Top 30 Most EXPENSIVE Product Recalls Ever
These products missed the mark in a major way. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for product recalls that cost the companies behind the products lots and lots and lots of money.
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00:00Volkswagen is telling the world how it plans to make amends for one of the biggest auto scandals in recent history.
00:06Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for product recalls that cost the companies behind the products lots and lots and lots of money.
00:15Samsung is stepping up its recall, asking owners of the Note 7 to take immediate action to protect themselves.
00:22Number 30. Simplicity Cribs.
00:25We've got some very serious recalls to tell you about tonight on some cribs.
00:29You see, apparently they could cause suffocation.
00:32Sometimes it's an awful incident that leads to a product recall.
00:35And with Simplicity Cribs, that was unfortunately the case.
00:39In 2008, a young boy suffocated when he, according to the 2010 U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, or CPSC, recall notice, became entrapped between the crib mattress and the crib frame.
00:51What makes that incident even more heartbreaking is that the cribs had been linked to 13 other injuries in the years prior.
00:58And in 2009, there was another death reported.
01:01As far as cost goes, well, it cost the company everything.
01:05They went out of business soon after the recall.
01:07They say there's been 13 other instances of problems, but no other major injuries.
01:12Number 29. Cadbury Schweppes.
01:15Please include in your prayers Father McAndrew, who is violently ill with salmonella poisoning.
01:21People love lots of different things in their chocolate.
01:23Nuts, candy, sea salt, mint, cookie dough, the list goes on.
01:28But you know one thing that no one likes with their chocolate?
01:31Salmonella.
01:32Which is what the Cadbury Schweppes company added to some of its chocolate products, albeit unintentionally, back in 2006.
01:39Some reports said that the recall in the U.K. and Irish markets was precautionary from the company itself.
01:44However, following a guilty plea in the courts, Cadbury released a statement admitting that at the time they, quote,
01:51did not believe that there was a threat to health, and thus any requirement to report the incident to the authorities.
01:57The recall cost the company about 20 million pounds, plus a drop in sales for the year.
02:02Wouldn't it be nice?
02:04Number 28. Keurig Mini Plus Brewing Systems.
02:07Take heed before you brew that next cup of joe.
02:10Keurig is recalling 6 million of its popular single-serving coffee makers.
02:15While getting sprayed with burning hot water would certainly be one way to wake up in the morning,
02:20we much prefer a simple cup of coffee.
02:22Unfortunately for about 90 Keurig customers who owned a specific Keurig Mini Plus Brewing System manufactured between 2009 and 2014,
02:31coffee wasn't all they got.
02:32According to reports, these brewing systems had a defect that could cause them to overheat and even spray water.
02:39And at least 90 people suffered burn-related injuries from their Mini Pluses.
02:44According to Keurig, the recall cost the company about $10 million to remedy.
02:49Plus, there was a civil penalty settlement of $5.8 million,
02:53resulting from claims that they knew of the defect for a while before reporting it.
02:57After receiving around 200 reports of hot liquid escaping from Mini Plus Brewing Systems during use,
03:04Keurig Green Mountain Inc. is recalling more than 7 million coffee-making systems.
03:09Number 27. Menu Foods Pet Food.
03:11Pet owners are understandably worried about just what they can even feed their cat or dog these days.
03:17And now they're asking if they have any legal recourse when it comes to vet bills or even the loss of a family companion.
03:22Menu Foods was a Canadian pet food maker that produced foods sold under a number of different brand names.
03:28In 2007, the company issued a huge recall of 60 million food containers after hundreds of reports of animals vomiting and suffering from kidney failure.
03:37It turned out that wheat gluten imported from China contained traces of the chemical melamine.
03:43Over 100 animals died from eating the tainted food, and the cost to the company was massive.
03:48While the recall itself cost them at least $42 million, they also lost a large number of customers.
03:55They were bought out three years later.
03:57More dogs and cats have died because of contaminated pet food since 60 million cans and pouches of food have been recalled.
04:05Number 26. Sara Lee Deli Products.
04:08Bad meat from Sara Lee has prompted a nationwide class-action lawsuit.
04:12The meat contained a bacteria called listeria.
