On Sept. 23, Molenaar LLC, Wilmar, Minn., announced the voluntary recall of 315,000 electroluminescent night lights that the company had manufactured and distributed from 2005 to 2009 throughout the United States. The recall is the result of the same four incidents of minor smoking and property damage reported to the Electrical Safety Authority of Ontario (ESA) that caused the Canadian recall in August, and not because of any new incidents of malfunction in the United States.
Steve Meyer, vice president of sales for Molenaar LLC, stated that the company issued information for an American recall to the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) within two days of filing with the ESA. The recall proceedings took longer to process in the United States, however, because much more information was required. Meyer said the information provided by Molenaar to the CPSC amounted to a binder filled with information to 1 ½” thickness, which far exceeded the two pages required by the Canadian ESA. To process and follow up on this increased amount of data took the CPSC about a month longer than the ESA, which is why an American recall is occurring later. The U.S. recall is voluntary just as the Canadian instance was, and Molenaar is fully cooperating with the CPSC.
To comply with the recall, distributors or end-users involved can dispose of the lights themselves or return the lights to Molenaar. For lights returned to the company, Meyer said that a $2-per-light refund is being offered. He added that any distributor who as ever purchased the lights will receive three letters: one addressed to them about the recall, one that can be photocopied and given to their customers and another that is a copy of the CPSC notice.
“We’re most concerned with how our distributor sales force is viewed by their clients,” said Meyer. “That’s very important in this. We’ll work with our distributor base to help this go as smoothly as possible and help them any way we can.”
The lights involved in the recall can be identified by their model numbers, 2017 and 2019, as well as the engraving “71980 U.S.A,” which is etched directly on the light’s back. Further information on identifying the lights, including images of what they look like, can be found on the official CPSC and ESA recall notices, both of which are available on Molenaar’s website. No personal injuries occurred through the reported malfunctions, and both models of night light have been discontinued by Molenaar since November 2009.
For further information, read Promo Marketing’s article about the original Canadian recall, visit www.miline.com or contact:
Brett Franks
(877) 719-4442
601 Industrial Drive SW
PO Box 777
Willmar, Minnesota 56201
[email protected]
