SaferProducts incident

Failure type

Fire / ignition

Incident narrative

SaferProducts.gov consumer incident report 20220904-C6F61-2147354028. Severity: Incident, No Injury. Product: First Alert 7020BSL (First Alert/BRK Electronics 7020BSL Hardwired LED Strobe Light Smoke Alarm Model 7020BSL). Incident: To whom it may concern, There appears to be a systemic defect with First Alert/BKR 7020BSL smoke detectors. This defect leads to premature end-of-life, failure of the deactivation switch, and possible other malfunctions. Our family has experienced 4 failures of a First Alert/BKR 7020BSL smoke detectors. This report documents the 4th failure. Report No. [REDACTED] discusses the first 3 failures. For convenience, some of the information in this report is a reproduction from the earlier report. On August 18, 2019 I installed five 7020BSL detectors. Now, 4 of the 5 detectors have indicated a failure by sounding the 5-beep end-of-life indication, well before the 10-year listed lifetime. The first 3 failures were reported to First Alert consumer affairs. I chose not to report the 4th failure, as I no longer trust First Alert devices and do not want a replacement device. Instead, I replaced the 4th failed device with a different brand. Specific information on the failed units is listed below: 1st Failure: Date of failure: Nov 10, 2020 Date of Manufacture listed on the back of the unit: Oct 19, 2018 First Alert Consumer Affairs Case Number for this failure: #[REDACTED] 2nd Failure: Date of failure: Nov 22, 2020 Date of Manufacture listed on the back of the unit: June 14, 2019 First Alert Consumer Affairs Case Number for this failure: #[REDACTED] 3rd Failure: Date of failure: March 16, 2021 Date of Manufacture listed on the back of the unit: June 14, 2019 First Alert Customer Support Case Number for this failure: #[REDACTED] 4rd Failure: Date of failure: March 28, 2022 Date of Manuf