Product Safety
➢ Self-regulation: Businesses generally prefer self- regulation, competition, and voluntary safety standards set by their own industry.
➢ But self-regulation can easily subordinate consumer interests to profit making when the two goals clash.
➢ Under the guise of self-regulation, businesses can end up ignoring or minimizing their responsibilities to consumers.
Product Safety
-Automobile safety: The auto industry has a long and consistent history of fighting against safety regulations. Some examples:
-The industry successfully lobbied the federal government to delay the requirement that cars be equipped with air bags or automatic seat belts.
-In the late 1990s, the industry denied that car passengers are at a greater risk of serious injury or death caused by collisions with pickups or SUVS than with automobiles.
The Responsibilities of Business
➢ Protecting the consumer requires more than just obeying the law. It also requires business to:
(a) Give safety the priority warranted by the product.
(b) Abandon the misconception that accidents result solely from consumer misuse.
(c) Monitor closely the manufacturing process itself.
(d) Review the safety implications of their marketing and advertising strategies.
(e) Provide full details about product performance.
(f) Promptly investigate consumer complaints.