uNew Report Alleges Some Lowe’s Flooring Also Has Formaldehyde Problemr

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  (Mike Mozart)

  While Lumber Liquidators has been the target of lawsuits and federal investigations into allegations that the company’s China-sourced flooring contains exceedingly high levels of formaldehyde, hardware giant Lowe’s is now facing similar accusations from the hedge fund analyst who helped spark the Lumber Liquidators investigation.

  Analyst Xuhua Zhou, who first brought the Lumber Liquidators issue to light in a June 2013 story on the Seeking Alpha website, now claims in a new Seeking Alpha report that some imported laminate flooring sold at Lowe’s also contains levels of formaldehyde that don’t meet certain safety standards.

  Formaldehyde is frequently used in the manufacture of laminate flooring, but usually in quantities so low that it dissipates quickly. If too much is used, it can linger in the product and carry the toxic chemical into the customers’ homes. Prolonged, continued exposure to formaldehyde has been linked to numerous health problems ranging from nausea to increased cancer risk. Children are more susceptible than adults to the toxic effects of formaldehyde.

  “New evidence has come to my attention that Lumber Liquidators may not have been the lone violator when it comes to laminate floor sourcing,” writes Zhou. “Lowe’s, a behemoth in home improvement, has been selling similar questionable products as recently as late March.”

  Zhou obtained a sample of laminate FH/L 3603 Chocolate Cherry Hickory flooring from a Lowe’s in Texas and sent it to one of the independent labs used by 60 Minutes in its recent investigative report on Lumber Liquidators.

  This particular flooring claims to be compliant with California’s strict standards for formaldehyde content, but according to the results posted by Zhou, the lab detected around ten times the allowed amount of formaldehyde.

  “I would be very concerned about the results from the one test from your supplier,” reads a note from the lab, “that is an extraordinarily high number.”

  In response the Zhou report, Lowe’s told Bloomberg that the company sells laminate flooring from “the most reputable, well-known and trusted U.S.-based flooring companies,” and provided letters from flooring vendors affirming that their products meet U.S. regulations.

  Additionally, the retailer said that only about 10% of its laminate flooring comes from outside the U.S. and that it is aiming to remove foreign sources by July.

  “While we are confident that our products are safe, we are responding to our customers’ concerns about Chinese laminate flooring,” a company rep explained to Bloomberg.

  With regard to Lumber Liquidators, that company has maintained that the flooring it sells is safe and complies with safety standards. The retailer has raised questions about the testing methods used by those claiming to have found high levels of formaldehyde in the flooring products.

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uWrite An Essay, Win A Mortgage-Free Goat Cheese Farm With 85 Goats In Alabamar

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  (WAAY-TV)

  If there are two things we’ve discovered people really and truly go bonkers for, it’s writing competitions that reap rewards of property for the winner goats performing jobs. Those two topics have come together in the story of an Alabama couple holding an essay-writing contest to decide who will win their fully functional, mortgage-free goat cheese farm — including its resident goat population of 85.

  Here’s the deal: You write the winning essay, and the couple will hand over the farm, house all those goats and all the tools you need to run your own goat cheese business, reports WAAY-TV.

  Why would they want to leave now, when their business is growing? Couldn’t making cheese be one of the ultimate ways to live your best life, hypothetically speaking?

  The couple wants to move to Costa Rica to help missionaries start goat farms to help the needy there. They tried to sell the property they say is worth $350,000 but realized most people couldn’t afford that. So they changed gears.

  They’d read about the Maine innkeeper giving away her establishment and decided to follow her lead: They cleared the plan with a lawyer first, and then announced that they’ll accept essays from people explaining why they want the farm, along with a $150 entry fee. If they get their goal of 2,500 they can cover the rest of the mortgage on the house and give the new owner $20,000 for start-up costs.

  “Debt is one of the worst things you can have as a farmer,” he said.

  “Not to say they won’t have struggles or stuff to figure out, but they are going to start with a product that has a following,” she added said. “They can pick it up and start running and I am so excited to see where they take it.”

  Unversed in the art of making goat cheese? The couple says they’ll stick around to train anyone who wants to go for it and really succeed in the business.

  Too Good to be true? Elkmont couple taking essays to give away goat cheese farm [WAAY-TV]

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uApple Confirms: Tattoos May Mess With Apple Watchr

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  (photo: reddit user guine55fan)

  Following last week’s launch of the Apple Watch, some tattooed users of the device complained that their new smartwatches weren’t working properly when worn on heavily inked wrists. Apple has now updated its website to explain that there is indeed the chance that a user’s tattoo may interfere with the sensors on the Apple Watch.

