Bulletins

US consumer agency sues Amazon over 'defective' products

Faulty carbon monoxide detectors, hair dryers without electrocution guards and children's sleepwear that risks burns.

The Amazon logo

Amazon is facing a complaint from the Consumer Product Safety Commission over allegedly defective products.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is filing suit against Amazon over three sets of products that are allegedly defective and "pose a risk of serious injury or death to consumers."

The commission's Wednesday announcement cited "24,000 faulty carbon monoxide detectors that fail to alarm," as well as almost 400,000 hair dryers that didn't have the required protection against electrocution and children's sleepwear that risked burns.

The CPSC sought to make Amazon "accept responsibility for recalling potentially hazardous products." Different courts have ruled both that Amazon is and is not liable for products sold on the platform by third-party merchants.

The administrative complaint, which was approved by a 3-1 vote, said Amazon had notified consumers that had purchased some of the products and offered gift cards as refunds, but the CPSC called that "insufficient."

In a statement, Amazon said the CPSC was trying to force actions that were "almost entirely duplicative," according to a Reuters report.

Ben Brody

Ben Brody (@ BenBrodyDC) is a senior reporter at Protocol focusing on how Congress, courts and agencies affect the online world we live in. He formerly covered tech policy and lobbying (including antitrust, Section 230 and privacy) at Bloomberg News, where he previously reported on the influence industry, government ethics and the 2016 presidential election. Before that, Ben covered business news at CNNMoney and AdAge, and all manner of stories in and around New York. He still loves appearing on the New York news radio he grew up with.

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