04:14In 1998, a series of deaths, miscarriages, and over 100 cases of illness were all linked back to one manufacturer, the Bill Maher Foods plant in Zealand, Michigan.
04:25The plant produced hot dogs and various deli meats for the Sara Lee company.
04:29The culprit was determined to be a rare strain of listeria and forced Sara Lee to recall between 15 to 35 million pounds of their meat products.
04:38It's been reported that the recall cost the company up to around $76 million.
04:43And that doesn't include the $25 million it spent to renovate the production plant that was ground zero for the outbreak.
04:49There was also a $4.4 million settlement stemming from charges brought by the United States Attorney for Western Michigan.
04:56And more than 100 sick and people later, new evidence emerges indicating the company Sara Lee may have known well before the outbreak.
05:04Number 25. Peter Pan Peanut Butter.
05:07If you are one of the many who suffered from food poisoning because of contaminated peanut butter, you may be entitled to a cash award.
05:14In 2016, a criminal fine of $11.2 million was levied on ConAgra, the makers of Peter Pan Peanut Butter.
05:22If there's anything extra you'd want to find in your Peter Pan Peanut Butter, it would probably be a little Tinkerbell pixie dust.
05:28But instead, between 2004 and 2007, Peter Pan Peanut Butter came with salmonella.
05:34And rather than make people fly, it made over 600 people sick.
05:39What makes us sick is the fact that the company kept shipping the peanut butter after multiple tests at the plant came back positive for salmonella.
05:45Add that $11.2 million to the $78 million the company spent on finally recalling the product, and the $15 million or more in plant renovations, and we're at over $100 million.
05:57Consumer alert store shelves typically stocked with peanut butter sitting empty tonight.
06:02The salmonella scare forcing many of our largest chains to pull it off the shelves.
06:06Number 24. Various Able Laboratories products.
06:09Well, my impression of the pharmaceutical industry is that it's always so nice.
06:14Able Laboratories was a New Jersey pharmaceutical company that produced generic drugs.
06:19In 2005, the FDA sent the company a lengthy warning outlining serious issues related to their quality assurance standards.
06:26In response, Able Laboratories had to recall all of their products from the market, and attempted to cut a deal with the courts that would allow them to settle the issue without admitting guilt.
06:36The FDA balked at the request, and the whole thing was estimated to have cost Able Labs $103 million.
06:43They would end up filing for bankruptcy soon after, and eventually sell the company rather than try and make a comeback.
06:48I'm not the first person to make money off the fact that our immune system is a work in progress.
06:55The pharmaceutical industry do it every quarter.
06:57Number 23. Jack in the Box.
07:00Welcome to Jack in the Box.
07:01Two ultimate cheeseburgers.
07:03Jack in the Box is a fast food restaurant chain that seems to be doing well these days, with over 2,200 locations.
07:10However, that success was nearly derailed back in the 90s after an E. coli outbreak almost forced them into bankruptcy.
07:17The outbreak occurred at Jack in the Box locations in the Pacific Northwest, and was linked to undercooked hamburgers contaminated with fecal matter.
07:25The burgers made hundreds of people sick and led to the deaths of four children.
07:29Besides the cost of settling multiple lawsuits, the outbreak and the subsequent recall cost the chain upwards of $160 million in sales, and almost one-third of its stock market value.
07:41More than 150 people have become ill after eating tainted hamburger meat at Jack in the Box restaurants in Idaho and Washington state.
07:47Number 22. Spinach.
07:49Scientists today released results of the first major study on E. coli transmission since the 2006 spinach outbreak that killed three people and sickened 200 others.
07:58We've always been told to eat our vegetables.
08:00However, back in 2006, the FDA told Americans to stop eating spinach.
08:06You see, while spinach is really, really good for you, spinach with E. coli is not.
08:11They never figured out exactly how the E. coli got on the leafy greens, but the recall by the Natural Selection Foods Company ended up dealing the U.S. spinach industry losses in the $350 million range.
08:23Then, just a couple of years later, the tomato industry was hit with a salmonella outbreak, and a massive recall costing them $250 million, including lost sales.
08:34However, unlike the spinach, it turns out the tomatoes were not the culprits.
