Consumer Catch-up: Prime Day sales, Ford airbag lawsuits, electric toothbrush recall

Wednesday, July 18, 2018
Consumer Catch-up: Prime Day sales, electric toothbrush recall
Despite problems at the start, Prime Day sales are well ahead of last year. Plus, Water Pik is recalling some of its electric toothbrushes because they could catch on fire. The consumer news you need to know for Tuesday, July 17, 2018.

Record Prime Day sales



Despite major issues with Amazon's website yesterday, Prime Day sales are way up over last year. That's according to e-commerce tracking site Feedvisor.



The software company says sales in the first 12 hours of the event were up 89 percent compared to the same time period in 2017.



Traffic to Amazon.com after launch on Monday crashed the site. Many customers saw photos of dogs, which is the company's standard error message.



Prime Day will run until midnight Pacific Time on Tuesday.



Last year, the made-up event generated about a billion dollars in sales.




Ford to pay millions in airbag lawsuits



Ford has agreed to pay almost $300 million in lawsuits over airbags in its vehicles.


Owners sued and argued that Ford's use of Takata airbags cut the value of their cars.



The settlement must still get court approval. It will cover about six million customers.



The Takata airbags have been involved in almost two dozen deadly accidents.




Electric toothbrush recall



Water Pik is recalling thousands of electric toothbrushes the company says could catch fire.



The recall includes the Sonic Fusion Flossing Toothbrush. Water Pik says the charging station could overheat and catch fire.



All other Water Pik flossers and toothbrushes are not impacted.



If you have the Sonic Fusion toothbrush, stop using it and contact Water Pik for a return. For more information about this recall, click here.




Click here for a look at more stories by Michael Finney and 7 On Your Side.



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