Igloo rolling cooler recall expanded to 1.2M after more reports of amputations, injuries

WFSB ^ | 5-9-25 | Debra Worley

[Tailback]

Nothing is foolproof because fools are so ingenious.

That's a great line. I'm stealing it.

[Locomotive Breath]

Not original with me. It’s an oldie.

[T.B. Yoits]

...the product is not faulty if one in a million people stupidly hurt themselves. It’s the stupid people who are faulty.

Stupid people? They're children, and it's a cooler.

And it's flawed logic to play the numbers game. We're talking about a cooler. At no point should it be in a high injury quadrant.

Low Frequency / Low Injury
High Frequency / Low Injury
Low Frequency / High Injury
High Frequency / High Injury

As I said, it doesn't happen with other models. Several people belong in prison. This is what happens when third world designers and third world safety reviewers are hired to make first world products. They should have instead been making dried hollow gourds with ropes attached.

[Locomotive Breath]

So you’re insisting that no product ever hurt anyone at any time? Really? Even one in a million is too high an accident rate? I’ll bet you believe in unicorns too.
And yes it IS about the numbers. I’ve already pointed out 150,000 car door accidents. Let’s recall all the cars and add safety doors. How about doors in the household? Let’s recall all of them and replace them with rubber doors.

[T.B. Yoits]

Again, other coolers don’t amputate children’s fingers.

[Locomotive Breath]

As far as you know.

How about those hinged lids that are on ALL coolers?
Would you be willing to bet me that no one has crushed a finger in one of those?
If you took that bet you’d be a sucker.

[T.B. Yoits]

How about those hinged lids that are on ALL coolers? Would you be willing to bet me that no one has crushed a finger in one of those?

Yet we don't see recalls on all those other coolers.

This recall is for a specific brand and model which points toward an isolated design flaw and safety inspection failure.

[Locomotive Breath]

Nope. It points to a selective recall going after headlines with a well known cooler manufacturer. You really don’t know how this works do you?

[T.B. Yoits]

It points to a selective recall going after headlines with a well known cooler manufacturer. You really don’t know how this works do you?

Selective recall... right... other parents are hiding their children with amputated fingers. I mean it's not like their classmates or teacher would notice something's missing.

[Locomotive Breath]

I got your selective right here. Try looking it up. Here’s just two. I can put up dozens.

https://www.plaxenadler.com/2022/04/01/mercedes-soft-close-doors-can-cause-traumatic-amputations/

His thumb was still in the door but his back was turned when he felt his thumb being crushed. He was unable to do anything but watch his thumb separate. Unfortunately, his injury was so severe that surgeons were unable to reconstruct the thumb. The victim is unable to work and is filing a lawsuit for over half a million dollars in lost wages.

https://www.fingershield.com/2018/05/31/trapping-fingers-doors-can-cause-life-long-problems/

Research in the US shows that more than 600,000 injuries resulting from getting fingers caught in doors occurred between 1999 and 2008 – leading to more than 67,000 amputations. An additional 580,000 injuries were caused by impact with a door or hinge. 41% of all these injuries are to children aged four and under.

[T.B. Yoits]

Coolers. We're talking about coolers, not vehicle doors on a Mercedes.

Manufacturers resolved issues with coolers decades ago and then Igloo decided to ignore standards, lessons learned, product safety, etc. and create a dangerous product.

But yes, if they could find safer mechanisms for doors, they'd implement them.

[Locomotive Breath]

Nope. There are annually hundreds of thousands of injuries due to car doors and household doors. But according to you, since there have been no recalls of products, those injuries did not occur.

... then Igloo decided to ignore standards ...

Really. OK then, smart guy, cite specifically the standards in writing that Igloo ignored. Specifically what agency issued the standard and what is the number of the standard. I'll even get you started.

ANSI

Without looking it up I'll bet you don't even know what "ANSI" stands for.

What you can't seem to get your head around is that everything with hinges inherently has what is known as a "pinch point hazard". Go look it up.

[T.B. Yoits]

What you can't seem to get your head around is that everything with hinges inherently has what is known as a "pinch point hazard". Go look it up.

