A smoke detector has one job and one job only - to detect smoke and alert people to it. However, one brand of smoke detectors is failing its job.

According to the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission, a massive recall has been issued for nearly 200,000 Universal Security Instruments smoke detector because the devices aren’t emitting an alert sound to notify people of detected smoke.

The Universal Security Instruments smoke detectors were sold online through a variety of websites from July 2015 to December 2016 for about $20. These smoke alarms are battery powered and have an internal switch that appears to be misaligned which in turn is not activating an alert in instances of fire.  The smoke detectors under the recall are the 10-year battery-operated ionization smoke and fire alarms which have the model numbers of MI3050S and MI3050SB and date codes between 2015JAN19 through 2016JUL11. The label on the back of the alarm lists the model number and date code.

If you have one of these smoke detectors, you can test if it is in working order by pressing the test button. A working smoke alarm should send out an alarm when the test button is pressed. If your alarm does not, for your safety and the safety of your family, you need to reach out to Universal Security so that they can send you a replacement. Call Universal Security Instruments at 877-612-6955 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday or visit them at www.UniversalSecurity.com and click on “Product Safety Notice.”

United States Consumer Product Safety Commission
United States Consumer Product Safety Commission
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