08:38But investigators figured that out too late.
08:41This has huge impact because in terms of health, public health, and also in terms of dollars that are wasted when all this spinach are contaminated, there's a recall of spinach.
08:52Number 21. Pozzicore.
08:54How can I get some of this?
08:55None of those drugs have been approved by the FDA.
08:58Screw the FDA.
08:59On June 20, 1997, the Food and Drug Administration approved the drug Pozzicore by Roche Laboratories.
09:06The drug was approved to treat high blood pressure and angina, and it may have been good at it, but it wasn't good at interacting with other drugs.
09:13In fact, there were 26 other drugs that would cause a toxic reaction from Pozzicore.
09:19However, it took months for warnings about the drug interactions to go out.
09:23And an article in the LA Times from 2000 brought to light FDA records reporting, quote,
09:28"...Pozzicore as a suspect in the deaths of 100 patients."
09:32Within a year of approval, Roche was recalling Pozzicore, leading to an estimated $2.9 billion in losses.
09:39What a surprise. FDA approved.
09:42Number 20. Infantino Sling Rider Baby Slings.
09:45The first thing we're saying to moms is don't panic.
09:48In 2010, over 1 million sling-style infantino brand baby carriers were recalled from the market.
09:55The Consumer Product Safety Commission determined there was a risk of asphyxiation for those being carried.
10:00You might have your baby in a sling next to you and not notice that the baby has gone into this position where it cannot breathe.
10:08After three infant deaths occurred, an investigation was launched, which revealed sling-style carriers could fatally block air passages.
10:16The risk was especially great for those under the age of four months.
10:20In March 2010, the CPSC issued a report linking 14 deaths to the product, dating back as far as 1990.
10:27And just weeks later, the recall was issued.
10:30If you are going to shop Craigslist for any type of infant products, do you go to the CPSC website?
10:36I would check their website before you purchase something.
10:39Number 19. Roman Blinds.
10:42I mean, people aren't always in a position to just yank them off the windows and go without.
10:47The exact number of deaths and injuries due to this product can be debated, as use of Roman Blinds is so widespread.
10:54But what cannot be argued is the fact that in 2009, all Roman-style blinds were recalled from the market.
11:01We placed those shades there next to his crib with no idea that they were potentially so dangerous.
11:10What does all constitute? Well, around 50 million units.
11:15The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission pulled Roman-style blinds
11:19when several children became entangled in the shades' exposed inner cord.
11:23It's really shocking, you know, because a lot of us have these in our homes.
11:27Ultimately, the report recommended consumers stop using Roman-style shades altogether
11:32if they were not equipped with updated safety precautions.
11:36Obviously, we want to sell a product that's safe.
11:39It's safe for our customers, it's safe for their pets, it's safe for their children.
11:42Number 18. Easy-Bake Ovens.
11:44Introduced in 1963, the Easy-Bake Oven was immediately appealing.
11:49What can I get for 8,000 tickets?
11:52A BB gun or an Easy-Bake Oven?
11:54Hmm, hot food is tempting, but I just can't say no to a weapon.
11:59Kids getting to make tasty treats? What's not to like?
12:02In 2007, however, Hasbro recalled its latest model of the toy
12:06after they received numerous substantial complaints
12:09of children getting their fingers stuck in the oven's door.
12:12Do you remember putting your hand in there?
12:15So how come you're putting your hand in there again?
12:17Hasbro issued a voluntary recall
12:19and made available a free U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission-approved guard
12:23for all who still wanted to keep the oven.
12:26Except it didn't work.
12:27The CPSC report revealed approximately 250 more cases of fingers getting caught in the door
12:33and nearly 80 cases of burns.
12:35New Easy-Bake, yeah, it's the one for you.
12:39Cakes and cookies, baking with friends.
12:42This brought on another recall.
12:45In the end, the recall affected nearly 1 million Easy-Bake Ovens.
12:49Who wants cupcake?
12:50Oh, me, me, me, me, me.
12:53You know, that batter is like 30 years old.
12:55Number 17, Mattel Toys.
12:58Fears over the lead content of Chinese-manufactured Fisher-Price toys
13:02led to a huge recall in 2007.
