As a personal injury lawyer in San Jose, I know how important recalls are to ensuring the protection of consumers. But sometimes, one recall isn’t enough to fix safety issues. That’s why consumers should always check back to make sure that a previous recall doesn’t get expanded to encompass other items or to see if other safety issues arise with a defective product.
In this case, a variety of furnaces have been recalled by York International due to their posing a fire hazard. The announcement affects a whopping 226,000 Coleman, Coleman Evcon, and Red T Gas Furnaces.
This isn’t the first time the items have been recalled. In 2004, York was forced to issue a recall on these very same furnaces due to numerous instances of fire damage. In the ensuing years, an additional 366 reports of fire have been made to the company, coming to a grand total of 393 incidents. Luckily, there have been no injuries reported in conjunction with these fires, but some have resulted in excessive amounts of property damage.
Because the furnace can overheat, openings may appear in the heat exchanger, which allows flames to potentially escape. If drywall or some other flammable substance is nearby, those substances could catch fire.
The furnaces in question were sold in the United States and Canada between 1995 and 2000. They are silver with a white access panel. Consumers are advised to stop usage of the product until it can be inspected and repaired for free by a Unitary Products Group representative (York being a UPG company).
As a San Francisco personal injury lawyer, I think it’s tragic that such an integral product in many homes could pose such a safety risk. Given that it’s winter and many people across the country probably have their furnaces roaring at full blast, I would hate to see a fire break out that could have been prevented. I hope this information gets to those affected in time.