AirTags pulled from retailer over child safety concerns

AirTags pulled from retailer over child safety concerns — Apple responds

(Prototype credit: Apple)

Australian retailer Officeworks has pulled Apple AirTags off store shelves due to child safe concerns effectually the CR 2032 coin cell bombardment. As of this reporting, the tracking device is all the same bachelor on Apple's Australian online shop, as well as retailers JB Hello-Fi and Big W.

The news come way of Gizmodo Australia, which cites communication from an Officeworks representative via email. The email states, "The product will not be stocked by Officeworks until further guidance is provided from the Australian Competition and Consumer Committee."

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Employees first noticed that they were unable to ring upwards AirTags yesterday, May 3. According to a Reddit user, "Staff at the counter could see on their organization that they had some in stock, and i staff fellow member fifty-fifty remembered selling them on Friday, but they couldn't find them today."

Later, Officeworks told employees that it was being held due to safety concerns considering how easy it was for a child to remove the coin cell bombardment.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) spoke to Gizmodo Commonwealth of australia on the matter.

"The ACCC is enlightened of reports raising concerns almost the accessibility of push button batteries in the Apple AirTag product," said a spokesperson via email. They went on to say, "If a supplier finds that a product they supply is unsafe, the ACCC expects the supplier to conduct a voluntary recall to advise consumers of the risk, address the safety issue, or remove the product from the market."

According to Australian constabulary, if a retailer of supplier is made aware of an injury, illness or expiry caused by a product, it must brand a mandatory injury study on the Product Safety Australia website. At the moment, it's unknown if an injury was caused by the AirTag's coin cell battery.

Apple tree responds

Gizmodo Commonwealth of australia did reach out to Apple for annotate, and got this response:

"AirTag is designed to meet international child safety standards, including those in Australia, by requiring a 2 step push button-and-plough mechanism to access the user-replaceable bombardment," said an Apple tree representative via electronic mail. "Nosotros are following the regulations closely and are working to ensure that our products will meet or exceed new standards, including those for package labelling, well ahead of the timeline required."

While Apple tree does have a mechanism in place to make it difficult for children to remove the CR 2032 bombardment, information technology's also not very difficult to become to. All information technology requires is a twist of the back plate to remove. According to Selection, an Australian consumer advocacy group, three children accept died from swallowing coin cell batteries since 2013. And according to the ACCC, almost twenty children a week are taken to emergency rooms in Australia for swallowing push button batteries.

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Imad Khan is news editor at Tom'southward Guide, helping direct the twenty-four hours'due south breaking coverage. Prior to working at the site, Imad was a full-time freelancer, with bylines at the New York Times, the Washington Mail and ESPN. Exterior of work, you tin can observe him sitting blankly in front end of a Discussion document trying desperately to write the kickoff pages of a new book.