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Insuring Against Disaster: Coverage for Product Recalls

By Marialuisa Gallozzi and Seth A. Tucker
September 27, 2007

In recent months, it has seemed that barely a week has gone by without the announcement of a major product recall, whether it be of pet food (tainted with a wheat gluten additive), toothpaste (containing poisonous diethylene glycol, a solvent used in antifreeze that imparts a sweet taste), millions of children's toys (the subject of four major recalls, several of which involved lead paint), almost half a million light truck tires (lacking a safety feature that guards against tread separation), or 3.6 million Ford cars, trucks, and SUVs (containing a cruise control switch linked to vehicle fires). Recalls have become so common of late that satirical magazine The Onion 'reported' in late July that shares of Constitution Solutions, LLC ('COSO') 'fell sharply Tuesday after several Eastern bloc constitutions written by COSO were recalled due to loopholes that allowed Vladimir Putin to re-form the Soviet Union.' Stockwatch, The Onion, July 26-Aug. 1, 2007, at 2.

Product recalls have, of course, been with us for many years. The Department of Transportation, for example, acquired the statutory authority to order recalls some 40 years ago. Since that time, more than 390 million cars and other vehicles have been recalled, as have 46 million tires, 66 million pieces of motor vehicle equipment, and 42 million child safety seats. See National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Motor Vehicle Defects and Recall Campaigns (undated) (document available on the Administration's Web site, www.nhtsa.gov).

Recalls are not new, but they are becoming more frequent. In 1990, there were 208 auto recalls. Thirteen years later, in 2003, there were 529, or more than twice as many. See Carolyn Aldred & Bradford Wernle, 'Suppliers Face Rising Risk Without Recall Insurance,' Automotive News, May 31, 2004, at 38F. Moreover, businesses and the public are paying increased attention to recalls, as illustrated by the extensive press coverage in recent months concerning various products imported from China.

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