The retailer delayed recalling a dangerous water bottle despite years of injury reports.
Walmart is facing new questions about how it handled a safety hazard pertaining to a popular stainless-steel water bottle long before it was pulled from shelves. The 64-ounce Ozark Trail bottle, sold exclusively at Walmart since 2017, was recalled in July after reports that its black screw-on lid could suddenly pop off with force, causing injuries. Two people were partially blinded when the lid struck them, and others reported severe facial and eye damage.
According to records from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and past legal filings, the company had known about the danger since at least 2018. That year, a woman near Atlanta was injured when a lid shot off a bottle containing homemade soup, hitting her in the eye. Around the same time, a man storing hard apple cider in the bottle suffered a ruptured eyeball, and another person was injured when mango juice inside caused the lid to launch, damaging their jaw and face. All three incidents ended in private settlements.
By 2020, Walmart had started placing small warning inserts inside the bottles, telling customers to use them for water only. Other liquids, especially those that could ferment or expand, were thought to cause pressure build-up, which in turn could make the lid come off violently. Despite this potential safety hazard, the bottles stayed on sale for years. The company said that after adding the warnings, reports of injuries dropped and stayed low until another case emerged in 2024. That case led the CPSC to push for a recall.
The July recall covered about 850,000 bottles sold for around $15 each. The affected bottles have a silver stainless-steel body, measure roughly 11.5 inches tall, and have model number 83-662 on the packaging. Walmart has asked anyone who owns one to stop using it immediately and return it for a full refund.
Some safety experts say the years-long delay between the first reported hazard and the recall raises larger questions about how companies decide when to act. Kevin Mayo, a business professor who studies recalls, said that when companies weigh the cost of a recall against the risk of injury, they may be more likely to wait, especially when the law does not force immediate action. In the U.S., the CPSC often cannot order a recall without the cooperation of the manufacturer or seller. This means that unless a company agrees, potentially dangerous products can remain in homes for years.
The situation has also reignited debate about corporate responsibility when it comes to product safety. Advocates for stronger consumer protections argue that warning labels are not always enough, particularly for products that can cause serious harm if misused. They say that companies should act more quickly when a design flaw could lead to sudden, violent accidents.
For Walmart, the recall is one of the larger product pulls in recent years, given the number of bottles sold and the severity of the injuries reported in connecting to this safety hazard. While the company has stressed that customer safety is a priority and that it worked with the CPSC to remove the bottles, the earlier cases suggest that the problem had been on its radar for a long time.
The CPSC has reminded consumers that pressure can build inside sealed containers if they hold anything other than water, particularly carbonated or fermenting liquids. In extreme cases, the sudden release can turn a lid into a projectile. The agency has advised people who own the recalled bottles not to take chances, even if they have not had problems in the past.
The recall serves as a reminder that everyday products can sometimes pose hidden risks, and that safety issues may linger out of sight long before a formal recall makes headlines. For the people injured by the Ozark Trail bottle, the hope is that its removal from shelves will keep others from facing the same painful outcome.
Sources:
Walmart Recalls Ozark Trail 64 oz Water Bottles Due to Serious Impact and Laceration Hazards
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