  The Apple Watch uses multiple sensors the rear face of the device to sense the wearer’s heartbeat. Among other things, this lets the watch know that it’s currently being worn and thus doesn’t constantly go into lockdown mode and require a passcode to be used.

  But some users with wrist tattoos said that their Apple Watches were behaving as if they weren’t being worn and were frequently locking up when they shouldn’t have.

  In an update to this Apple Support page about the Apple Watch’s heart rate monitor, the company explains:

  Permanent or temporary changes to your skin, such as some tattoos, can also impact heart rate sensor performance. The ink, pattern, and saturation of some tattoos can block light from the sensor, making it difficult to get reliable readings.

  This confirms earlier speculation about the reason for the trouble.

  As Engadget points out, some other wearables on the market have similar problems with tattoos.

  Right now, the only suggestion Apple has for dealing with sensor interference is to wear yet another device — a bluetooth heart rate monitor that you put on your chest. This is why we suggest that anyone with wrist tattoos, especially solid or heavily inked pieces, get a hands-on (or rather wrist-on) demo of the device before they buy it.

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uFord Expands Door Latch Recall To Include 156,000 Additional Fiesta, Fusion & Lincoln Vehiclesr

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  (Don Buciak II)

  Less than a week after Ford finally issued a recall for nearly 400,000 vehicles that may contain malfunctioning door latches, the car manufacturer is adding another 156,000 of the same vehicles to the recall roster.

  The company announced today that it would expand its recent door latch recall to include an additional 156,000 model year 2011 to 2014 Fiesta, and model year 2013 to 2014 Fusion and Lincoln MKZ sedans after receiving a request from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which has been investigating the door latch issue for more than seven months.

  The expansion bring the number of Ford-made vehicles that may contain doors that inadvertently open while the car is in motion to 545,906.

  According to Ford’s recall notice, the door latches in these vehicles may experience a broken pawl spring tab, which typically results in a condition where the door will not latch.

  The manufacturer says it is aware of two allegations of soreness resulting from an unlatched door bouncing back when the customer attempted to close it, and one accident where an unlatched door swung open and struck an adjacent vehicle as the driver was pulling into a parking space.

  Ford’s recalls come less than two months after NHTSA upgraded its investigation into the malfunctioning latches to include the Fusion and Lincoln MKZ vehicles. In addition to increasing the scope of the investigation, regulators upgraded the probe to an engineering analysis – a step that can sometimes lead to a recall.

  Prior to Ford’s recalls, NHTSA said [PDF] it had received 207 reports related to improperly latching doors. Sixty-five of those reports claimed that the door or doors opened inadvertently while the vehicle was in motion.

  When NHTSA originally launched an investigation into the Fiesta models last September, the agency had accumulated 61 reports of potential door latch failures, of which 12 allegedly occurred while the vehicle was in motion. Since then, Ford has provided the agency with 451 additional reports and 1,079 warranty claims related to door latch failures.

  Ford previously said it did not believe that a latched door experiencing this condition would inadvertently unlatch and that there are many overt warnings associated with a door that does not latch.

  Still, regulators said back in March that the “rate of occurrence for this failure is comparable to other door latch failure investigations” and that the agency “questions the effectiveness of warning signals given the number of complainants alleging that the door(s) opened while the vehicle was in motion.”

  Ford Expands Door Latch Safety Recall in North America [Ford Motor Co.]

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uCalifornia Authorities Cite SeaWorld San Diego For Not Properly Protecting Employeesr

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• 

  (Bob Reck)

  Another wave of controversy is washing over SeaWorld, as the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health has handed the company’s San Diego park four citations for not making sure employees who work with killer whales are properly protected.

  Three of those citations are categorized as serious, reports the San Diego Union-Tribune, and says SeaWorld failed to put in place an effective “injury and illness prevention program” designed to spot workplace hazards that could result in serious injury or death.

  In two of the citations officials said that the park doesn’t have procedures to protect workers “rode on the killer whales and swam with killer whales in the medical pool” and “who were present on the slide outs with killer whales in various pools.”

  A Cal/OSHA spokeswoman told the Union-Tribune that the agency’s investigations and the resulting citations were kicked off by a complaint, though SeaWorld wouldn’t identify the source of the complaint.

  “All employers are required to have a safety plan that looks at all of the jobs and duties, looks at any hazards related to those duties and takes the appropriate steps, whether it’s specific work practices or protective equipment in order to keep employees safe on the job because the goal is to have people go home safe and sound,” the Cal/OSHA spokeswoman noted.

  The investigation found that SeaWorld doesn’t have procedures for responding to “imminent hazards,” including a way to get personnel away from the area with the hazards. And the park doesn’t have an effective safety plan, Cal/OSHA’s report says, as it requires trainers to sign a confidentiality agreement that the agency said discouraged them from informing their employer of “hazards for fear of reprisal.”

