{"id":36852,"date":"2008-03-26T16:35:41","date_gmt":"2008-03-26T21:35:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/content.findlaw-admin.com\/ability-legal\/uncategorized\/flammable-upholstered-furniture-is-there-a-deadly-time-bomb-in.html"},"modified":"2008-03-26T16:35:41","modified_gmt":"2008-03-26T21:35:41","slug":"flammable-upholstered-furniture-is-there-a-deadly-time-bomb-in","status":"publish","type":"corporate","link":"https:\/\/corporate.findlaw.com\/litigation-disputes\/flammable-upholstered-furniture-is-there-a-deadly-time-bomb-in.html","title":{"rendered":"Flammable Upholstered Furniture: Is there a deadly time bomb in your couch?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

This article was edited and reviewed by FindLaw Attorney Writers<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n | Last reviewed\n

\n \n <\/i>\n Legally Reviewed\n <\/summary>\n\n
\n

This article has been written and reviewed for legal accuracy, clarity, and style by FindLaw\u2019s team of legal writers and attorneys<\/a> and in accordance with our editorial standards<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/details>\n\n

\n \n <\/i>\n Fact-Checked\n <\/summary>\n\n
\n

The last updated date refers to the last time this article was reviewed by FindLaw or one of our contributing authors<\/a>. We make every effort to keep our articles updated. For information regarding a specific legal issue affecting you, please contact an attorney in your area<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/details>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

An unsupervised child defeats a child proof lighter and ignites the family couch. His parents are asleep. The frightened child runs to his room to hide. Forty seconds elapse before the smoke alarm sounds. His parents, startled by the alarm, take thirty seconds to figure out what is happening to them. They have no fire escape plan. The living room couch is burning fiercely, producing intense heat and dark, toxic smoke. Screams are heard from next door. The father fights the smoke down the hallway to the living room, now completely filled with smoke, obscuring all but the flames. He retreats to rescue his family from the inferno, which is still less than three minutes old. The fire quickly approaches flashover, the point in the fire in which all combustible items ignite. The neighbors cannot get in to help. The screams fade into the roar of the flames, leaping from the window.<\/p>

Unfortunately, this story is all too common. Children under five start one third of all home fires. NFIRS. 1996. Children playing with fire caused 36% of all home fire deaths among children 5 and under. N.F.P.A. Upholstered furniture and mattresses are the items first ignited in 39% of fatal home fires. NFIRS, NFPA survey 1983-1987. According to the Consumer Products Safety Commission, upholstered furniture is involved in more residential fire deaths than any other product under the CPSC jurisdiction. (1994).<\/p>

Robert P. Foster has brought legal action against a maker of upholstered furniture causing injury and death under product liability theories of strict liability, negligence, and warranty. "Its excessive flammability makes it an unreasonably dangerous product well beyond the reasonable expectations of the ordinary consumer." In recent litigation settled out of court (Motts vs. Mohasco, click here<\/u>) an exempler sofa was tested in a fully instrumented chamber, measuring ceiling temperature and rate of heat release from the burning sofa. Here is what the test looked like. (Click Play button to view)<\/p>

The test showed a peak ceiling temperature of 1885 deg F at time 3:53:00, and a peak heat release rate of 3.17 million watts at time 3:48:00.<\/p>

Manufacturers can make upholstered furniture safer using fire retardants. Here is what difference a fire retardant foam can make:<\/p>

Within 5 minutes from ignition, the chair on the left is barely burning<\/p>

In another 7 minutes, the chair on the left is still barely burning, but the chair on the right is a total inferno.<\/p>

The chair on the left incorporates fire-retardant polyeurethane foam, the chair on the right does not.<\/p>

The primary flammability culprit is polyurethane foam, the seating cushioning core that shares some of the same combustion properties as kerosene and gasoline. It is a petroleum based product sometimes called solid gasoline. Untreated, it burns fiercely. It can be treated with fire retardants to make it flame resistant. Can you tell which of the following has been treated with fire retardants? (Click Play button to view)<\/p>

The intense heat generated by a typical non-fire retarded upholstered couch can create flashover conditions in as little as two minutes from ignition. Survivability ceases well before flashover because of extremes of temperature, toxic gases, smoke, and decrease of available oxygen as the burning couch steals critical oxygen from the room of origin.<\/p>

Robert P. Foster has been studying, researching, and litigating upholstered furniture fire issues for over five years. He resolved a significant furniture fire case in 1999 which was published in ATLA's Product Liability Law Reporter and West's Product Liability Advisory (click here<\/u> to view the case summary of Motts vs. Mohasco). Mr. Foster has also appeared on TV's CBS Extra show which featured the Motts case. To view the transcript and case photos, see http:\/\/extratv.com\/cmp\/spotlight\/2000\/02_10a.htm<\/u>). Other TV magazine shows have aired programs addressing issues of furniture flammability.<\/p>

Litigation against furniture makers centers on the ease of ignition and speed of burning of the product at issue, including the surrounding temperature, rate of heat release, quantity of smoke, and toxic gases released as well as the manufacturer's knowledge and feasible design alternatives. To view the products liability statutes of South Carolina, click here<\/u>.<\/p>

Mr. Foster welcomes questions, comments, associations and referrals from anyone interested in, or effected by, flammable upholstered furniture. Feel free to visit other areas of our website dealing with other flammable products, including mattresses, hardwood\/plywood wall paneling, clothing, and our flammability observer for recent flammability developments including flammability recalls. Also, visit our resource links for other websites having information about the flammability issue.<\/p>

Feel free to contact Robin P. Foster<\/u>, FOSTER & FOSTER, L.L.P., with any questions or comments relating to issues of flammability.<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An unsupervised child defeats a child proof lighter and ignites the family couch. His parents are asleep. The frightened child runs to his room to hide. Forty seconds elapse before the smoke alarm sounds. His parents, startled by the alarm, take …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_stopmodifiedupdate":true,"_modified_date":"","_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false},"corporate_categories":[6522,6520,6527],"class_list":["post-36852","corporate","type-corporate","status-publish","hentry","corporate_categories-litigation-disputes__civil-litigation","corporate_categories-litigation-disputes","corporate_categories-litigation-disputes__civil-litigation__product-liability"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/corporate.findlaw.com\/legal-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/corporate\/36852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/corporate.findlaw.com\/legal-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/corporate"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/corporate.findlaw.com\/legal-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/corporate"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/corporate.findlaw.com\/legal-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"corporate_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/corporate.findlaw.com\/legal-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/corporate_categories?post=36852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}