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Monday, March 18, 2024 | Back issues
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Injured Man Says Bosch Tool Lobbied Feds|to Keep Safer Power Saws off the Market

CHICAGO (CN) - A man who was cut by a miter saw says Robert Bosch Tool Corp. "colluded with its competitors" and lobbied the Consumer Protection Safety Commission to keep "flesh detection and braking technology" from being required on table saws.

"By agreeing not [to] employ such safer alternatives, defendant and its competitors attempted to assure that those alternatives would not become 'state of the art,' thereby attempting to insulate themselves from liability for placing a defective product on the market," Ryszard Wec claims in Cook County Court.

Wec says his permanent and "traumatic injury" could have been prevented if Bosch and its competitors had not rejected and fought against the safety technology.

Wec claims that "flesh detection and braking technology" and "user friendly blade guard(s)" have been available for years. The flesh detection technology stops a blade instantly when it is touched by human flesh. Wec says the technology could have prevented his 2007 injury from a Bosch miter saw.

He claims that the inventor of the flesh detection brake offered Bosch a licensing agreement in 2000 during a Power Tool Institute meeting, but Bosch rejected the offer.

Wec says that Bosch Tool "colluded with its competitors" to develop their own version, and continued to sell their dangerous table and miter saws.

He claims that Bosch, "acting through PTI, has also actively lobbied the Consumer Product Safety Commission ... to prevent the adoption of flesh detection systems as a safety standard on table says."

Wec demands more than $30,000 from Bosch for negligence, breach of warranty and product liability. He is represented by Michael Cushing.

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