SaferProducts incident

Failure type

Structural / mechanical failure

Incident narrative

SaferProducts.gov consumer incident report 20110401-CD7A1-1173993. Severity: Injury, No First Aid or Medical Attention Received. Matched catalog product: Char-Broil Char-Broil X200 Gas Grill. Incident: Consumer purchased a "Brush Hawg" from Lowes a couple of months ago. Consumer used it to clean his grill approximately 10 times. On 3/19/11, the consumer's wife was grilling chicken for a dinner salad. When the consumer bit into a piece of chicken that she cooked on the grill, something stuck deep into the roof of his mouth. The Consumer states that he couldn't get what was stuck in his mouth with his fingers so he had his wife rush to get a pair of tweezers. Very fortunately the consumer was able to reach in and pull out what turned out to be a half inch piece of wire that broken off the Brush Hawg. It scared he and his wife very much. The consumer mentioned his concern if it got lodged deeper in his throat? The next morning, the consumer examined the Brush Hawg and found a wire that looks as if it was one that broke. The broken end that was stuck in his mouth is the same size as the missing segment and is the same gauge and color as well. The consumer further mentioned that is that piece of wire had gone any deeper, he would have needed special surgery to remove it. This is not the first case of this type of failure resulting in injury. Previous documented failures of this type of product have caused serious injury. The consumer said that this product didn't have a warning label on it. The consumer also contacted the manufacturer and reported that they neither offered a refund or seemed to be overly concerned over the problem.