Wal-Mart Accused of Selling Dangerous Exercise Equipment

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) are suing Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., for the retailer's failure to report serious safety hazards associated with two pieces of exercise equipment sold as its stores.

Between 1996 and 1999, Wal-Mart sold the Weider Power Glide, model WECR4406, and Welso Shape Trainer, model WLCR 4356, two exercise machines that work when the seat slides along a track as the occupant pulls or pushes the handlebars. According to the CPSC, the machines are defective in that the link-arm supporting the seat can unexpectedly disconnect during use, allowing the occupant to suddenly fall to the ground. Injuries that occurred as a result of the defect include fractured vertebrae and herniated disks, and some users were partially disabled following use of the equipment.

The lawsuit claims that as early as 1996 Wal-Mart knew that the equipment was dangerous because someone trying one of the machines at a Wal-Mart store was injured. Over the next six months, the company learned of an additional nine injuries on the equipment. By December 1999, the company was aware of at least 46 incidents involving the machines, 26 of which occurred in Wal-Mart stores when consumers used display equipment. The CPSC maintains that at least 41 consumers were injured on the Wal-Mart machines.

Despite its knowledge of the problem, the CPSC says that Wal-Mart failed to report the incidents to the agency in violation of the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA). The CPSA requires manufacturers and retailers to report to the agency any product information which reasonably supports a conclusion that a product defect creates a substantial risk of harm or an unreasonable risk of serious injury or death. The act defines a hazard as any substantial risk of injury to the public, and it defines serious injury as any significant injury, including fractures, that requires medical or surgical attention. Under the CPSA, a manufacturer or retailer is required to report injuries suggesting these types of problems within 24 hours of their occurrence. Two of Wal-Marts subsidiaries that sold the machines, Sam's West, Inc., and Sam's East, Inc., are also named in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit initiated by the CPSC and the DOJ also names the manufacturer of the equipment—Icon Health & Fitness, Inc.—as a defendant. Icon produced another machine—the Weider Shape Glider, model WECR 4306—that also contained the same defect that was not sold at Wal-Mart stores. The CPSC claims that Icon was also aware of a problem in the machines as early as 1996 and by the close of that year the company had received reports of 22 incidents involving the machines. By January 1998, the agency claims, that Icon had collected 86 incidence reports, including reports of 68 injuries.

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