Post by steve75 on May 2, 2005 13:03:06 GMT -5
Aladin Air X Nitrox Computers Recalled at last
UWATEC AG, of Switzerland, is recalling about 390 Aladin Air X Nitrox dive computers manufactured in 1995. The software “may inaccurately calculate desaturation times, resulting in possible decompression sickness under aggressive dive conditions.”<br>
UWATEC has received five reports of DCS “allegedly associated with use of the 1995 dive computers.” UWATEC has stated, “For safety reasons, we ask that you stop using the 1995 dive computer immediately.”<br>
continued...
To which we can only reply, “What took you so long?”<br>
It turns out that problems with the Aladin Air X had already surfaced by 1996. We learned of the computer’s long, sorry history by reviewing public documents filed in product liability lawsuits by customers who claim they got bent while using the computer. These records allege a pattern of problems either being ignored or denied, in the face of mounting evidence of a dangerous “air-switching” defect. In its Nitrox mode, the user-programmable computer allegedly assumes that the user is still breathing Nitrox during surface intervals. By not switching to an air table, the software underestimates the buildup of residual nitrogen during repetitive dives. The greater the number of repetitive dives — and the longer the surface intervals — the greater the danger.
Was a 1996 Recall Stifled?
Bret Gilliam, who today owns International Training Inc. (TDI and SDI) and Fathoms Magazine, is the ex-vice president and CEO of UWATEC U.S.A. He stated in a May 2002 deposition that on his first day of work at UWATEC U.S.A. in April 1996, he found a recall notice drafted by his predecessor, Sean Griffin. Gilliam, who has testified that he had no prior knowledge of either a defect or a recall, asked UWATEC’s owners in Switzerland for an explanation. But, he has stated, Heinz Ruchti, UWATEC’s founder and owner, convinced him the recall notice was bogus, merely an attempt by former employees who had been discharged to get back at the company. Ruchti was preparing to sell the company to Johnson Worldwide Associates — now Johnson Outdoor International, which also owns Scubapro — and they finalized the sale in late 1996. It took effect in July 1997.
According to documents filed in the product liability lawsuit, two ex-employees, who had been discharged before Gilliam’s arrival, sued for wrongful termination in South Carolina in 1996 claiming, among other things, that they had been “fired because of their attempts to publicize the very air-switching defect.” An expert witness at the wrongful termination trial even testified about the defect. The jury in that trial handed down a $2 million verdict in favor of the ex-employees, which UWATEC then appealed. By then, however, Johnson owned UWATEC and allowed the suspect computers to remain in service.
Another Recall Turned Down
Gilliam, now CEO of UWATEC U.S.A., had dived with the Aladin Air X himself and said he had no problems. So he testified that the defect might just have been a mechanical flaw in one or perhaps only a few units. As part of the strategy for appealing the wrongful termination suit, Gilliam suggested that dealers be asked to return ‘95 Aladin Air X’s for testing, hopefully to disprove the allegations of defects. According to Gilliam’s deposition, he was instructed by senior executives at Johnson’s and at UWATEC’s main office in Switzerland not to do so — that such an action would only produce bad publicity for the company.
Questionable Safety Commission Finding
The wrongful termination case was eventually settled out of court, but publicity about the possible defect triggered a 1998 Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) investigation into the ‘95 Aladin Air X. In September 1998, Gilliam had begun a limited recall of the unit on his own initiative. After approximately 25 computers were returned, he testified in his deposition, he was instructed to send them to Switzerland, where the UWATEC facility would ostensibly make battery changes and return them to the U.S. Two months later, Gilliam said, he was instructed to provide a few of these returned computers to Johnson’s attorneys, who then forwarded them to the Consumer Products Safety Commission for their testing. The results of those tests produced no defects. When asked in his deposition whether this sequence of events now suggested to him that the computers had been “tampered with or altered in some fashion by the time they were returned” from Switzerland, Gilliam replied, “Apparently so.”<br>
UWATEC AG, of Switzerland, is recalling about 390 Aladin Air X Nitrox dive computers manufactured in 1995. The software “may inaccurately calculate desaturation times, resulting in possible decompression sickness under aggressive dive conditions.”<br>
UWATEC has received five reports of DCS “allegedly associated with use of the 1995 dive computers.” UWATEC has stated, “For safety reasons, we ask that you stop using the 1995 dive computer immediately.”<br>
continued...
To which we can only reply, “What took you so long?”<br>
It turns out that problems with the Aladin Air X had already surfaced by 1996. We learned of the computer’s long, sorry history by reviewing public documents filed in product liability lawsuits by customers who claim they got bent while using the computer. These records allege a pattern of problems either being ignored or denied, in the face of mounting evidence of a dangerous “air-switching” defect. In its Nitrox mode, the user-programmable computer allegedly assumes that the user is still breathing Nitrox during surface intervals. By not switching to an air table, the software underestimates the buildup of residual nitrogen during repetitive dives. The greater the number of repetitive dives — and the longer the surface intervals — the greater the danger.
Was a 1996 Recall Stifled?
Bret Gilliam, who today owns International Training Inc. (TDI and SDI) and Fathoms Magazine, is the ex-vice president and CEO of UWATEC U.S.A. He stated in a May 2002 deposition that on his first day of work at UWATEC U.S.A. in April 1996, he found a recall notice drafted by his predecessor, Sean Griffin. Gilliam, who has testified that he had no prior knowledge of either a defect or a recall, asked UWATEC’s owners in Switzerland for an explanation. But, he has stated, Heinz Ruchti, UWATEC’s founder and owner, convinced him the recall notice was bogus, merely an attempt by former employees who had been discharged to get back at the company. Ruchti was preparing to sell the company to Johnson Worldwide Associates — now Johnson Outdoor International, which also owns Scubapro — and they finalized the sale in late 1996. It took effect in July 1997.
According to documents filed in the product liability lawsuit, two ex-employees, who had been discharged before Gilliam’s arrival, sued for wrongful termination in South Carolina in 1996 claiming, among other things, that they had been “fired because of their attempts to publicize the very air-switching defect.” An expert witness at the wrongful termination trial even testified about the defect. The jury in that trial handed down a $2 million verdict in favor of the ex-employees, which UWATEC then appealed. By then, however, Johnson owned UWATEC and allowed the suspect computers to remain in service.
Another Recall Turned Down
Gilliam, now CEO of UWATEC U.S.A., had dived with the Aladin Air X himself and said he had no problems. So he testified that the defect might just have been a mechanical flaw in one or perhaps only a few units. As part of the strategy for appealing the wrongful termination suit, Gilliam suggested that dealers be asked to return ‘95 Aladin Air X’s for testing, hopefully to disprove the allegations of defects. According to Gilliam’s deposition, he was instructed by senior executives at Johnson’s and at UWATEC’s main office in Switzerland not to do so — that such an action would only produce bad publicity for the company.
Questionable Safety Commission Finding
The wrongful termination case was eventually settled out of court, but publicity about the possible defect triggered a 1998 Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) investigation into the ‘95 Aladin Air X. In September 1998, Gilliam had begun a limited recall of the unit on his own initiative. After approximately 25 computers were returned, he testified in his deposition, he was instructed to send them to Switzerland, where the UWATEC facility would ostensibly make battery changes and return them to the U.S. Two months later, Gilliam said, he was instructed to provide a few of these returned computers to Johnson’s attorneys, who then forwarded them to the Consumer Products Safety Commission for their testing. The results of those tests produced no defects. When asked in his deposition whether this sequence of events now suggested to him that the computers had been “tampered with or altered in some fashion by the time they were returned” from Switzerland, Gilliam replied, “Apparently so.”<br>