Recall Frequency

ThisGirlInAustin

Maybe it's my imagination or maybe I just pay more attention to such things than I used to, but it seems like in the last year or two there are so many more product recalls than there used to be. Anybody else feel this way too? If the frequency has increased, I have to wonder why.

AustinBride06

My theory is that there is more safety oversight now.  Maybe food/drug companies are getting more inspections or there are more complaints.  Same w/ furniture/toy/etc companies.  From what the movie Fight Club taught me, if the cost of the recall will be less than the amount they expect to pay because of lawsuits, they will do the recall.  If not, they won't.

ETA: what I was getting at is that maybe the agencies that oversee them are stricter so that the companies are less willing to take chances and not do the recalls nowadays.  Fine with me - I'd rather be safe than sorry.

ssinca

I'm thinking a couple of things:

1. with the interwebz, it's easier to relay the info to consumers.  I'm sure the media likes to hype the recalls, too.

2. it's much cheaper for most products to be made overseas.  companies don't always do due diligence to make sure factories are complying with safety issues.  i.e. the toy issues we had a few years back.

Spanishbeauty

I would *like* to think it's because there are more stringent rules on safety.  But, I might just be fooling myself.

Kinks

I think a lot of it has to do with the high-profile recalls of Chinese goods in the past year or two -- the media are much more sensitive to that stuff and more likely to pick up on it and spread it around now. That may also have contributed to more inspections.