  SeaWorld San Diego said it has put in place safety precautions like fast-rising pool floors and personal emergency air systems for those in the water with the whales. The park says it will appeal the citations, which come with a total fine of $25,770.

  “There is no higher priority for SeaWorld than the safety of guests and team members and the welfare of our animals,” the park said in a written statement Thursday. “The citations issued by Cal/OSHA today were not precipitated by any workplace incident, accident or injury, and they reflect a fundamental misunderstanding of the requirements of safely caring for killer whales in a zoological setting.”

  SeaWorld has been the subject of much criticism since the documentary Blackfish came out in 2013, chronicling alleged mistreatment of orca whales by the park as well as accusing it of violating Occupational Safe and Health Administration laws.

  The documentary looked at the death of SeaWorld Orlando trainer Dawn Brancheau, who was killed in front of park visitors when an orca named Tilikum pulled her into the water and kept her under it during a performance. The documentary created quite a public relations headache for the marine park, landing it in Consumerist’s Worst Company In America contest for the first time in 2014.

  Just recently, Mattel confirmed it had stopped making all SeaWorld-branded merchandise, including SeaWorld Trainer Barbie.

  State cites SeaWorld for safety violations [San Diego Union-Tribune]

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uTesla’s Worst Kept Secret Is Out: It’s Making Solar-Based Batteries For Homes, Businessesr

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  Tesla unveiled its new battery products Thursday night, including the residential Powerwall.

  For months Tesla CEO Elon Musk has subtly (and not so subtly) hinted that the company’s next big foray wouldn’t be another car, but a battery system aimed at homeowners, businesses and utilities. On Thursday night, he finally made the announcement most of us saw coming.

  The New York Times reports that Tesla’s next big move will be in the solar storage market with two distinct battery products: the Powerwall home battery and the business system Powerpack.

  As Consumerist previously reported, the new batteries can be used with things like solar panels to collect and distribute electricity as needed, especially in developing parts of the world or in areas where it’s impractical to run electrical wiring or operate a gas-powered generator.

  Both of the battery systems, which will be connected to the Internet and can be managed by Tesla remotely, will allow customers to connect up to nine battery packs to store larger amounts of power over time.

  The slim paneled Powerwall, which will run about $3,500 and must be installed by a licensed technician, stands roughly four feet by three feet and uses much of the same lithium-ion battery technology that Tesla puts in its electric vehicles.

  The device – most likely to be mounted in garages – allows solar panel customers to store energy in order to have power in the event of a failure, or when utility rates are high.

  “If you have the Tesla Powerwall, if the utility goes down, you still have power,” Musk said. “The whole thing is an integrated system that just works.”

  As for the business system, Powerpack, it’s already being tested in pilot programs with several companies, including 11 Walmart stores in California.

  The tests are in conjunction with Tesla’s sister company SolarCity, which already provides residential energy-storage units for about 300 customers.

  The system, which is expected to sell for $250 per kilowatt-hour of storage capacity, is designed to help businesses lower the demand for electricity from their solar grids, which Musk says in turn can lower costs.

  Walmart isn’t the only big company gearing up for more Tesla-powered batteries: The NYT reports that Amazon Web Services is set to begin the pilot program soon to assist in achieving its goal to derive all of its energy from renewable sources.

  “Batteries are important for both data center reliability and as enablers for the efficient application of renewable power,” James Hamilton, an engineer at Amazon Web Services, told the Times through a spokeswoman. “They help bridge the gap between intermittent production, from sources like wind, and the data center’s constant power demands.”

  Powerwall is expected to be marketed by a new division called Tesla Energy, with deliveries set to begin later this summer, the Los Angeles Times reports.

  “We are talking about trying to change the fundamental energy infrastructure of the world,” Musk said at the conference.

  Tesla expands from electric cars to energy storage for businesses, homes [The Los Angeles Times]
  Tesla Ventures Into Solar Power Storage for Home and Business [The New York Times]

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uConsumerist Friday Flickr Findsr

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• Here are eight of the best photos that readers added to the Consumerist Flickr Pool in the last two weeks, picked for usability in a Consumerist post or for just plain neatness.

  

  (elnina)

  

  (Coyoty)

  

  (Matthew Hunt)

  

  (John Hanley)

  

  (Chris Blakeley)

  

  (Mark Turnauckas)

  

  (Nicholas Eckhart)

  

  (Brian Kelly)

  Want to see your pictures on our site? Our Flickr pool is the place where Consumerist readers upload photos for possible use in future Consumerist posts. Just be a registered Flickr user, go here, and click “Join Group?” up on the top right. Choose your best photos, then click “send to group” on the individual images you want to add to the pool.

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist