Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

US recalls don't seem to be applied to the UK. Had suspension failure on
my BMW which was the subject of a recall in the US on the same version of
my model to strengthen the component - and BMW UK initially denied all
knowledge. Then prattled on about the US being different to the UK.

In many cases they are not. For example, the inspection of devices for saftey
in the US is performed by a private agency the Underwriter's Laboratories.
The UL actually tests samples of the product before issuing certification/

In the UK/EU the certification is by the "CE", which does no testing. You do
your own and file an application for certfication. If you have done everything
properly according to the paperwork, you are given the certificate.

In the US FCC testing, which only has to do with signal leakage, not saftey,
is also performed by a government agency. Outside of the US, it is not tested
by anyone AFAIK.

A common practice is to obtain certification with a prototype and then as soon
as it is accepted remove "unecessary" components and substitute lower quality
or cheaper ones for those that remain. The manufacturer never reports this
to the agencies involved and no one does continous monitoring.

Geoff.



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Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM