These Amazon products are reportedly fire hazards - Are they in your home?
Hungry for deals on Amazon? There are plenty of ways to save big on products without too much effort. And one of the most popular bargain brands, Amazon Basics, gives users access to a range of discounted everyday items that are easy to sort through.
It’s not just Amazon Basics, though. There are plenty of discounted treasures to find on Amazon if you look around hard enough.
But as cheap and easy to buy as Amazon Basics products are, a disturbing trend has been noticed in several products: spontaneous combustion! As it turns out, many AmazonBasics items are bursting into flames due to poor quality control — and some people have even been injured. We have the latest information on this trend, along with alternative items that are safe to buy.
Too hot to handle
According to an exclusive investigative report by CNN, a significant number of Amazon Basics products are not meeting basic safety standards. Since 2016, more than 1,500 reviews for more than 70 items describe products that burst into flame, smoke, explode or melt outright.
All of these products have one thing in common: electrical power. This means that somewhere along the line, quality control isn’t catching bad ones that can pose safety risks to consumers.
The severity of defects ranges from mildly annoying to downright dangerous. One reviewer described his defective power strip as a “blowtorch” that shot flames straight into the air. Other reviewers described products that caught fire without them noticing — with only their smoke alarms preventing the situation from getting worse.
What’s more, nobody can point the finger at fake reviewers either. Incidents collected by CNN came from verified reviewers, which means Amazon confirmed that they actually bought the product they were talking about.
Amazon Basics items known to catch fire — based on reviews — include the following products:
- USB to Lightning cables
- power strips and extension cords
- microwave ovens
- car chargers
- paper shredders (one of these actually burned someone and singed their hair)