Photo-illustration by Newsweek/Canva/Product Recalls Are on the Rise
By Jasmine Laws
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Consumer product recalls have been on the rise in recent years, and 2025 has already set a record for the highest number of recalls since 2018, when the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) began tracking the data.
An agency spokesperson told Newsweek, "Under new leadership, CPSC has renewed focus on its core mission to protect American families from product hazards."
"The recalls we have conducted this year reflect our commitment to using the full weight of our executive authority to identify products that would endanger American families," they added.
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Why It Matters
Product recalls are a notable contributor to consumer stress, and many Americans have indicated their concern about recalls.
A 2017 Marketpoint Recall survey of 2,081 Americans aged 18 and older, conducted online by Harris Poll, found that 85 percent felt angry when companies issued a recall.
However, experts told Newsweek that the trends might not be as concerning as they seemed.
"When people first see recall trends, it often appears very concerning," said Kaitlin Wowak, an associate professor of IT, analytics and operations at the University of Notre Dame.
"However, companies and the FDA do a really good job to ensure products are safe for consumers," she told Newsweek, referring to the Food and Drug Administration.
Wowak added that more reported recalls "do not necessarily mean products produced today are worse than they were a few years ago."
"More recalls could be an indication that companies are identifying issues earlier and proactively recalling products before consumers are harmed," she said.
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Product Recalls Are on the Rise
In 2018, 265 product recalls were reported to CPSC. By 2024, that figure was 333.
The number of recalls dropped in 2020 to 238, the lowest number of recalls CPSC recorded in the 2018 to 2025 period.
This year, CPSC has already received 339 consumer product recall reports, surpassing the record set in 2024 with months left to go in the year.
A CPSC spokesperson told Newsweek that these recalls "reflect a Commission is no longer afraid to confront our foreign adversaries."
"The evidence is overwhelming that China is a leading source of low-quality and unsafe products entering the U.S. market, particularly through e-commerce platforms," they said.
"From cheap Chinese-made faucets to dangerous above-ground pool straps that caused multiple toddler deaths to fake Labubu dolls that pose a choking hazard, we are keenly focused on cracking down on foreign threats that put American families at risk," they added.
A possible explanation for the increase in consumer product recalls "might be the difficulty of monitoring foreign factories during COVID," John Gray, a professor of operations and business analytics at the Ohio State University, told Newsweek.
"For products that cannot be 100 percent tested, it is necessary to monitor the process," he said. "This was much more difficult during COVID."
Looking specifically at why 2025 has already broken product recall records, Gray said this "could be partly driven by spikes in orders to beat the tariffs."
"Any time a manufacturing facility is under intense pressure to deliver goods, there is a risk of cutting corners or 'looking the other way' when things aren't quite right," he said.
Other potential reasons for this increase include "cost pressures faced by manufacturers due to higher inflation post-COVID," George Ball, a professor in the Department of Operations and Decision Technologies at Indiana University, told Newsweek.
"When cost is squeezed, quality suffers. It's nearly a guarantee," he said.
Ball added that the "enhanced ability for consumers to share quality experiences in online forums" had contributed to the increase.
"The ever-increasing accessibility to data and consumers' opinions online makes it more difficult for firms to hide quality problems from consumers, lawyers, and regulators," he said.
Leading Causes of Product Recalls
Consumer products can be recalled for a number of reasons, typically when a potential hazard is identified.
According to CPSC data, some of the main causes include fire, burning, heat-related explosion, falling, crash, poisoning, safety equipment malfunction, ingestion, impact and choking.
Heat-related hazards such as fire, burn and heat-related explosions were the top three causes of product recalls.
Fire hazards, meaning use of the product could lead to a fire or the product violated federal fabric flammability regulations, were behind 354 of the product recalls reported to CPSC in the past five years.
Burn hazards, meaning use of the product could lead to burns, were behind 294 recalls in the same time frame. Risk of heat-related explosions, meaning the product could explode unintentionally, was behind 264 recalls.
Referring to fire, burn and heat-related explosion hazards, Ball said, "These are the most attention-catching consequences that consumers are most likely to share online, and these are the most likely reasons for recalls in the consumer product industry."
Wowak said this could also be because "a growing number of consumer products are electronics-based products."
"Defects in materials, components overheating, faulty wiring, and damaged or defective batteries can prompt such issues," she said.
Products Leading to Highest Numbers of Injuries
According to CPSC data collected in 2020 and 2021, the consumer products that tend to result in the most product-related injuries include stairs, ramps, landings and floors—a group of products responsible for 24 percent of injuries treated in an emergency department.
The second highest group responsible for product-related injuries included beds, mattresses and pillows, which contributed to 7 percent of injuries treated in an ER.
Other items listed in the top 20 product groups responsible for injuries included exercise equipment, cans, basketballs, ladders, desks, rugs and bathtubs.
In 2025, the largest recall reported to CPSC involved exercise equipment, specifically dumbbells.
A BowFlex Adjustable Dumbbells recall in June involved almost 4 million units and was initiated because of reports of weight plates detaching during use, posing a serious hazard.
Garden hoses, pressure cookers and air conditioners were also involved in some of the largest recalls so far this year.
What Happens Next
To reduce the number of consumer product recalls, companies could "implement stricter quality control upstream in the supply chain," Wowak said.
She added, "Greater transparency along the supply chain can also help companies see where potential problems can occur."
Ball said the structure of CPSC may also need to be reconsidered.
"They have less authority, less funding, and a looser organizational structure than comparable recall regulators such as the FDA and NHTSA," he said, referring to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Ball added, "The CPSC has a divided leadership structure. No one individual can make the tough calls, and they oversee too many disparate products that have vastly different quality challenges."
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