Black & Decker agreed to pay a $1.58 million penalty to settle allegations the company purposely didn’t report safety issues with its cordless electric lawnmowers, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and U.S. Department of Justice said on Wednesday.
The settlement, in which the company admits no wrongdoing, prompted an almost-unheard-of rebuke from the head of the CPSC, calling into question Black & Decker’s safety record and willingness to look out for its customers. This is the fifth time in the past 19 years that the company has been penalized for failure to report product defects and safety problems as required under federal law, the CPSC said.
