Product Recalls

Moving to correct what federal regulators have termed a "very dangerous problem," Toyota Motor Corp. said it would modify and replace gas pedals on 4.26 million cars and trucks to reduce the vehicles' risk of accelerating out of control. Toyota said the measures were designed to prevent floor mats from jamming the accelerator pedal open. As an additional precaution, the Japanese automaker said most of its cars would be modified so that the brake overrides the accelerator if both pedals are pressed at the same time.

Have you ever been out shopping, looked at a product and wondered if it's the subject of a government safety recall? Me neither. But just in case it comes up, there is now a federally sponsored app for that. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which operates the recalls.gov website that puts out warnings about recalled products, offers the app for free. It's only for mobile devices that use the Android operating system -- no iPhone version yet. Here's how the site describes the app: “Whether you're at your child's day care center of a yard sale, whether you're at a store or at home, you can now type a product's name into your phone and learn immediately whether that product has been recalled because of a safety concern.” It could come in handy if you're out shopping for, say, a fold-out bed and come across the Fold-Out Sleeper Ottoman made by the Perfect Generation World company.

Bridgestone/Firestone announced a recall Thursday of about 490,000 Steeltex tires linked to sport utility vehicle crashes in which five people were killed. The move headed off an investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of Firestone's Steeltex Radial A/T LT265/75R16 Load Range D tires, which have been linked to six crashes, three of which involved fatalities. The tires, manufactured in Canada, were made for use on 2002-03 Ford Excursions and some early 2003 models.

Fruta Planta, a supplement that some users might consider "natural" and thus "healthy," is the latest weight-loss product to be recalled by its maker after a Food and Drug Administration warning. Apparently the product known as  Fruta Planta or Reduce Weight Fruta Planta has been linked to several heart attacks and one death. This Orlando Sentinel story says one of the ingredients -- sibutramine, pulled from the market in December --  caused the agency to act. The article states: "Sibutramine is known to increase blood pressure and pulse rate in some patients and may present a serious risk for those with a history of coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure , arrhythmias or stroke.

Two controversial diet drugs were removed from the market Monday after new evidence linked them to potentially serious heart valve problems, effectively ending the commonly known fen-phen combination that had been popular among those seeking to shed pounds. The Food and Drug Administration requested the withdrawal of the drugs fenfluramine, sold as Pondimin, and dexfenfluramine, sold as Redux.

Allergan Inc. said Monday that it has voluntarily recalled about 400,000 bottles of contact lens solution it expected to sell worldwide. The Irvine maker and marketer of therapeutic products said it will take a $4-million pretax charge in its first quarter because of the recall. Jeff D'Eliscu, a company spokesman, said the charge will reduce the company's first-quarter earnings to 34 cents a share, off four cents a share from analysts' consensus projections.

Thor Industries Inc. and Fleetwood Enterprises Inc. said a supplier was recalling on-board refrigerators in 231,351 motor homes and trailers to fix a possible fire hazard. The affected RVs have refrigerators made by Dometic Corp., Fleetwood and a Thor unit wrote in letters to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Fires in at least eight trailers built by Thor's Keystone RV "appear to be related" to coolant leaked from cracked refrigerator tubing, Keystone told the agency.

A malfunctioning cleaning system in a Los Angeles milk production plant probably accelerated bacterial growth in a tank of nonfat milk, state officials said Friday, which caused about 100 people to fall ill and led to the voluntary recall of the milk. Officials of Vons Companies Inc., however, said there was no connection between the cleaning system and the spoiled milk.

Mattel Inc. recalled an additional 38,000 Go Diego Go! toys as part of a larger recall of 665,000 lead-contaminated products, the government said.

Ever walk into a post office and actually check out the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted" list, just to see the latest bad guys? Now a different list is on its way to your local mail station, and it won't include bank robbers or murdering thugs. But this set of pictures poses a new set of dangers. It's a list of recalled items, put out by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Hyundai Motor Co. is recalling close to 140,000 of its 2011 Sonata sedans because of concerns that an improperly assembled steering column could cause drivers to lose control, the company said Sunday. The carmaker said it knew of fewer than 10 instances of drivers reporting issues with steering on the new Sonata, manufactured in Montgomery, Ala. No injuries or accidents related to the problem had been reported at the time of the recall, the company said. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been investigating the 2011 Sonata since late August, after consumers reported that they had lost the ability to steer the cars.

