Lasko Space Heaters Exceed Set Temperatures Class Action

Lasko Products, LLC makes a line of low-profile, portable space heaters that contain automatic temperature controls that purportedly allow customers to set a temperature and keep the room heated to around that level. But the complaint alleges that the heaters are faulty, and that they either fail to shut off, overheating the room, or that they shut off after only a few minutes of operation.

Two classes have been defined for this action:

• The New York Class is all persons in New York who bought the product during the applicable statute of limitations.
• The Consumer Fraud Multi-State Class is all persons in Alabama, Idaho, Montana, Alaska, West Virginia, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah who bought the product during the applicable statutes of limitations.

The complaint alleges that the heaters are advertised “on [their] packaging and in website copy provided to third-party sellers such as Amazon.com and Home Depot as having an ‘Automatic Temperature [feature which] controls room temperature’ and an ‘Easy-to-read digital display [that] allows you to control the warm air to your comfort level[.]’”

This is presumably done through an internal thermostat and temperature control panel in the heater that compare the surrounding air temperature with the temperature set by the user. “However,” the complaint alleges, “due to defective design and manufacture of the temperature control board, including the internal thermostat, the device … consistently overheat[s] the area.”

According to the product’s manuals, the complaint alleges, the heater is supposed to turn on when the temperature is a degree below the set temperature and turn off when it is two degrees above the set temperature. But the complaint says many of the heaters exceed the set temperature by many more degrees or do not shut off at all. “For example,” the complaint alleges, “if the temperature is set to 72 degrees, a common occurrence is for the temperature control panel to disregard this setting and keep rising, above 80 and 90 degrees.”

The complaint quotes a purchaser’s review as saying, “I went into my toddler’s room to wake her up in the morning and found it was near 100 degrees in her room!…”

The complaint alleges that persons who are in above-normal temperatures for an extended period of time can develop hyperthermia. It claims, “The Consumer Products Safety Commission (‘CPSC’) has identified numerous hyperthermia deaths from room heaters.”

The heaters also suffer from a second defect, the complaint alleges: they may shut off after only a few minutes of being plugged in. To get them to work again, the heaters must be unplugged and then plugged in again, but the complaint alleges that they may simply shut off after a few minutes again.

Making matters worse, the complaint alleges that the company does not provide adequate consumer support. It claims the company does not respond in a timely manner to calls or emails, and that those who telephone may be put on hold for up to thirty minutes or simply get disconnected.

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Consumer
Tags: Appliances, Defective Home Appliance, Defective Product, Heater