eBay and Amazon Delist Faulty Carbon Monoxide Alarms (theguardian.com)

An anonymous reader quotes the Guardian: Dozens of potentially deadly carbon monoxide alarms have been removed from sale by Amazon and eBay after a Which? investigation found some of them would not have protected their buyers. The consumer group tested four alarms that were on sale on both sites -- including an Amazon bestseller -- and found that they consistently failed to sound when the gas was present.... It said one of the alarms -- the Topolek GEHS007AW CO alarm (£14.99) -- was listed as a bestseller on Amazon. It failed to detect the gas in more than 80% of tests. Three other unbranded alarms that were made in China and sold through sellers on Amazon and eBay for under £10 also repeatedly failed to sound when there was carbon monoxide present... Which? said all four claimed to meet the British safety standard for detecting carbon monoxide.
Both Amazon and eBay have now removed the alarms -- as well as "another 50 lookalike alarms."

Comments

A quality CO sensor costs about $10..15

[gweihir]

Hence when the whole device costs in that range, you can be sure an ElCheapo $1 sensor was used. (Prices from Ebay, so YMMV.) Also, gas-flow is non-trivial, you cannot just put the sensor into a case, put some holes in that case and hope for the best. And actual testing the device is not so cheap or easy too. I expect these fails were "blind designs" were the "engineer" just read the datasheet and build the device without ever doing any real and costly testing.

Re:A quality CO sensor costs about $10..15

[thegarbz]

in that range

You just gave a range that is larger than the cost of manufacturer of the rest of the device. Is your $15 detector crap, or does it have a quality $10 sensor with $5 of cheap electronics around it? In the case of these devices, the sensor IS the cost of the device. The rest of it is borderline free.

Also testing for a single device isn't cheap or easy because you need calibration and test equipment. That ads almost nothing to the cost when you spread it over 1000 sales on multiple different units.

To be clear you're probably right that this was some gungho idiot making some blind design and shipping it on the cheap, but you can not universally tell that from the price.

Re:A quality CO sensor costs about $10..15

[Registered Coward v2]

Hence when the whole device costs in that range, you can be sure an ElCheapo $1 sensor was used. (Prices from Ebay, so YMMV.) Also, gas-flow is non-trivial, you cannot just put the sensor into a case, put some holes in that case and hope for the best. And actual testing the device is not so cheap or easy too. I expect these fails were "blind designs" were the "engineer" just read the datasheet and build the device without ever doing any real and costly testing.

Here's the thing about Chinese manufacturing. They will build to a price point and cut costs to meet the price and schedule. If you want quality you need to pay for it and closely monitor the results.

Re:A quality CO sensor costs about $10..15

[chihowa]

Which is good to keep in mind when buying from domestic brands, but Chinese manufacturers are increasing selling their shoddiest products directly through Amazon now. Some of these are designed directly in China with the intent of cutting costs to the minimum, which is even worse than the average cost-cutting approach used by domestic brands.

Seriously, putting much trust in brand names is silly these days, but buying a piece of critical safety equipment from TOPOLEK, or WINFI, or MODOAO or any of the assortment of identical looking and implausibly cheap sources is more than just naive.

Re:Test your alarm before mounting it

[gweihir]

While I have gotten used to new devices needing testing and often fixes before they can be used, it is utterly pathetic when this is a device used to warn of life-threatening dangers. But it seems you have to do these tests today.

Seriously People?

[Anonymous Coward]

Who the fuck is buying no-name Chinese junk to safeguard their lives, and then surprised when it doesn't work? Fake specifications, lies, deception, and shoddy construction are the hallmarks of Chinese manufacturing. Who DOESN'T know this?

Re:Who's buying the cheapest possible safety devic

[gargeug]

I don't know any namebrand CO detectors because I buy them once every decade. That is my beef with Amazon, in the areas where people need guidance because they don't recognize any of the brands due to an infrequent purchase, Amazon seems to steer you to these garbage products.

Re:Who's buying the cheapest possible safety devic

[drinkypoo]

I don't know any namebrand CO detectors because I buy them once every decade.

I don't know any CO detectors, they are boring to talk to. But I am familiar with the names of some companies which make CO detectors, because they also make smoke alarms and fire extinguishers and have been doing so for decades.

Re:Who's buying the cheapest possible safety devic

[hawguy]

I don't know any namebrand CO detectors because I buy them once every decade. That is my beef with Amazon, in the areas where people need guidance because they don't recognize any of the brands due to an infrequent purchase, Amazon seems to steer you to these garbage products.

But you do know name-brand stores, right? Buy from Home Depot, Walmart, etc.

Or take 10 seconds and research something that you're relying on to save your life. Never trust Amazon reviews for life-safety equipment.

Here's a freebie: the top rated CO detector by Consumer Reports is the First Alert CO615.

But don't buy it from Amazon, they are well known to have counterfeit items in their inventory, purchase from a legitimate local store.

Re:China vs USA

[amorsen]

If you bought your faulty CO detected from a US company, you can take them to court. If it's bad enough a class action suit would be raised.

It is not obvious to everyone that things labelled "Fulfilled by Amazon", "Amazon Prime", "Dispatched by Amazon" are NOT in fact sold by Amazon. Good luck suing "Special Price for You My Friend Inc." that it turns out you actually buy from, if you read enough fine print.