The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday announced a potentially massive recall of salad dressing, chip dip, soup mixes and other foods made with a commonly used food additive that may be contaminated with salmonella. Among the products being taken off store shelves is a potato salad from an Oregon supplier, according to the Oregonian newspaper, that makes products distributed under the Safeway and Wal-Mart brands. Safeway Inc. said Thursday that it was removing its Red Potato Salad with Dill products from its Vons and Pavilions stores, as well as its self-named markets.

More than 60 drivers have complained of sudden acceleration incidents despite the fact that their cars were repaired by Toyota Motor Corp. in the current recalls, new data released Thursday show. The latest figure, released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, significantly increases the total number of complaints involving repaired vehicles, which was less than 10 on Tuesday. The new complaints allege several accidents and at least three injuries resulting from runaway unintended acceleration despite the vehicles' undergoing a series of modifications at Toyota dealerships designed to resolve the issue.

Detectives in Florida are reopening the investigation into a toddler's death that helped spark one of the largest crib recalls in U.S. history. Serenity Bergey was found dead Sept. 19, 2007, her head caught between a drop railing and the mattress of her broken crib. The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office ruled the 2-year-old girl's death an accidental asphyxiation. But detectives never considered it just an accident. In light of new information, they are pursuing criminal charges against the mother.

Apologizing for Toyota's missteps in dealing with defects blamed in dozens of fatalities, a contrite Akio Toyoda told members of Congress that his company's rapid growth had "confused" the priority it places on safety. "Quite frankly, I fear the pace at which we have grown may have been too quick," the president of Toyota Motor Corp. said during more than three hours of testimony. "I regret that this has resulted in the safety issues described in the recalls we face today, and I am deeply sorry for any accidents that Toyota drivers have experienced."

Toyota Motor Corp. officials took credit for saving hundreds of millions of dollars by persuading federal regulators to limit or avoid safety recalls and rules, a company document released Sunday shows. The document, an internal company presentation, depicts an automaker focused on getting what it termed "favorable recall outcomes" from regulators, with a goal of saving money even as the death toll climbed from accidents in which Toyota vehicles accelerated uncontrollably. The presentation by executives in the company's Washington, D.C., office was addressed to Yoshimi Inaba, Toyota's top U.S. executive, and dated July 6, 2009 -- months before the sudden-acceleration problem was widely known outside Toyota and the federal highway regulatory agency.

Superior Dairy of Canton, Ohio, is recalling some Chipwich and other ice cream products because of evidence of contamination with Listeria monocytogenes, a type of bacteria, the Food and Drug Administration said Thursday. Products being recalled include Chipwich ice cream sandwiches and Love Bites ice cream novelties distributed nationally, Knudsen Cookies and Cream sandwiches distributed in California and Drumsticks distributed in the Midwest and the East.

The government's consumer safety agency issued warnings Wednesday about three products for children: highchairs that can collapse, cribs with dangerous mattresses and Barbie sunglasses that contain a potentially lethal substance. Graco Children's Products Inc., based in Elverson, Pa., is recalling 860,000 highchairs for repair after receiving 108 reports that the highchair legs came out of the seat and the chair fell, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said.

Toyota is recalling its 2010 Prius and Lexus hybrids worldwide because of brake problems, marking another setback for a carmaker already plagued with recalls and suspended sales because of safety issues. The recall will include 437,000 vehicles, including 133,000 Prius and 14,500 Lexus models in the U.S. to update software in their anti-lock brake systems. In addition, the company is recalling about 7,300 of its 4-cylinder 2010 Camrys in the U.S., also for a possible brake-related problem.

Between the Super Bowl and word that thousands of Prius hybrids could soon join the millions of vehicles already being recalled, Sunday threatened to be an awful day at Toyota of Glendale. But a slow stream of customers headed into its Brand Boulevard showroom throughout the morning and early afternoon. Some were looking for bargains, some for answers and some loyal customers were looking to buy. This weekend a company spokesman said Toyota was considering recalling its 2010 Prius hybrids because of problems with the anti-lock brake system.