13:05Mattel, owner of Fisher-Price,
13:07was found to be selling toys covered in paint with the harmful element.
13:10Lead poisoning can cause multiple symptoms and be fatal,
13:14particularly for younger people.
13:16There is absolutely no excuse
13:19for lead to be found in toys entering this country.
13:25In the U.S. alone,
13:26roughly 9 million lead-coated products were involved in the recall.
13:30The recall itself cost Mattel around $30 million.
13:34The company was also fined more than $2 million
13:36for selling the products in the first place.
13:38Molly Gettaker says all these toys have some lead in them
13:42and these are not recalled items.
13:44And they've all come back at different levels,
13:47all above the regulatory limit for packaging and toys.
13:50Three years later, a similar scandal struck.
13:53Everyone wanted to be the one who rescued Rocky
13:56and everyone thought they could do it without help from anyone else.
14:03Trace amounts of the toxic metal cadmium
14:05were found in some limited-edition McDonald's glasses back in 2010.
14:09The items were part of a promotion for Shrek Forever After
14:13and featured everyone's favorite Shrek characters painted on them,
14:16along with the threat of ingesting an illness-inducing toxin.
14:20McDonald's tried to defend this by saying
14:22the glasses didn't actually contain that much cadmium.
14:25Federal regulators are recalling these glasses
14:27because they say that the paint used to decorate them contains cadmium.
14:31But we argue that any amount of a dangerous carcinogen
14:34is definitely too much,
14:35especially where children's drinkware is concerned.
14:38McDonald's offered customers a refund of $3 per glass.
14:42The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
14:43is warning parents to stop using the glasses
14:46and to return these glasses for a refund.
14:49McDonald's will be posting refund instructions
14:51on its website next week.
14:53Considering it initially charged $2
14:55and 12 million glasses were recalled,
14:58that put the company at least $12 million in the red.
15:04In action movies,
15:06it's not uncommon to see a car explode
15:08after even the smallest impact.
15:13Starting as early as 1973,
15:16there were cases stating that the Ford Pinto might be volatile.
15:19It wasn't until 1974 that something official came about,
15:23with a petition put forth by the Center for Auto Safety
15:26to recall the car make.
15:31Apparently, the Ford Pinto's gas tank
15:33was poorly positioned between the rear axle and bumper,
15:36and it tended to catch fire
15:37when it touched the shock absorber in the back of the car,
15:40and thus would frequently explode in rear-end collisions.
15:46Ford faced a slew of legal battles
15:49and accusations criticizing its decision-making
15:51both before and during the scandal.
15:53Ultimately, Ford issued a massive recall,
15:56and in 1980, they stopped producing the Pinto altogether.
16:06Number 14, Westland Hallmark Meats.
16:09In 2008, the largest meat recall in American history took place
16:15when California's Westland Hallmark Meat Company
16:17was caught up in an enormous scandal.
16:20Undercover footage from animal rights groups
16:22revealed that workers were mistreating certain cows
16:25that were part of their beef production.
16:27Those heinous actions are strictly against the law in the United States.
16:31The ensuing recall resulted in a final judgment
16:34of almost half a billion dollars for the company.
16:36This was thanks in part to the fact
16:38that the company provided meat to the U.S.'s school lunch program.
16:41The company's connection to education put even more attention on the scandal.
17:01Ultimately, Westland Hallmark's meat went bankrupt
17:04because nobody wanted to touch their products after such horrendous behavior.
17:08Number 13, Sony Batteries.
17:11Major laptop manufacturer Dell
17:13issued a recall for notebook laptops back in 2006
17:17because of the batteries inside.
17:19These Sony-made batteries carried a major flaw.
17:22They were a huge fire hazard.
17:24Multiple stories broke about people's laptops burning during use
17:28and reports of laptop owners getting injured.
17:41Luckily, no one suffered any severe damage.
17:44But it seemed that Sony didn't completely fix the problem
17:46in the aftermath of the incident.
17:48Around two years later,
17:50another recall of laptops containing Sony batteries was issued.
17:53This time, it wasn't just Dell,
17:55but also Toshiba and HP.
18:00And in the worst consumer hat trick ever,
18:03Dell recalled over 4 million computers due to batteries in 2011.
