The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) reports that Keurig Green Mountain, Inc. has agreed to pay a $5.8 million civil penalty to settle charges that the company knowingly failed to notify the CPSC of a serious defect in one of the company’s coffee brewing systems.
Keurig reportedly received about 200 reports between 2010 and 2014 regarding defects in its MINI Plus brewing system. These complaints included reports that the coffee makers sprayed boiling hot water, coffee grounds, and hot coffee during normal use. More than 100 of the reports received by the company indicated that consumers suffered burn-related injuries to their faces, hands and bodies, resulting in second and third-degree burns in a number of instances.
However, Keurig failed to initiate a product recall of about 6.6 million of the MINI Plus brewers until December 2014.
In addition to the payment of the civil penalty, Keurig has agreed to implement a compliance program to ensure that the company is fully compliant with the applicable provisions of the Consumer Product Safety Act.
Read the CPSC press release on its settlement with Keurig.
