Whether it is a gift or a new purchase, we purchase and use consumer goods with the idea that they will work and complete the tasks that they were designed for. In some cases, a product will work just fine initially. However, due to a defect, the product malfunctions. While this could mean the product is simply broken and will not work, it could mean the consumer suffers injuries due to the malfunction.
How common are consumer product injuries? According to data from 2017, around 10.5 million people in the U.S. were treated in the emergency department for injuries that were caused by a consumer product. In many of these cases, the victims were injured from everyday products that were assumed to be safe. It was also found that many these incidents involved the most vulnerable populations — the elderly and young children.
Very common products can cause consumer product injuries. These products include household cleaning products, televisions and even beds. The top three consumer product injuries were explored. The top category is stairs, ramps, landings and floors. This is followed by beds, pillows and mattresses. The third category is chairs, sofas and sofa beds. For children ages zero to four, the top three products that cause injuries are soaps and detergents, television sets and stands and cooking ranges and ovens.
Although there are many steps in the designing, manufacturing and sale of products, mistakes and errors could be made. While a simple error or misstep may not look like much, it could cause a chain of events that could cause a safe product to be come dangerous or even deadly. In these cases, it is important to question how the situation arose and what party or parties are liable for the defect. Through a products liability action, injured consumers could pursue compensation for the injuries and losses they suffered.