18:08Sony lost hundreds of millions of dollars for these missteps.
18:12Number 12, Scarlet Red Dye.
18:15For years, an illegal red food dye has been causing mass recalls
18:19in the United Kingdom and Europe.
18:21The specific dye in question, Bright Red Sudan 1 dye,
18:24was banned by the EU in 2003 because it was found to be a carcinogen.
18:39That's definitely not the kind of thing you want it added
18:42to almost everything red you can buy in a store.
18:45Since it was found in chili and curry powders,
18:48chicken tikka and pesto,
18:49it was a pretty tricky thing to avoid at the time.
18:53The earliest recalls started in the mid-2000s,
18:56and after many warnings from the British Food Standards Agency
18:59to the companies in question,
19:01the recalls spread across the entirety of the European bloc.
19:05Number 11, Tylenol.
19:22This pain reliever was pulled from the market in October 1982
19:26after it was linked to seven fatalities.
19:29Reports determined Tylenol in Chicago and its surrounding areas
19:33had been tampered with and laced with potassium cyanide.
19:36We've been receiving calls about once every 15 seconds.
19:39Johnson & Johnson, Tylenol's parent company,
19:42promptly issued warnings.
19:44Suspension of the sale of Tylenol
19:46and the sale of Tylenol products
19:48Johnson & Johnson, Tylenol's parent company,
19:50promptly issued warnings,
19:52suspended production,
19:53and set in motion a full nationwide recall.
19:57Across the Orlando area,
19:58stores checked their extra-strength Tylenol stock.
20:01Many stores removed it.
20:03In total, Tylenol pulled nearly $100 million worth of product from the market,
20:08and the entire pharmaceutical industry
20:10developed special packaging to prevent tampering.
20:13And now reintroducing Tylenol capsules,
20:16safety sealed three ways.
20:17Interestingly, no culprits in this case were ever caught.
20:21But in the wake of the crisis,
20:22the public was scared by several copycat offenses.
20:25The company faced yet another recall in 2010,
20:28but this time initiated due to mildew in its products.
20:32It's the latest blow to the drug maker's reputation
20:34and something parents have to think about
20:37every time they try to buy medicine for their kids.
20:39Number 10.
20:40The Peanut Corporation of America's Peanut Products
20:43It's just not something that you sort of think of as a dangerous product.
20:46Remember that Salmonella outbreak in 2008?
20:49If you don't, you should.
20:51The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported nine deaths
20:54and over 700 cases of food poisoning as a result of negligence.
20:59Some people are starting to look at the Salmonella outbreak
21:01of the Peanut Corporation of America
21:03as this trend towards more pandemic outbreaks.
21:06After an extensive collaborative investigation between the CDC and the FDA,
21:10the outbreak was traced back to a Peanut Corporation of America plant in Georgia.
21:14They were working against them through lies, through cover-up
21:18and through anything they could do to prevent the truth from coming out.
21:21Reports on that facility, as well as the one in Texas,
21:24revealed unsanitary conditions such as dead animals and moldy ceilings.
21:29Reports also accused the plant and company CEO
21:32of approving the sale of products that had already tested positive for Salmonella.
21:36Victims from the contamination have been waiting
21:40and calling for these people to be charged for a long time
21:43and so they finally got their answer today.
21:45The scandal's recall was the largest pertaining to food in U.S. history
21:49and it forced the Peanut Corporation to bankruptcy.
21:539. Toyota Accelerator Pedals
21:56It happens without warning.
21:58Now I'm going to hit the brake while the throttle's forward, watch.
22:01Oh my God!
22:02Between 2009 and 2011, millions of vehicles from many of Toyota's brands,
22:07including Lexus, had to be recalled
22:09because of a life-threatening fault with the accelerator pedals.
22:13This recall affected Toyota cars around the planet,
22:15with more than 14 million vehicles caught up in the proceedings.
22:19Close to 40 people may have lost their lives as a result of the faulty pedals
22:22preventing cars from decelerating.
22:24An entire family tragically lost their lives in a Lexus in 2009.
22:29Repairing the catastrophic fault cost Toyota over $1 billion.
