Duracell 500 Flashlight How To Open

A proposed course action lawsuit alleges Duracell's 250, 300 and 350 model LED flashlights, sold with full sets of Duracell AAA batteries, are defective in that they speedily drain their batteries, while turned off, in fewer than xxx days. The declared defect, the case says, not merely deprives consumers of the flashlights' advertised performance times and lifespans, but leaves them "literally in the dark, simply when they need their flashlights nigh."

What flashlights are we talking about? I usually merely employ the flashlight on my cell phone.

The Duracell LED flashlights at the middle of the instance are the kind you rummage around for in your junk drawer when the power goes out during a summer thunderstorm, and they're most commonly sold in multi-packs containing three or four flashlights. Each sealed package, the lawsuit says, comes with "bonus" Duracell AAA Coppertop alkaline-manganese dioxide batteries—one gear up for each flashlight—to allow a consumer to immediately utilise the production.

The flashlights' packaging, the suit says, promotes their reliability, boasting that the flashlights are "platonic" for use in emergencies, and claims the product tin provide continuous light for up to an hour and a half while on its high-intensity setting and upwardly to 7 hours when used on low intensity. Moreover, the case points out that the batteries that come up with the flashlights are purported by Duracell to have a guaranteed ten-year storage lifespan.

Information technology may shock you lot to learn, dear reader, that the lawsuit alleges, over the grade of many, many underlined, bolded, and italicized words, that these claims are untrue (emphasis from the complaint):

Specifically, these flashlights are defective in that they continuously and apace bleed the installed batteries when their LED lights are switched OFF, thus causing the batteries stored inside these flashlights to become fully depleted and expressionless, in less than 30 days, instead of the 10- twelvemonth advertised storage lifespan for the Duracell batteries sold with these flashlights or the replacement batteries sold separately."

The alleged defect notwithstanding, the lawsuit goes on to draw a purchasing cycle in which consumers continue to buy additional sets of Duracell batteries for their LED flashlights only to experience the same premature battery drain. To hear the lawsuit tell information technology, Duracell and its retail partners are the beneficiaries of a "recurring and massively profitable revenue stream" from the sale of replacement batteries to consumers with lacking flashlights. More from the complaint:

Twelvemonth afterwards year, DURACELL, together with its distribution partners, have marketed at least three unlike models, in succession, of severely defective LED flashlights – notwithstanding the maelstrom of complaints from their customers, and knowing that previous generations of similar non-Duracell branded products did not have this built-in defect which was virtually effortless to correct with small applied science and manufacturing changes, at negligible price to DURACELL."

So, Duracell sells flashlights with Duracell batteries then suggests you replace those batteries with Duracell batteries?

Aye, that'south the long and short of it, according to the lawsuit.

Has there always been a recall of the allegedly defective LED flashlights?

No, the lawsuit says, which seemingly further evidences an alleged coordination betwixt Duracell and its co-defendants, which include Duracell's parent company, Berkshire-Hathaway, Inc.; Duracell's quondam parent outfit, the Proctor & Chance Company; and Duracell retailer partners Costco, Home Depot and Amazon.com.

Due in part to a drench of consumer complaints, the lawsuit says, Duracell and its retailer co-defendants take known about the LED flashlight manufacturing defect since at to the lowest degree late 2014. Moreover, the example points out Duracell's 380 and 500 LED flashlight models explicitly state on their packaging that they've eliminated the ability bleed when in the off position.

Is this dangerous? I feel similar this could exist dangerous.

Stressing the potential prophylactic hazard created by the allegedly defective products, the 36-page complaint points out that millions of consumers may be unaware that flashlights "strategically placed in their homes or vehicles over the past four years … take actually been long dead and will non help them in a future emergency."

But it'due south not only dangerous for consumers in desperate need of a light source in an emergency. The lawsuit notes, too, that the environmental impact of having to supplant batteries before the end of their expected lifespan is of great concern. Equally the case tells it, "millions and perhaps billions" of prematurely drained batteries accumulate in landfills and/or recycling centers while Duracell reaps the benefits from the never-ending demand for batteries.

Who does the lawsuit await to represent?

The case seeks to cover a proposed nationwide course of consumers who bought Duracell's 250, 300 or 350 LED flashlight models from Duracell, Costco, Home Depot or Amazon during the to-exist-divers claim period. The lawsuit additionally looks to comprehend a proposed California-only class of consumers who fit the same purchasing criteria.

The full lawsuit tin can be read below.

Source: https://www.classaction.org/blog/in-the-dark-allegedly-defective-duracell-led-flashlights-drain-batteries-when-turned-off-class-action-lawsuit-claims