Faulty Cybex Fitness Equipment Cost Company $7.95M
The Consumer Product Safety Commission says Cybex failed to report injuries from the equipment – as required by law.
Fitness equipment maker Cybex International Inc. knew that parts in the arm curl and press machines it once sold had defects that caused serious injuries, including permanent vision loss and paralyses, but delayed reporting this information to the Federal Consumer Product Safety Commission as required by law, according to a newly reached settlement agreement with the agency.
Cybex has agreed to pay a $7.95 million civil penalty. The fitness equipment manufacturer’s agreement is not an admission of guilt or negligence.
Cybex, a manufacturer of fitness equipment founded in the 1960s, is part of the Life Fitness portfolio of companies owned by the investment firm KPS Capital Partners, which purchased it in 2019.
During most of the period documented in the settlement, Cybex was owned by UM Holdings, which controlled it from 1997 to 2016, and by Brunswick Corporation, which owned the company from 2016 to 2019.
Cybex has manufacturing facilities in Illinois and Minnesota and annual revenue of about $140 million.
According to the settlement, arm curl fitness machines made by Cybex contained a defective weld connecting the swivel handle to the arm of the machine. The weld could fatigue and fail, causing the handle to separate from the frame of the machine, possibly striking the user in the face.
Between 2002 and 2015, Cybex received 85 reports of broken handles, including incidents that resulted in lacerations requiring stitches and one instance in which a consumer permanently lost vision in one eye. However, Cybex did not file a report with the Commission until June of 2015 and issued a recall of those fitness machines in August of 2015.
The defect of Cybex’s Smith Press Machines was a weight bar that could fall. The CPSC alleges that between 1991 and 2018, Cybex received 27 reports of injuries associated with the fitness press machine, including “grievous bodily injuries,” such as paralysis and spinal fracture.
In January 2018, Cybex, which was then owned by the Brunswick Corporation, filed a report with the Commission.
The fitness products were both discontinued by Cybex as of 2009, but were installed in gyms and other fitness venues until their recalls.
In a statement, Life Fitness stated, “Cybex has worked closely with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to reach a settlement and resolve two claims of delayed reporting related to two legacy Cybex products.”
The Cybex agreement is the second civil penalty case settled by the CPSC in 2021, with the first reaching with a manufacturer of fire extinguishers for $12 million.
Acting Chairman Robert Adler gave a statement that “penalty is important not only because of its size, but also because it represents the first such penalty by CPSC after an unfortunate hiatus of several years.”
Previous acting Chair Ann Marie Buerkle, who stepped down in October of 2019, was criticized as soft on enforcement. Some industry watchers have predicted that Adler would ramp up efforts to use civil penalties to enforce safety laws.