22:34Simply put, Toyota's engineers weren't up to the job on this one.
22:408. Bextra
22:42It's always frightening to think that a drug could make it to market
22:45that carries untold risks to anyone who needs to take it.
22:48That's why a lawsuit that cost American pharmaceutical company Pfizer
22:52over $2 billion was so significant.
22:55In 2005, an anti-inflammatory drug Bextra that was made and marketed by Pfizer
23:01was taken off shelves by the FDA.
23:03It was shown to increase the risks of a heart attack significantly.
23:07Pfizer was then caught up in numerous lawsuits about Bextra
23:10for defrauding the patients it intended to help,
23:13which was largely people suffering from arthritis.
23:16Pfizer, which makes those drugs, will plead guilty to one criminal count
23:20stemming from the improper promotion of Bextra,
23:24and they'll pay a $1.3 billion penalty.
23:27Luckily, plenty of safer alternative medications without adverse effects exist
23:32to help those who were using Bextra.
23:347. GM's Faulty Ignition Switches
23:38It was reported that over 100 people lost their lives
23:41due to faulty ignition switches in a wide range of General Motors vehicles.
23:45This led to a massive recall and costly lawsuits in 2014.
23:51Billions of dollars were spent recalling the faulty vehicles
23:54that could crash when their engines would cut out without warning.
23:57On the road, it can lead to an anxious moment, sudden surprise, or worse.
24:02To make matters worse, no engines meant no airbags.
24:06But the situation got worse for the company and far more concerning for consumers.
24:11It eventually came out that GM had known the switches didn't work for close to 10 years.
24:16But lawsuits and congressional testimony this year has uncovered
24:19GM knew about these defective ignition switches dating back to 2002
24:24and did nothing to alert customers.
24:27And in many of those early cases, victims and families
24:30may not have documentation to get compensation.
24:34After the lawsuits started piling up,
24:36GM actually decided to do something about it to the tune of $3 billion.
24:426. Ford Explorer's Firestone Tires
24:45In 2000, after a warning from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration,
24:50Ford launched an investigation into the quality of the Firestone tires that it used on its vehicles.
24:54With long-lasting Firestone Champion tires, is there really such a thing as a wrong turn?
25:00They determined that several Firestone models failed far more often than what's considered normal.
25:05And after more tests, found that Explorers fitted with these tires tended to roll over when they failed.
25:11Most of the deaths and injuries involved Ford Explorers,
25:16not other vehicles equipped with the same tires.
25:19One possible reason for these problems?
25:22Before the Explorer was first put on the market,
25:25they discovered it was inclined to roll over in accidents.
25:27Instead of a complete redesign, they opted to reduce air pressure in the tires.
25:32However, low tire pressure can lead to accelerated deterioration of the rubber.
25:37Reports vary, but these Firestone tire failures
25:40are thought to have caused hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries.
25:43The recall ultimately pulled over 14.4 million tires.
25:48Explorer was built for any kind of adventure.
25:51So get up, get out, get moving.
25:53Number 5. The Galaxy Note 7
25:56Because to make it big, you don't just need a big smartphone.
25:59You need a smartphone that thinks big.
26:01You may remember a large number of viral videos after the launch of Samsung's Galaxy Note 7
26:07that showed the cell phone spontaneously combusting.
26:10Design and manufacturing defects with the type of batteries used in the phones led to overheating.
26:15The device's lithium-ion batteries exploding or igniting.
26:19The company says sparking as many as 35 reported fires.
26:23This flaw subsequently led to the device catching fire in far too many cases.
26:28To make matters even more embarrassing for Samsung,
26:31they made a big mistake when trying to fix the issue.
26:33After changing to another battery supplier and issuing replacements,
26:36the new phones also ended up catching fire.
26:39It was a cell phone that certainly had potential.
26:42All in all, Samsung lost between 5 and 17 billion dollars from the fiasco.
26:47It's fair to say other companies have had issues with batteries.
26:50Others have had software problems with phones.
26:53But nothing on the scale of the disaster that hit the Galaxy Note 7.
26:58Number 4. Vioxx
27:00Approved by the FDA in 1999,
27:03Vioxx was yet another drug that was the subject of a recall.
