HOUSTON – Allegations of exploding WD-40 spray cans have sparked a war of words between two companies.
The company that packaged millions of cans of WD-40, IQ Products, claimed the popular consumer product has a fatal design defect -- an allegation WD-40 vehemently denied Friday.
"We believe a lot of these products, if not all 30,000,000 of them should be recalled," Yohanne Gupta, CEO of IQ Products, said. "We are refusing to ship over 1.5 million cans of the product from the day we learned about the defect. They continue to sit in the warehouse right behind me.
IQ Products is a manufacturing firm that has shipped millions of cans of WD-40 all over the world. In a lawsuit, IQ Products is claiming that WD-40 cans have a major defect at the top of the can under the nozzle, which could cause it to explode.
"This is tin plate metal that is fairly thin," Gupta said. "You can see how the flat cup has now almost become concave."
Gupta could not cite any instance of an explosion happening with a purchased can of WD-40.
WD-40 defends the product, claiming IQ only started grousing about the issue after a contract dispute.
WD-40 released a statement that read, in part:
"The allegations by IQ Products that there are safety concerns associated with our aerosol cans are simply untrue, and we’ve had no instances of any cans “exploding” as Mr. Gupta has alleged. Both an arbitration panel and the U.S. Department of Transportation have reviewed the allegations from IQ Products and soundly rejected all allegations regarding the safety of WD-40 Company’s products.
Mr. Gupta’s claims arose out of a pricing disagreement that took place in 2012 and resulted in the termination of a long-standing business relationship between WD-40 Company and IQ Products. This, unfortunately, is a disgruntled former aerosol can filler who has lost in a legal proceeding and is now going after WD-40 Company in the court of public opinion.
WD-40 Company products are, and always have been, safe. We are driven by a set of very clear and simple corporate values – which includes doing the right thing, creating positive lasting memories and making it better than it is today – and we are justifiably proud of our exemplary reputation for safety and reliability."
The federal government has weighed in on the issue, recognizing the defect but saying that it is only cosmetic.