Nautilus to Pay $950,000 to Settle Bowflex Claims

Nautilus to Settle Bowflex Claims

Nautilus to Pay $950,000 to Settle Bowflex Claims

By JUAN-CARLOS RODRIGUEZ Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press

Apr. 12, 2005 - The maker of the popular Bowflex exercise machines has
agreed to pay a $950,000 penalty for not immediately reporting safety
defects that led to dozens of injuries, government regulators say.

Vancouver, Wash.-based Nautilus Inc. recalled about 800,000 Bowflex
Power Pro systems and Bowflex Ultimate Fitness Machines last year
after receiving reports of injuries over a number of years. Under
federal law, manufacturers, importers, distributors and retailers must
immediately report information about potentially hazardous products to
the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

"Companies need to understand that the quicker they report product
safety problems to CPSC, the quicker we can take action together and
protect consumers from injuries," CPSC Chairman Hal Stratton said in a
statement issued in conjunction with the penalty, which was being
announced Tuesday.

The Power Pro and Ultimate machines that came with a "Lat Tower" had
backboard benches and seat pins that broke and collapsed, injuring
some customers. Another version of the Power Pro was manufactured
without a "Lat Tower," and the incline support brackets on these
models also occasionally failed and resulted in injuries.

According to CPSC, Nautilus did not report 85 injuries between 1995
and 2004. Users suffered chipped teeth, cuts and back, disc and neck
injuries. Nor did the company report design changes on the machines
that were supposed to fix the problems, the agency said.

"No one likes to pay penalties, but the process has caused us to
double check our quality standards as well as improve our reporting
process," said Ron Arp, a Nautilus spokesman. "We're just glad to put
it behind us."

The Power Pro models have been discontinued. Repair kits for Power Pro
machines can be obtained through the Bowflex Web site,
www.bowflex.com.