Why are IKEA ＂self-exploding＂ glasses still sold without warning？
Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, November 13th Question: Why are IKEA "self-exploding" glasses still being sold without warning?
Xinhua News Agency "China Net" reporter Feng Songling Tan Huiting
Beijing No.2 Intermediate People’s Court recently made a final ruling on the case of "a woman injured by the bursting of an IKEA cup", and upheld the first-instance judgment that IKEA compensated the injured Ms. Wang for various losses totaling more than 40,000 yuan.
The reporter found that many netizens reported that IKEA glasses exploded from time to time, and several glasses that had experienced the phenomenon of "self-explosion" were still sold on IKEA shelves, and no safety tips were found in the sales places. In this regard, experts call on enterprises to make explanations and safety warnings to consumers in a significant way as soon as possible to reduce the occurrence of similar problems.
The woman was stunned by the explosion and claimed that millions of IKEA refused to pay the bill.
In the early morning of May 20, 2017, a "Steiner" glass cup bought by Beijing consumer Ms. Wang from Beijing IKEA Xihongmen Store suddenly exploded when she was ready to drink cold boiled water. Ms. Wang was stunned on the spot and woke up to find a broken front tooth. According to the diagnosis records of Beijing Stomatological Hospital, Ms. Wang "has a 2.0×1.5 cm wound surface in her lips, and the crown of one front tooth is broken and exposed." Subsequently, Ms. Wang called the IKEA customer service center several times, but did not get a positive response from IKEA. In April 2018, Ms. Wang sued IKEA Beijing Xihongmen Store to the Daxing District Court in Beijing, demanding compensation for medical expenses, follow-up treatment fees and mental damages totaling more than 1 million yuan. In the first instance, the court ruled that IKEA should return Ms. Wang’s shopping money, 3.9 yuan, and compensate Ms. Wang for medical expenses, lost time and other losses of more than 40,000 yuan.
Ms. Wang believes that in recent years, there have been many cases of glass self-explosion in IKEA, and IKEA still sells products knowing that they are defective, and there is fraud. IKEA believes that this "Steiner" glass meets the national standards, and Ms. Wang can’t prove that the glass is sold by IKEA. Both sides are dissatisfied. In October this year, Beijing No.2 Intermediate People’s Court made a final judgment, rejected the appeals of both parties and upheld the original judgment.
The problem glass is still on sale, and it frequently "explodes" without warning.
So, is the "Steiner" glass qualified? Why did it explode?
The reporter logged into IKEA official website and learned that this glass is "made of tempered glass, which is very strong and resistant to falling and heat." Ikea also said that tempered glass "carries about five times as much as ordinary glass" and "the sharp fragments produced after breaking will be much less than ordinary glass, thus reducing the risk."
Wang Xiaodi, a material expert at University of Science and Technology Beijing, said that tempered glass forms compressive stress on the glass surface by chemical or physical methods. When the glass bears external force, it first counteracts the surface stress, thus improving the bearing capacity and enhancing the wind pressure resistance, cold and heat resistance and impact of the glass itself. However, he introduced that self-explosion is one of the inherent characteristics of tempered glass.
"Due to quality defects such as stones, impurities and bubbles in the processing process, or defects such as scratches, cracks and deep explosion caused by improper operation, it is easy to cause stress concentration and lead to self-explosion." Wang Xiaodi said that according to the current industry experience, the self-explosion rate of ordinary tempered glass is 1‰ -3‰ About.
The reporter’s investigation found that the problem of IKEA glass self-explosion occurred from time to time. Miss Lin, a Guangdong netizen, bought the "Bockel" glass at IKEA Foshan Shopping Mall in Guangdong two months ago, and suddenly blew herself up during her nap. "There is glass in the whole room even on the bed"; Mr. Wu, a Beijing consumer, bought the same glass from IKEA Xihongmen Store and suddenly burst in the middle of the night. "The glass slag flew out more than two meters"; The same glass purchased by a restaurant in Beijing in 2014 suddenly exploded without being used, and a restaurant manager stabbed his finger … …
Recently, reporters visited IKEA chain stores in Beijing Xihongmen Store, IKEA Shanghai Xuhui Shopping Mall and other places, and found that different brands of glasses made of tempered glass are still sold normally in the kitchen supplies area, and the product shelves are marked with conspicuous fonts as "very strong, resistant to falling and heat".
In this regard, the customer service of IKEA Shanghai Xuhui Store told reporters that "tempered glass has a certain probability of self-explosion. If this happens, consumers should go to the shopping mall return center with a small ticket or purchase record, and the processing result will be subject to the scene." The staff of the IKEA store in Foshan, Guangdong Province said that the glasses of IKEA have passed the tests of IKEA, IKEA suppliers and third-party quality inspection institutions, and are in compliance with the laws and regulations of all countries in which they are sold. However, she said that Guangfo Store will make a more prominent explanation when selling the glass. In case of explosion, the shopping mall will negotiate with consumers according to the principle of return and exchange.
On November 8th, when interviewed by reporters, IKEA Home Headquarters once again stressed that the relevant products meet the national quality and safety standards, and there are tips on the characteristics of tempered glass products in official website and related areas of the shopping mall. However, IKEA has not made a positive response to the reporter’s question about whether it is necessary to take safety warnings and other measures.
How should consumers respond after the glass bursts?
So, how much responsibility does IKEA have to bear in such incidents? How should injured consumers protect their rights?
Chen Yinjiang, Deputy Secretary-General of China Consumer Rights Protection Law Research Association, believes that IKEA’s replies all emphasize that the products it sells meet the quality and safety standards, while weakening the characteristics of tempered glass products. In fact, product safety tips are as important as their usage and product performance. The Law of People’s Republic of China (PRC) on the Protection of Consumers’ Rights and Interests clearly stipulates that operators have the obligation to remind consumers in a significant way. "Commodities with certificates of conformity are not necessarily free from quality problems." He said.
"The product information such as firmness, fall resistance and heat resistance is prominently marked, and the important information related to consumers’ personal safety is only hung on the website and relevant areas. From these two disclosure methods alone, we can see that enterprises pay more attention to sales profits and ignore the security obligations to consumers." Chen Yinjiang said that if the same kind of tempered glass product has burst problems continuously, it should be considered whether its products meet the quality requirements, which may lead to safety accidents when consumers use it normally.
"The Law on the Protection of Consumers’ Rights and Interests in People’s Republic of China (PRC) stipulates that if an operator finds that the goods or services provided by him are defective and endanger personal and property safety, he shall immediately report to the relevant administrative department and inform the consumer, and take measures such as stopping sales, warning, recall, harmless treatment, destruction, and stopping production or service." Wang Hui, a Beijing Jingshi Law Firm, believes that both the injuries suffered by Ms. Wang and the witness testimony and related photos of several netizens indicate that some glasses of IKEA have quality defects and are in danger of damaging consumers’ rights and interests, and IKEA should stop selling or recall them according to law.
"Once injured, consumers can ask IKEA to compensate reasonable expenses such as medical expenses, nursing expenses and transportation expenses according to law. If the negotiation fails, consumers can jointly entrust a qualified testing agency with the enterprise to test the products, or they can complain to the Consumers Association or the market supervision department. " Chen Yinjiang said that if a product is found to have quality problems, the enterprise should bear relevant responsibilities such as civil compensation.