And yet, it's only Igloo coolers that are amputating fingers.

https://cordovaoutdoors.com/news/cordova-coolers-keeping-your-fingers-safe-and-intact-since-2015

[T.B. Yoits]

What you can't seem to get your head around is that everything with hinges inherently has what is known as a "pinch point hazard". Go look it up.

Notice the gap between the gate and the post. If that gate is kept between 90 degrees and 180 degrees, there is no pinch point on the hinge.

There are gooseneck hinges that are used on car trunks which is very similar to a lid on a cooler:

There also are guards to prevent getting a finger close enough to the hinge:

[Locomotive Breath]

You claimed a standard was violated. I notice you can’t cite the standard.
That’s because there is no standard. So you clearly don’t know what you’re talking about.

All your examples are perfect illustrations of pinch point hazards. The pinch point is not created by the hinge itself. The pinch point is created by the thing that’s swinging on the hinge.

Gate: Stick your hand in the gap between the gate and the post. Then shut the gate and see what happens. Alternately on the other side where the gate swings into a latch.

Car trunk: Just like a car door and a household door, the ENTIRE trunk lid can slam down on a finger or hand at any point around its perimeter. (BTW, the car trunk gooseneck fitting is so that the hinge can be entirely internal to the trunk and has nothing to do with eliminating a pinch hazard.)

[T.B. Yoits]

???

The gate is shut. There's enough of a gap to put a wrist through there without pinching it.

With a gooseneck hinge, there's no pinch point on the hinge. The lid would crush, not pinch, and won't amputate fingers.

Again, Igloo coolers are amputating fingers but no other brands are.

And it's not just the standards - it's the safety testing. Other brands could do it properly but apparently not Igloo.

[T.B. Yoits]

You claimed a standard was violated. I notice you can’t cite the standard. That’s because there is no standard. So you clearly don’t know what you’re talking about.

You'll see the lawyers identify it all.

[Locomotive Breath]

No diversion to “safety testing” allowed.
You claim Igloo violated some standard.
Cite the standard that Igloo violated.
You can’t because you’re just plain wrong and know nothing about standards.

“The gate is shut. There’s enough of a gap to put a wrist through there without pinching it.”

In your picture the gate is not shut. Since there’s no scale there’s no indication of the gap that remains when the gate is actually shut. To prove your point, find me a dimensioned drawing of that hinge. As I said, also show the other side of the gate where it swings to the latch.

You went out and found a couple of gate hinges of which you approve. Are you really going to make me post pictures of all the other hinges that don’t leave a gap. Notice how there are no recalls of all the other garden gate hinges of which you don’t approve?

So you admit that just like car doors and household doors, someone can slam a finger in a car trunk lid and it’s a pinch point hazard. So much for that false example. I’ve already provided links to literally hundreds of thousands of injuries a year. Yet there are no recalls. Everyone with any common sense knows to not slam your fingers in a door.

Just like household doors, car doors and car trunk lids, every single cooler design with a hinge creates a pinch point hazard. It’s literally unavoidable.

It’s hilarious for you to suggest that when someone is charged with something it means they charged everyone and no one else did it.

You sound like one of those people who would stick a fork into a toaster, electrocute yourself and then blame the toaster for not protecting you from your own stupidity.

I look forward to reading about you in the Darwin Awards.

[Locomotive Breath]

YOU claimed there were standard violated. You can’t support that so you’re at best completely ignorant about standards.

“You’ll see the lawyers identify it all.”

Hahahahaha!

And now we’re down to the nub of the matter. Igloo got charged because they’re a well-known company with deep pockets which makes them a tempting target for liability lawyers.

[T.B. Yoits]

And now we’re down to the nub of the matter. Igloo got charged because they’re a well-known company with deep pockets which makes them a tempting target for liability lawyers.

Wow. Just wow.

Igloo is recalling their coolers because kids are missing fingers. No other company's cooler is causing kids to miss fingers. Like I said in a previous comment, it's not like parents are holding back evidence of their kids missing fingers from other brands of coolers.

No kid lost a finger in a car door and is blaming "Deep Pockets Igloo" instead of Ford, GM, Honda, or Toyota because Igloo has deeper pockets.

As for the standards, the PRODUCT SAFETY lawyers, because that's what they do, will extract them all and come up with a settlement for these kids who Igloo maimed.