Crisis Management Case Study: Exploding Fireplace Recall

Jonathan Bernstein crisis management, public relations, recall, recall crisis management

  [Author’s Note: The general public seldom gets to see what goes on behind the scenes of a significant product recall.  It ain’t always easy!] The Crisis Home Products manufacturing (name disguised), based in the Midwest with operations throughout North America, received reports from distributor showrooms that some of the …

Samsung Extinguishes Galaxy Note 7, Permanently

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Say farewell to our flame-prone friend After months of Galaxy Note 7’s bursting into flames, even after swapping battery suppliers and making major changes to the device’s firmware, Samsung announced yesterday that it was permanently calling it quits on production and sales of its flagship smartphone. A serious of crisis management failures – …

Blue Bell Has 2nd Listeria Scare While on the Rebound

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A second Listeria scare for the still-recovering ice cream manufacturer Blue Bell Creameries, which almost shut its doors for good in 2015 after a nasty Listeria outbreak that left three dead, has issued a recall of several ice cream products over fears they may contain Listeria once again. Although Blue …

Samsung Crises Spin out of Control

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Suds won’t clean this crisis up The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is actively and cooperatively working with Samsung to address safety issues related to certain top-load washing machines made between March 2011 and April 2016. CPSC is advising consumers to only use the delicate cycle when washing bedding, …

Internet of Things Helps Food Industry Crisis Management

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Smart sensors help prevent foodborne illness crises and loss We’ve discussed the crisis management risks that accompany the “Internet of Things”, or linking of just about every device to the ‘net. Despite those dangers, the IoT also brings opportunities to prevent and spot risks before they become major problems. In the wake …

Crisis Management: Reducing Severity and Impact of Recalls

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Catching product issues before they create big problems is key to reducing the reputation impact of recalls There has been a serious increase in recalls over the past several years. In large part this is due to greater awareness – consumers are VERY aware of how to let companies and their peers …

The Never Ending Takata Recalls

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If the damage is constantly coming in it’s impossible to recover The Takata airbag recalls keep on coming. It seems we’ve heard about yet another set of vehicles to be included every few months since late 2014 at least, with the latest announcement calling in approximately 331,000 Toyota vehicles. Here’s …

Tesla Goes Above and Beyond in the Name of Safety

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Putting customers (and reputation!) first in the midst of industry-wide concerns Tesla Motors already has a reputation that far outshines its competitors. Its emphasis on service and customer care has supplemented the straight-out engineering power of the company as its been demonstrated time and time again. In an era where …

Is Volkswagen Engineering a Crisis Management Plan?

Erik Bernstein crisis management, recall crisis management 1 Comment

Things are cranking over slowly, but the automaker is showing it’s ready to face the problem it created Volkswagon’s reputation (and stock price) took massive damage as a result of the revelation it had cheated U.S. emissions testing by programming its diesel-powered vehicles to perform differently when attached to diagnostic …

NHTSA Probes Uconnect Hack

Erik Bernstein crisis management, Crisis Prevention, recall crisis management 2 Comments

Investigation widens, bringing more systems under review Fiat Chrysler’s recall of 1.4 million vehicles due to a flaw in its Uconnect “infotainment” system that could allow hackers to remotely control braking and acceleration was big news thanks to the scare factor and widespread nature of the problem, but it may …

DoT Forces Takata’s Recall Into the Fast Lane

Erik Bernstein crisis communication, crisis management, Crisis Prevention, Crisis Response, Erik Bernstein, Jonathan Bernstein, public relations, recall crisis management, reputation management Leave a Comment

Dragging your feet is an easy way to make a bad situation worse Air bag manufacturer Takata has been dragging its feet when it comes to a widespread recall despite agreeing that a defect does exist which causes potentially deadly ruptures in its product. Used in cars from a variety …