Thousands of people are killed and millions more are injured each year by dangerous consumer products. These deaths and injuries result from products with design or manufacturing defects or inadequate warnings about their inherent risks.
Although the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) monitors reports regarding injuries and fatalities potentially related to consumer goods and has the authority to issue recalls of certain products, recalls are rarely issued until innocent people have suffered harm.
Since 1973, Carr & Carr Injury Attorneys has represented Oklahoma families harmed by defective products, pursuing compensation when manufacturers prioritize profits over safety. Contact our defective product lawyer in Oklahoma to discuss injuries caused by defective or recalled products during a free consultation.
Key Takeaways for Consumer Product Recalls
- Medical devices and pharmaceuticals account for significant recalls annually, with the FDA maintaining updated lists of Class I, II, and III recalls
- More than 950 motor vehicle and auto part recalls were issued in 2024, affecting 27.7 million vehicles, with 72.7 million vehicles still unrepaired as of 2025
- Household appliances cause over 214,000 emergency room visits from refrigerators and 152,000 from ranges/ovens between 2020-2024, with tip-over incidents injuring approximately 22,500 people yearly
- Product liability claims in Oklahoma require proving the product was defective due to design flaws, manufacturing defects, or failure to warn, and that the defect directly caused your injury while you were using the product properly
- Oklahoma’s two-year statute of limitations for product liability claims means prompt legal consultation protects your rights, though the clock may not start until injuries are discovered in cases involving gradual harm
How and Why Products Get Recalled
Consumers rightfully expect that products they buy are safe when used as directed for their intended purpose. However, each year,approximately 49,000 people are killed and 34 million more are injured from defective products.
In the United States, product safety is overseen by agencies including the CPSC, which regulates more than 15,000 types of consumer goods; theNational Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which provides oversight of on-road motor vehicles; and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which regulates consumable goods as well as medications and medical devices.
If a product is found to be unsafe for consumer use after it has reached the market, the appropriate agency may work with the product manufacturer to stop sales of the product and initiate a recall. Each of these agencies also has authority to issue recalls independent of manufacturer support.
Three Types of Product Defects
Most recalls hinge on one of three basic types of product defects:
- Design Flaws: Some deficiency in a product’s design makes it unreasonably dangerous for its intended use. Design defects affect entire product lines because the flaw exists in the original blueprint before manufacturing begins.
- Manufacturing Defects: A fault in the production process contaminates the product or otherwise results in the product being unreasonably dangerous. Manufacturing defects typically affect specific batches or units rather than all products of that model.
- Failure to Warn: The product’s manufacturer or seller fails to provide adequate instructions for proper use or fails to provide warnings of the product’s potential side-effects or risks. These cases often involve products that are inherently dangerous but reasonably safe when proper warnings are given.
When defective products cause harm, Oklahoma consumers may take legal action to recover compensation for associated medical expenses and other related damages.
Most Commonly Recalled Consumer Products
Any consumer good can be harmful if used improperly, but certain groups of products are more frequently involved in recalls and product liability lawsuits than others.
Medical Devices
Medical equipment is one of the most recalled consumer product categories. Faulty medical devices may be recalled at the manufacturer’s own initiative or at the request of the FDA.
Medical device recalls fall under one of three FDA-established classifications:
- Class I: A dangerous or defective product that could cause serious health problems or death
- Class II: A dangerous or defective product that may cause a temporary health problem or pose a slight threat of a serious health problem
- Class III: A product that is unlikely to cause an adverse health reaction but violates FDA labeling or manufacturing regulations
Common medical device recalls include defective pacemakers, faulty surgical mesh used in hernia repair, hip and knee implants with design defects, insulin pumps with malfunction risks, and contaminated contact lenses or solutions.
Medical device injuries often involve ongoing health complications requiring additional surgeries, infections from contaminated devices, device failures during critical moments, and long-term pain or disability from faulty implants. The FDA keeps an updated list of current device recalls here.
Prescription and Over-the-Counter Drugs
As with medical devices, drug recalls may be initiated by the manufacturer or the FDA. Pharmaceutical recalls follow the same classification system as medical device recalls.
Drug recalls are often triggered by discovery of previously unknown side-effects or adverse reactions with other medications, errors in the manufacturing process creating contamination or incorrect dosages, inadequate warnings of the medication’s risks, and mislabeling that causes dangerous dosing errors.
