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Consumers generally have a quite reasonable expectation that their products aren't dangerous in non-obvious ways. A knife might cut me if heavily used or misus
by fatbird 10y ago
Consumers generally have a quite reasonable expectation that their products aren't dangerous in non-obvious ways. A knife might cut me if heavily used or misused, and I couldn't possibly sue in that case; if the blade leached toxins into the food I cut with it, I'd sue and so would anyone else.
Much law turns on various "reasonable person" standards. A reasonable person, IMHO, does't expect a violent, potentially lethal, mechanical disintegration just for overloading the drum by 10%.
- _Codemonkeyism 10y ago"... potentially lethal." With a heavy thing that rotates at 1600min-1 you should think what you are doing and consider the thing being potentially lethal.
- TeMPOraL 10y agoWe've invented consumer regulations so that you don't have to fear death or injury from a random common item you buy. Otherwise... are you keeping your smartphone in your pocket? Are you aware that this thing is basically a live grenade, held together by cheap manufacturing and good wishes of engineers who designed the battery controller?
- _Codemonkeyism 10y agoYes. Accidentally (!) I have a Note 7 ;-) On a sidenote: I think physics always trumps "consumer regulations". I do not believe in the power of law above physics, e.g. IMHO a law that declares gravity illegal would not work. A heavy thing rotating at 1600/min is potentially lethal, you can put as much engineering in it as you want. Yes you can make it safer, but it remains potentially lethal. It's the physics of a heavy thing that rotates at 1600/min.
- TeMPOraL 10y agoSo is the physics of lithium-ion batteries. Just as you don't worry about your phone exploding in your pocket (the generic you; you specifically should worry given you have Note 7 :P), you shouldn't have to worry about a washing machine accidentally mauling you. Sure it may happen, but consumer regulations are written to direct manufacturing towards minimizing that kind of occurences to below "I have to consciously care about it" level.
- _Codemonkeyism 10y agoYes, and to completely destroy my karma here for the 3rd downvoted to the abyss comment: A lithium-ion battery is potentially lethal. You can have as much regulations, laws and red tape as you like, you can't change the fact that lithium-ion batteries are potentially lethal. And if you overload a washing maschine by stuffing in a 50% more than it was designed for, you should be aware that you do this to a potentially lethal thing. And putting a "Don't put a cat into a microwave" sticker on a microwave doesn't change the physics of the microwave, it is potentially lethal to the cat. You can't regulate the physics of microwaves. Same goes for cars. Potentially lethal. If you drive it beyond it's - or your - capabilities, it will kill you - car manufacturing regulations can't save you. It is potentially lethal. It is potentially lethal even with all the regulations and driving the car within your and it's capabilities, e.g. when a tire explodes. Regulations don't save you. Using potentially lethal thinks is potentially lethal.
- aninhumer 10y agoNo one's suggesting regulation can overturn the laws of physics, it's about assigning responsibility for their consequences in such a way that incentivises safe design. And if the incentives are structured right, it can be entirely reasonable for consumers to assume that potentially risky things are in fact entirely safe. >you can't change the fact that lithium-ion batteries are potentially lethal. And yet you feel comfortable carrying it around in your pocket. Which is exactly the point. Why should washing machines be any different?
- fatbird 10y agoAgreed: the law does not trump physics [0]. Consumer safety regulations don't require safeguards to be perfect, just to properly address normal use and various failure modes, and that's what Samsung failed to do here, in contrast to basically every other washing machine manufacturer. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Canute_and_the_waves https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Canute_and_the_waves
- _Codemonkeyism 10y ago"in contrast to basically every other washing machine manufacturer." No, see my other comment and search for exploding LG and Whirlpool machines on Youtube.
- fatbird 10y agoThere's considering it potentially lethal generally, and considering it an actual mortal risk if I sneak a couple of extra t-shirts into the wash. Understanding that something I own contains a potentially lethal mechanism doesn't void my reasonable expectation that safeguards have been built in that handle the intended and common use cases--like every other washing machine sold since WWII.
- _Codemonkeyism 10y ago"like every other washing machine sold since WWII" Youtube seems to disagree with Whirpool, GE, LG and many more machines "exploding" e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_z4fjiCz6tU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_z4fjiCz6tU (LG) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNpRqxdsQAY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNpRqxdsQAY (Whirlpool)
- fatbird 10y agoYes, this happens to other manufacturers. It's also extremely atypical. Samsung is in trouble because, as with their Note 7s, there's a basic design flaw or lack of safeguard that's causing/allowing it to happen with significant frequency. No one's claiming the law can prevent this entirely. It demonstrably can cause manufacturers to build safer products.