Product liability  

According to U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission statistics, nearly 30 million people are injured each year due to defective products. These injuries can cause severe physical, emotional, and financial difficulties, costing the nation around $700 billion yearly. Among the leading types of injuries cited by the CPSC are:

• Falls

• Fires

• Suffocation

• Drowning

• Poisoning

• Off-road vehicles 

The data becomes even more disturbing when broken down by age, as the CPSC has found that product-related injuries and deaths are most common among our nation’s most vulnerable populations.

While the average rate of product-related deaths in 2008 was measured at around 11.8 deaths per 100,000 persons, the product-related death rate for children under the age of 1 was determined to be 26.7 per 100,000 persons. Astonishingly, the rate of product-related deaths among elderly consumers over the age of 85 was estimated to be 189.8 per 100,000 persons.

 It is important to note that these numbers only account for products regulated by the CPSC and do not include injuries and deaths caused by defective automobiles, defective medical devices, or defective pharmaceuticals.