Common pharmaceutical recalls in recent years (2024-2025) include:
- Cholesterol medications like atorvastatin failing dissolution tests
- Blood pressure drugs such as carvedilol and prazosin contaminated with cancer-linked impurities
- Antibiotics like clindamycin with microbial issues
- Heartburn injections like famotidine due to quality failures
- Various generics with manufacturing defects or foreign particles
Motor Vehicles and Vehicle Parts
Defective vehicles and faulty vehicle parts jeopardize the safety of operators, occupants, and other road users. The NHTSA reported over 950 recalls in 2024 affecting 27.7 million vehicles, with 72.7 million still unrepaired as of 2025.
In many states, both vehicle manufacturers and dealerships are required to notify vehicle owners about recalls. But vehicle owners don’t always receive these notices, and recalls are often not issued until the defects have contributed to injuries or deaths.
Common vehicle and auto part recalls include:
Airbag Defects: Takata airbag recalls affected millions of vehicles when airbags were found to deploy with excessive force, sending metal shrapnel into vehicle occupants. These defects caused numerous fatalities and serious injuries across Oklahoma and nationwide. Recent issues now include electronic deployment sensors and other airbag malfunctions.
Brake System Failures: Defects like failed brake lines, defective pads, and electronic brake malfunctions prevent proper stopping; 2025 Ford and BMW models highlight ongoing electronic stability control problems.
Steering System Problems: Power steering failures, column defects, and electronic steering issues lead to loss of control, with Ford’s 140+ recalls in 2025 often citing power assist losses.
Fuel System Defects: Fuel leaks, defective fuel pumps, and fuel tank design flaws that create fire and explosion risks.
Tire Defects: Tread separation, sidewall failures, and manufacturing defects causing blowouts at highway speeds.
Recalls may relate to design flaws that make a vehicle model unreasonably dangerous, such as features that make vehicles prone to rollovers, or individual systems or parts affecting safety and operation.
Household Appliances and Furnishings
The CPSC reports over 214,000 emergency room visits from refrigerators and 152,000 from ranges/ovens between 2020 and 2024 alone, with all tip-over incidents injuring approximately 22,500 people yearly (44% of whom are children under 18). Many victims are young children harmed by furniture or appliances that tip and crush.
Often, these incidents occur because the product was defectively designed or a manufacturing flaw made it unreasonably dangerous.
The most commonly recalled household appliances and furnishings include:
Kitchen Appliances: Ranges and ovens with fire hazards, refrigerators and freezers with electrical defects, dishwashers with water leakage or laceration risks (42% of injuries), and countertop appliances including pressure cookers, air fryers, and coffee makers with burn or explosion hazards.
Laundry Equipment: Clothes washers and dryers with fire risks from lint buildup or electrical defects, machines with lid lock failures causing injury during operation.
Climate Control: Air conditioners and heaters with fire or carbon monoxide risks, space heaters with tip-over hazards, and fans with blade detachment risks.
Furniture: Dressers and cabinets that tip over when not anchored (down 55% since 2011 but still fatal), shelving units that collapse, and beds or cribs with entrapment hazards.
Appliance and furniture injuries range from burns and electrocution to crush injuries when heavy items tip, particularly affecting children who climb or pull drawers.
Children’s Products
From clothing to toys, hundreds of thousands of children’s products are recalled each year. Children are especially vulnerable since they cannot assess risks like adults. Among the most commonly recalled children’s goods are:
Infant Equipment: Strollers with collapse or entrapment hazards, car seats with harness defects or structural failures, cribs and playpens with entrapment or suffocation risks, high chairs with fall or entrapment hazards, and infant sleepers linked to suffocation deaths.
Toys: Small parts creating choking hazards for kids under three, toys with sharp edges or points, battery-powered toys with burn risks from overheating, magnetic toys causing internal injuries when swallowed, and ride-on toys with tip-over or collision risks.
Children’s Clothing: Garments that don’t meet fire-resistance standards, clothing with drawstrings creating strangulation risks, and items with small decorative elements that detach and become choking hazards.
Nursery Accessories: Baby monitors with electrical fire risks, changing tables with structural failures, baby gates with entrapment hazards, and bathing equipment with drowning or scalding risks.
Other Commonly Recalled Products
Dangerous products aren’t limited to the categories detailed above. Each year, a wide variety of food products, housewares, sports and recreational equipment, and lawn and garden goods are recalled due to health and safety risks.
