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this post was submitted on 28 Jul 2023
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Remember those popular side-wheel scooters from China that burned down so many houses here in the USA? People stopped buying them because everyone became aware of what a fire hazard they are. You don't see them at all anymore.
China and a few other countries with cheap labor markets are really bad about consumer product safety. They just don't have any law enforcing safety standards. They use maximally cheap production resulting in unsafe products and there's no local legal framework to disallow it. People buy products from these markets without being aware of the hazards. They assume domestic safety standards and that's simply not the case.
New York city and state law can be intrusive and I consider them and California examples of what I call "nanny" states, but that's one I agree with. Upholding safety standards is one of the few situations where I favor regulation of imported products.
For what its worth, cheap labor markets and China especially are perfectly capable of building safe products. Most high end brands make their stuff in China. And Chinese engineers are very capable of making safe products. The issue is there isn't motivation other than a foreign country with foreign engineers probing them and pushing them to make a product the right way. Otherwise they can drop ship it cheaply with no brand, no warranty, no risk and the only exchange that matters is the sale and then they're free of all obligation. Companies with a brand need to stand behind it and are at legal risk so the stakes are completely different.