Pennsylvania’s attorney general Jerry Pappert today filed a lawsuit against the nation’s largest manufacturer of bulletproof vest for police for failing to disclose potentially life-threatening flaws in its products.
The lawsuit, filed in a Commonwealth Court, accuses Second Chance Body Armor Inc. of violating Pennsylvania’s Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law.
“It’s our position that Second Chance made a conscious decision to hold-off warning our law enforcement officials that degradation problems with Zylon in bulletproof vests could seriously compromise their effectiveness,” Pappert said during a news conference. “Failure to immediately disclose these potential dangers to those using the products in the field is unconscionable.”
According to the lawsuit, Second Chance was aware of various safety issues surrounding Zylon-based body armor after it began selling the vests. On December 18, 1998 Toyobo informed Second Change in writing that the “strength” of Zylon decreases with exposure to fluorescent light. The letter stated that tests conducted by Toyobo found that the fabric lost 20% of its strength over a period of 200 hours of light exposure. The same letter according to the lawsuit, advises Second Chance to keep the fabrics in a box in the factory and not on a table exposed to light for extended periods of time.
In August 2001, Toyobo informed Second Chance that the vests experienced a bigger strength loss than originally expected during various heat and humidity tests. The tests were conducted in heat and humidity conditions likely to be experienced while wearing the vests.
In documents obtained during the investigation, a December 2001 memo was sent to the Second Chance President from the company’s research director urging him to “immediately notify our customers of the degradation problems we are experiencing,” and to “cancel orders if requested.” The same memo states: “Lives and our credibility are at stake” and “we will only prevail if we do the right things and not hesitate.”
Pappert said, “Despite the disclosures from Toyobo and the company’s own research expert, the defendant again chose not to inform those wearing these products, that they may no longer be safe. The defendant admitted that its products ‘wear out sooner than expected’ creating ‘a potential officer safety issue’ only after two officers wearing the vests were shot. The shootings killed a California police officer and wounded a Pennsylvania police officer.”
In June 2003, Forest Hills Police Officer Edward Limbacher was wounded when a .40-caliber bullet pierced the Second Chance vest he was wearing. The shooting occurred while Limbacher was participating in an Attorney General Drug Task Force operation. Limbacher’s vest carried a five-year warranty and failed six months after it was manufactured. Last September, Second Chance reportedly discontinued production of the ULTIMA and ULTIMAX line of vests.
“These products were marketed and sold as safe and carried a five-year warranty,” Pappert said. “We contend that Second Chance knew the products would wear out sooner than expected and not only failed to notify existing customers of the danger, but continued to sell the alleged faulty products to new customers making the same ’superior’ quality claims.”
The State also accuses the defendant of failing to comply with the terms of its guarantees and warranties. In addition, the company allegedly created confusion and misunderstanding by implementing an unacceptable upgrade/replacement program which failed to make purchasers whole.
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I feel that the replacement inserts that second chance has given out are ridicules. 95% of the reason for me buying the vest is due to it being so light in weight, then once the inserts and added to the vest, it becomes more heavy and bulkier than alot of other brand vests. second chance should suck up the lost money and replace the whole vest not add things to it to improve it, I’m pretty sure they could afford to loose a few dollars out of the money they make off all the police officers that bought the vests (even though we make so much money) yea right! I dont think I’ll ever buy somethin from that company again.
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