27:06This time in 2004.
27:08Almost 9 billion dollars went into recalling it
27:11after it was found to greatly increase the risk of heart attacks.
27:14And there was a horrible reason why Vioxx was allowed to stay on the market for so long.
27:19Merck and company who produced Vioxx didn't report all of the data
27:23linking the drug to increased risk of strokes and heart attacks.
27:27I don't understand why not to put some strict restriction rather than pulling it out.
27:32If the company had done due diligence,
27:35they would have potentially spread medical evidence
27:37that Vioxx seemed to be responsible for illness and fatal consequences
27:41years earlier than they did.
27:43Merck and company's serious lack of oversight
27:45was linked to over 140,000 separate cases.
27:49And a 4.85 billion dollar mass tort settlement
27:53between them and the lawyers of thousands of lawsuits.
27:57Number 3. Chinese Milk
27:59This scandal with powdered baby milk has again shaken consumer confidence.
28:03Back in 2008, China recalled approximately 9,000 tons of powdered baby formula.
28:08It was revealed that China's largest producer of the stuff
28:11had issued products cut with melamine,
28:14a dangerous chemical used for plastic
28:16that can also be used to falsely indicate high protein levels when added to milk.
28:21700 tons of milk powder have been yanked from Chinese store shelves,
28:25but parents' fear is sticking around.
28:27According to reports, it was this misleading nutritional information
28:31that led to at least 6 deaths from complications with their kidneys.
28:34Ultimately, the scandal affected 300,000 victims.
28:38The responsibility to let the consumers know
28:41that what they put in their mouth or in the children's mouth is safe,
28:46that the ultimate responsibility for that is of course with the government.
28:50Two men were sentenced to death by Shijiazhuang's Intermediate People's Court
28:54for their role in selling the contaminated powder.
28:57Number 2. Volkswagen
28:59It's more than just a car.
29:01Back in 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
29:05charged Volkswagen with breaching the Clean Air Act,
29:08a 1963 law that tries to ensure exactly what its name implies.
29:12The investigation revealed that 11 million Volkswagen vehicles
29:16that had turbocharged direct-injection diesel engines
29:19were programmed using DEFEAT devices
29:21to keep emissions at approved levels during testing periods,
29:24but would forego those controls afterwards,
29:27thereby releasing unapproved levels of nitrogen oxide into the air.
29:32In other words, there was no way this was accidental
29:34because the software was designed very carefully
29:36to detect an official emissions test.
29:38As a result, Volkswagen made plans to invest over $18 billion
29:42to refit affected models across the globe and reduce their emissions.
29:46As you can imagine, their reputation also took a bit of a hit.
29:50But the CEO, you know, addressing some 2,000 employees
29:54and speaking publicly made no bones about it,
29:57this is going to be painful and it's going to be complicated.
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30:161. Takata Airbags
30:185 million more vehicles with the potentially defective Takata airbags.
30:23Chances aren't bad that you've sat in a car with Takata Corporation airbags,
30:27given that they've been manufactured since 1988
30:30and covered 20% of the airbag market.
30:32Sir, thank God the airbag's activated.
30:35Those are my lungs.
30:40However, in 2013, complaints against the company came pouring in,
30:44citing issues that may have spanned the previous 10 years.
30:48Honda asserted that their product caused eight deaths
30:51and approximately 100 injuries,
30:53claiming that even in minor collisions,
30:55Takata airbags propelled deadly shrapnel upon deployment.
30:59The 34-year-old says when her airbag deployed,
31:02the flying shrapnel cut off more than half of her left ear.
31:06An investigation revealed it was a Takata production plant in Mexico
31:09that had inappropriately assembled the less stable parts of the airbags.
31:13Over the course of the controversy, several recalls were issued,
31:17necessitating the recall of millions of vehicles from various brands,
31:21including Ford, Toyota, Chrysler, and BMW.
31:26This inflator had been recalled in 61 other countries by other manufacturers.
31:30Ford, NHTSA, and Takata all knew that this inflator had problems.
31:34Have you ever had a product you owned recalled?
31:36Let us know in the comments.
31:38Quality assurance, your job.
31:40I really think you screwed the pooch on this one.
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