In a news release Wednesday, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced that Perfect Fitness has agreed to pay a civil penalty of $425,000 to resolve allegations of failure to report a defective product.
According to the release, the CPSC alleges that the Sausalito, Calif.-based company violated federal law by knowingly failing to immediately report a defect with the company’s Perfect Pullup exercise equipment that causes the product’s handles to break while being used, posing a fall risk to consumers. The CPSC allegation claims that Perfect Fitness determined in June 2008 after re-testing the handle design that the product was defective. The Perfect Pullup was redesigned to correct the defect in July 2008 in the wake a complaint about the product and an unusually high level of product returns.
The CPSC allegation further claims that in March 2010, Perfect Fitness was award of at least 23 product-related injuries and had posted a notice on the company’s Web site notifying consumers of the option to receive free replacement handles, saying that the original handles were “inferior” and could lead to an accident. However, claims the CPSC, Perfect Fitness did not report the defect to the agency until December 2010. A recall was issued for approximately 7,000 Perfect Pullups in February 2011.
In agreeing to the settlement, Perfect Fitness denies allegations that it knowingly violated federal law.
As a Los Angeles personal injury attorney, I hope that no one else was harmed by this product.