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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
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Air Freshener Ruins|Dashboards, Class Claims

LOS ANGELES (CN) — A federal class action accuses the makers of Glade scented auto air freshener of selling the stuff though they knew it can burn a hole in dashboards.

Anthony Succi sued Kraco Enterprises and S.C. Johnson & Son, which make the Glade Auto Scented Oil Automotive Air Freshener, on Tuesday.

Succi says he bought the air freshener in September and clipped it onto his dashboard air vent, as instructed. Oil and other substances began then leaked out and burned a hole in his dash underneath the vent, Succi says.

He claims the manufacturers have been aware of this defect for a long time, but concealed it from the public, and refused to reimburse their customers for the damages. He says the air fresheners have never been recalled and the public has never been notified.

Kraco Enterprises is headquartered in Illinois, but its principal place of business is in California. S.C. Johnson is based in Wisconsin.

According to product literature, the air freshener uses vehicle air vents to circulate a light pleasant fragrance. The product, which sells for about $6, is no longer on Glade's online site, but can still be found on Amazon or at Wal-Mart. According to Amazon, the device has been available since 2007. It has 10 customer reviews, and most are positive. One, however, gave the product a 1-star rating.

"I recently bought my daughter her first car, a new model Altima. She went out and bought a Glade clip on to give it a sweet smell, I suppose. On my first real car ride with her I noticed something on her control panel, right under the vents where the radio/cd controls are. She said, 'Yeah I don't know what that is.' I quickly realized that what had happened was that the oil in the plug-in had somehow gotten all over the controls and left this very hard build up that actually ate through the shiny finish. She'd moved it to the other vent and when I pulled it off, there was a hard build up that's absolutely impenetrable underneath exactly where the glass bottle was resting. I checked to see if the bottle was cracked. Nope. I checked for leaks. Nope. I don't know why this happened, but I've gently tried removing all of it to no avail. I'm pissed! I'm a single mom paying for a shiny new car and now the control panel looks awful. The glade plug-ins ruined it. DO NOT BUY THEM. I'd give zero stars if I could."

Succi seeks class certification, restitution and punitive damages for 11 causes of action, including consumer law violations, unfair competition, false advertising, unfair trade, common law fraud, breach of warranty, breach of faith and negligent misrepresentation.

He is being represented by Richard McCune with McCune Wright in Redlands, who did not respond to emails seeking comment. Nor did Kraco Enterprises.

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