Amazon Recalls Nearly Half A Million Products That Could Kill You

Amazon had to quickly recall a sizable chunk of its inventory -- more than 400,000 products. Per Ars Technica, Amazon didn't adequately alert over 300,000 customers of the risks of the items sold through the website. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission tested more than 400,000 third-party products.

Videos by Wide Open Country

The commission "unanimously voted to hold Amazon legally responsible for third-party sellers' defective products," per Ars Technica. This forces Amazon to make a CPSC-approved plan. The plan is designed to properly recall many dangerous products that could see wide usage in homes. This includes flammable children's pajamas, faulty carbon monoxide detectors, and unsafe hair dryers -- the last of which can cause electrocution.

The CPSC would issue the following statement. "If the

remain in consumers' possession, children will continue to wear sleepwear garments that could ignite and result in injury or death. Consumers will unwittingly rely on defective [carbon monoxide] detectors that will never alert them to the presence of deadly carbon monoxide in their homes. And consumers will use the hair dryers they purchased, which lack immersion protection, in the bathroom near water, leaving them vulnerable to electrocution."

Said products were sold from 2018 to 2021. The CPSC didn't approve of Amazon's messaging to customers, saying Amazon had "downplayed the severity" of the faulty products. In those messages, Amazon only went as far as warning customers of potential risks. That the products "may fail" to meet federal safety standards.

Amazon Is Forced To Recall Almost Half A Million Dangerous Products

Amazon also apparently dodged the usage of "recall" in the language behind the messages. Distributors are required to specifically use the term when addressing customers about potential product malfunctions.

"Instead, Amazon opted to use much less alarming subject lines that said, 'Attention: Important safety notice about your past Amazon order.' Or 'Important safety notice about your past Amazon order,'" Technica reports.

"Amazon then left it up to customers to destroy products and explicitly discouraged them from making returns. The e-commerce giant also gave every affected customer a gift card without requiring proof of destruction. Or adequately providing public notice or informing customers of actual hazards, as can be required by law to ensure public safety."

The master list of affected products is too numerous to record here, unfortunately. However, Amazon recalls have a safety alert section you can refer to when checking specific items!