Product Liability : "Made in China" Attorney
Defective products made in China and imported into this country can pose a risk of serious
injury. As a six year old boy rode his brand new made in China ATV, it sped up on its own and
the 110cc engine caught on fire. Look at his now burnt made in China toy.
This boy was in the burn unit at Shriners Hospital for Children - Cincinnati, for over a month
receiving skin grafts and will need many more surgeries in the future.
Made In China: Trouble in Toyland
The United States Senate in 2007, held hearings on ATV safety legislation. A representative of
the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission testified there that although major ATV
companies comply with industry safety standards, a significant number of new entrants, many
from China, sell ATVs that fail these standards. The Senate heard from a representative of
Yamaha Motor Corporation, USA, that many ATVs made in China are poorly manufactured.
The Senate heard that substandard ATVs made in China pose unnecessary risks to U.S.
consumers. In the case of our six year old client, the owners manual given to his grandfather
said it was designed for six to twelve year old kids. This toy, made in China, seriously injured
this boy.
In just a casual reading of comments to the ATV Connection forum http://forums.atvconnection.com, one sees the frustration with made in China ATV’s with
persons stating buyers will “live to regret it,” as they are “garbage” and they have their place in “landfills” and, finally, the comment “Have you not heard about all the unsafe products they
[China] are sending in the US with no regard. Lead paint baby toys, poison pet food, poison
toothpaste, many atv's are not capable of starting out of the crate.”
In an article “Trouble in Toyland: Ne Challenges for Mattel – “Made in China” published in the
Knowledge@Wharton Newsletter, Marshall Meyer, Wharton management professor and China
expert, says with regards to defective and unsafe made in China products ranging from tires to
medications “will most likely be suspect for a while, or regarded with a great deal of caution.”
Wharton’s business ethics professor, Thomas Donaldson, says it’s “not possible to always
guarantee the safety of toys or any other products. With regard to China, we are sourcing from a
place that is many decades away from the kinds of expertise . . . we take for granted in the U.S.”
Made In China Product Liability: Defective Tires
Most recently, another defective made in China product made the news. A June 12, 2008, news
article in Reuters noted that safety advocates urge motorists to inspect their tire valve stems for
cracks and to check their tire pressure in the wake of one distributor's recall of defective tire
valve stems made in China by Shanghai Baolong Industries Co. for Dill Air Control Products of
Oxford, N.C. and a federal probe into premature cracking prompted by a fatal rollover crash. As
many as 30 million replacement rubber valves stems, imported to the U.S.from China beginning
in August 2006, can crack prematurely, causing tires to lose air. Air loss at highway speeds may
result in a tire failure and loss-of-control crash. (The valve stem is a rubber tube with a metal
valve used to inflate the tire with air.) Dill has told NHTSA that as many as 30 million of the
made in China suspected valve stems have been distributed in the North American market. The
suspect made in China valve stems identified by Dill include its TR-413, TR-413 chrome,
TR-414 and TR-418 models, which were manufactured between August 2006 and November
2006.
Made in China Lawsuit: Defective ATV
In the case of a defective ATV imported into this country, there was a $3 million verdict in a
wrongful death case returned by a jury in Philadelphia, PA, in 2005, against Dinli Metal
Industrial Company, Ltd for a defectively made ATV: the rider lost control of the ATV when the
handle grip slipped off of the ATV.
Made in China ATVs by SunL are so bad that for a long time there was a web site,
www.sunlsucks.com., about it that for now has been taken down.
A challenge will be to obtain jurisdiction over this China company for a defective ATV. We will
fight to obtain jurisdiction over this China company, as we have against other foreigners, based
upon the contacts it had in the U.S. We will fight to win some measure of justice for this boy
whose life has been changed forever.
If you have suffered an injury from a product that was made in China, contact
my office today.
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