Product Liability Claims in Oklahoma
If you were harmed or a loved one was killed by a defective product, you may be eligible to seek compensation for medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, and other damages through a lawsuit. Cases involving defective consumer goods are sometimes referred to as product liability claims, and they may be single lawsuits or class actions involving multiple individuals.
Elements of a Product Liability Claim
A successful product liability claim must establish four key elements:
The Product Was Defective: The product had a design flaw, manufacturing defect, or failure to warn of potential side effects or hazards.
You Suffered Injuries or Losses: The defective product caused actual harm requiring medical treatment, time off work, or other measurable damages.
The Defect Caused Your Injury: Direct connection exists between the product defect and your injuries. The defect must be the cause of harm, not just present when injuries occurred.
You Used the Product Properly: You were using the product for its intended purpose and according to directions. Misuse or modification of products may affect liability.
Compensation Available in Product Liability Cases
Oklahoma law allows recovery of several types of damages in product liability claims:
Economic Damages: Medical expenses including emergency treatment, surgery, hospitalization, rehabilitation, and future medical care; lost wages from missed work during recovery; loss of earning capacity if injuries create permanent work limitations; and property damage or replacement costs.
Non-economic Damages: Pain and suffering from physical injuries and emotional distress; loss of life enjoyment and inability to participate in activities; disfigurement and scarring; and emotional trauma from the incident and ongoing effects.
Wrongful Death Damages: When defective products cause fatal injuries, surviving family members may pursue wrongful death claims seeking compensation for funeral and burial expenses, medical expenses before death, lost financial support, and loss of companionship and guidance.
Oklahoma’s Two-Year Statute of Limitations
Oklahoma law requires filing product liability lawsuits within two years of injury. This deadline applies strictly, and missing it generally bars claims permanently. For wrongful death cases, the two-year period runs from the date of death.
Some product injuries don’t become apparent immediately. Defective medical devices or dangerous drugs may cause harm that develops gradually over months or years. In such cases, the statute of limitations may not begin to run until the injury is discovered or should have been discovered. These are complex legal questions, so consult with an Oklahoma product liability lawyer promptly after discovering injuries to protect your rights.
FAQ for Most Commonly Recalled Consumer Products
How Do I Know If a Product I Use Has Been Recalled?
Check the CPSC website for consumer product recalls, the NHTSA website for vehicle recalls, and the FDA website for medical device and drug recalls. You may also sign up for email alerts from these agencies. Manufacturers and retailers are required to notify consumers about recalls when contact information is available through product registration.
Can I File a Lawsuit If the Product Was Recalled After My Injury?
Yes. The fact that a recall was issued after your injury could strengthen your claim by providing evidence that the manufacturer knew or should have known about the defect. Manufacturers may face liability for injuries that occur before recalls if they fail to identify and address defects promptly.
Do I Have a Case If I Kept Using a Product After a Recall Notice?
Continuing to use a product after receiving a recall notice may affect your claim, but it doesn’t automatically prevent recovery. Oklahoma’s comparative fault system allows recovery if you’re 50% or less at fault, with compensation reduced proportionally. Circumstances matter, including whether the recall notice adequately explains the risks and provides remedies.
Who Is Responsible for Injuries Caused by a Defective or Recalled Product?
Multiple parties may face liability, including product manufacturers, component part makers who supplied defective parts, distributors and wholesalers in the supply chain, and retailers who sold the product. Product liability law often allows injured people to pursue claims against all parties in the distribution chain.
Do I Need a Lawyer for an Injury Caused by a Recalled Product?
Product liability claims involve complex legal issues, including proving that defects existed, establishing that defects caused injuries, and pursuing claims against manufacturers with substantial legal resources. Having an Oklahoma product liability attorney means your case is thoroughly investigated, evidence is preserved, and you have an advocate on your side of the negotiation table.
Holding Manufacturers Accountable for Dangerous Products
Defective products cause preventable injuries throughout Oklahoma and across the nation every day. Manufacturers who prioritize profits over safety and fail to adequately test products, address known defects, or warn consumers about risks should be held accountable when their negligence causes harm.
Contact Carr & Carr Injury Attorneys to discuss injuries caused by defective or recalled products. We’ll listen to what happened, review the evidence, and provide an honest assessment of your legal options during a free consultation.
We’ve served Oklahoma families for five decades, and we understand how to build product liability cases that hold negligent manufacturers accountable.
