My son has one of the Storm series chairs that caught fire. It was
the wiring harness. We don't have a new chair yet...but it was definitely
a wake up call, since the fire started during recharging at night...the house
was quiet as the chair smoldered. Lucky we caught it.
Cheryl K loss
----- Original Message -----
From: Gary Peterson
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: 10/18/2002 8:37:44 PM
Subject: [DateAbilities] Fwd: Invacare
keeps wheelchair recall quiet(Despite fires and deaths) (fwd)
Hi all!
Anyone know anything about this?!!-Gary
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 18 Oct 2002 05:59:23 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Johnny" Johnson [log in to unmask]
Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [DateAbilities] Fwd: Invacare keeps wheelchair recall quiet
(Despite fires and deaths)
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
---------------------~--
Sell a Home with Ease!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/SrPZMC/kTmEAA/jd3IAA/fQYolB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~-
Despite fires and deaths, Invacare keeps wheelchair recall quiet
ELYRIA, OHIO, Sept. 2, 2002 -- Invacare's power wheelchairs have
killed or
burned over 30 people and yet the wheelchair giant has never bothered
to
publicize a national recall.
The company settled a lawsuit in August for over $7 million "after
defective
wiring on one of its wheelchairs sparked and caught fire, badly
burning a
65-year-old quadriplegic woman," wrote Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter
Becky
Gaylord in a copyrighted story Sept. 1. Gaylord reports that the
company has
faced numerous suits -- "including three others that involved deaths
--
linked to the chair's battery-charging system."
"Although Invacare sent cards to possible customers and notified many
dealers
of the recall," Gaylord wrote, "the company never issued a press
release nor
noted the recall on its website."
"We have four people here at Progress Center for Independent Living
who have
Invacare power chairs," staffer Steve Drake told disability advocates
by
email. "None of them had heard anything about a recall."
The recall covers all models of Invacare power chairs built from 1985
to 2000
-- more than 215,000 chairs in all.
Since 1993, says Gaylord's story, Invacare has known about problems
with the
battery-charger wiring harness. It can short circuit, causing
smoking,
sparking and fires. Batteries and wheelchairs have reportedly melted.
One
wheelchair reportedly "burnt like a blowtorch" with a user in
it.
A wheelchair fire killed John Rothermel in 1994. Another fire killed
Arthur
Wilbur in Florida in July 1995. A Power 9000 wheelchair ignited and
the user
suffered second- and third-degree burns over much of his body. The
charger on
an Action Storm model "started smoking, shooting sparks and then
flamed while
the chair was being charged." Another Action Storm chair "started a
fire that
burned half of the family's garage." The owner of yet another Action
Storm,
charging the chair overnight, "awoke to a burning smell and flames
coming out
of the bottom of the wheelchair." A power chair even caught fire while
in the
shop for the upgrade as part of the recall.
"Invacare engineer Ted Wakefield said 'we didn't think of it' when
asked
whether the company had considered adding the fuse to stop the
short-circuits
at the time the wiring harnesses were designed."
The company has enforced confidentiality agreements keeping plaintiffs
from
talking and evidence of problems out of the public eye. "Invacare came
down
with a truck, picked up all of the evidence, including the
charred
wheelchair, and hauled it off," one man told Gaylord. And required
reports to
the Food and Drug Administration concerning defective products simply
weren't
made, said the story.
Invacare, whose sales last year topped $1 billion, responded to the
Plain
Dealer story by finally issuing a press release: "Invacare has a long
history
of providing safe, effective and innovative products for people
with
disabilities," said Invacare CEO A. Malachi Mixon. "We strongly
believe that
Invacare's power wheelchairs are the best power wheelchairs in the
world."
Read the Plain Dealer story:
http://cleveland.com/printer/printer.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/bas
e/business/1030872676100890.xml
Visit the Invacare website:
http://www.invacare.com
Tell your friends about DateAbilities! Check out our web
site! http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Falls/6832/index.html
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
Hi all!
Anyone know anything about this?!!-Gary
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 18 Oct 2002 05:59:23 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Johnny" Johnson [log in to unmask]
Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [DateAbilities] Fwd: Invacare keeps wheelchair recall quiet
(Despite fires and deaths)
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
---------------------~--
Sell a Home with Ease!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/SrPZMC/kTmEAA/jd3IAA/fQYolB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~-
Despite fires and deaths, Invacare keeps wheelchair recall quiet
ELYRIA, OHIO, Sept. 2, 2002 -- Invacare's power wheelchairs have
killed or
burned over 30 people and yet the wheelchair giant has never bothered
to
publicize a national recall.
The company settled a lawsuit in August for over $7 million "after
defective
wiring on one of its wheelchairs sparked and caught fire, badly
burning a
65-year-old quadriplegic woman," wrote Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter
Becky
Gaylord in a copyrighted story Sept. 1. Gaylord reports that the
company has
faced numerous suits -- "including three others that involved deaths
--
linked to the chair's battery-charging system."
"Although Invacare sent cards to possible customers and notified many
dealers
of the recall," Gaylord wrote, "the company never issued a press
release nor
noted the recall on its website."
"We have four people here at Progress Center for Independent Living
who have
Invacare power chairs," staffer Steve Drake told disability advocates
by
email. "None of them had heard anything about a recall."
The recall covers all models of Invacare power chairs built from 1985
to 2000
-- more than 215,000 chairs in all.
Since 1993, says Gaylord's story, Invacare has known about problems
with the
battery-charger wiring harness. It can short circuit, causing
smoking,
sparking and fires. Batteries and wheelchairs have reportedly melted.
One
wheelchair reportedly "burnt like a blowtorch" with a user in
it.
A wheelchair fire killed John Rothermel in 1994. Another fire killed
Arthur
Wilbur in Florida in July 1995. A Power 9000 wheelchair ignited and
the user
suffered second- and third-degree burns over much of his body. The
charger on
an Action Storm model "started smoking, shooting sparks and then
flamed while
the chair was being charged." Another Action Storm chair "started a
fire that
burned half of the family's garage." The owner of yet another Action
Storm,
charging the chair overnight, "awoke to a burning smell and flames
coming out
of the bottom of the wheelchair." A power chair even caught fire while
in the
shop for the upgrade as part of the recall.
"Invacare engineer Ted Wakefield said 'we didn't think of it' when
asked
whether the company had considered adding the fuse to stop the
short-circuits
at the time the wiring harnesses were designed."
The company has enforced confidentiality agreements keeping plaintiffs
from
talking and evidence of problems out of the public eye. "Invacare came
down
with a truck, picked up all of the evidence, including the
charred
wheelchair, and hauled it off," one man told Gaylord. And required
reports to
the Food and Drug Administration concerning defective products simply
weren't
made, said the story.
Invacare, whose sales last year topped $1 billion, responded to the
Plain
Dealer story by finally issuing a press release: "Invacare has a long
history
of providing safe, effective and innovative products for people
with
disabilities," said Invacare CEO A. Malachi Mixon. "We strongly
believe that
Invacare's power wheelchairs are the best power wheelchairs in the
world."
Read the Plain Dealer story:
http://cleveland.com/printer/printer.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/bas
e/business/1030872676100890.xml
Visit the Invacare website:
http://www.invacare.com
Tell your friends about DateAbilities! Check out our web
site! http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Falls/6832/index.html
--- William Henry Kloss
--- [log in to unmask]
--- EarthLink: It's your Internet.
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