2014. There was a recall in 2015 following that.
But the CPSC said Kidde knew more than it shared, so the attorneys for the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit.
For example, the CPSC said the company knew about “at least 100” cases of problems but only mentioned 12. The CPSC also said Kidde came across more problems after the recall but didn’t say anything until 2017.
That led to one of the biggest recalls in CPSC history: 134 models made between 1973 and 2017, which is nearly 38 million extinguishers.
It’s been more than three years, so you should have replaced your extinguisher by now. In case you haven’t, make sure you aren’t using a possibly dangerous one.
Click here for here are all 134 recalled models:
The model number is printed on the extinguisher’s label. And here’s the tricky part: some have the Kidde name, some don’t.
Kidde told us about the settlement in a statement:
“Kidde has reached a settlement with the Department of Justice regarding activities relating to the 2015 voluntary recall of certain fire extinguishers.
“The quality of our products and the safety of our customers has always been our top priority.
“In 2017, Kidde worked closely with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to initiate a voluntary, broad recall of specific product lines upon discovering safety issues that impacted the ability to activate these fire extinguishers. We worked closely with relevant authorities to ensure that these fire extinguishers were recalled as quickly as possible and replaced with different, unaffected models.
“Since this recall, we have made many improvements to product safety, including conducting robust product safety assessments on both new and existing products, and enhancing our customer service processes.
“We remain committed to providing safe and reliable fire safety products for our customers around the globe.”
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