Briggs Riley luggage

The reports, as CPSC published them

1. No one hurt

   Made Jun 13, 2022 · , sent to the company Jun 17, 2022 · , published by CPSC Jul 5, 2022

   The product, in the report: https://www.briggs-riley.com/products/large-expandable-spinner-2 This is a Briggs Riley large expandable suitcase, and all info is at the site.

   I was using this product for the first time on Wed., June 8, 2022: https://www.briggs-riley.com/products/large-expandable-spinner-2 I do not know the manufacture date but was required to fill in something on the form, so I put 4/2/2022. We are U.S. citizens and bought and used this in the U.S. The company is headquartered in the U.S. We have traveled a lot, as much as 180 days a year before the pandemic, and we have always each taken a large expandable suitcase and a carry-on suitcase and ridden on numerous escalators with them over the years, with the expandable suitcase fully expanded. I have ridden on countless escalators with other similar luggage in countless countries, never having the slightest problem. I’m strong and healthy. However, with this newest suitcase, the wheel base expands as the suitcase expands, so I found myself on an up escalator near baggage claim at SEA (the Seattle, Washington airport), suddenly realizing the back two wheels would not fit on the escalator riser, so they were hanging over the edge, causing the 43-pound suitcase to tilt backwards. Then the suitcase pulled me backwards so that I fell and was on my back, with my feet closer to the top of the escalator, and my head closer to the bottom, bumping down the sharp metal stairs, with nothing protecting my head, neck, spine or any other part of me, and I fell down several stairs this way. Had there been nobody behind me, I would have kept falling, ending up in a heap at the bottom. I’m not sure if I would have lived through such a fall, or if I had lived, if I would have sustained head, neck or back or other injuries or if I’d have been capable of walking again. Had there been a crowded escalator, or one with small children or with parents holding infants or with elderly people, my fall might have set off a cascade of injuries. But instead, there was only one person behind me, and he happened to be an able-bodied man in his 30s, who dropped his own suitcase, letting it fall to the bottom of the escalator, and he rushed up to me, said “I’ve got you,” and held my shoulders and head and prevented me from falling any more until we arrived at the top and he helped me stand up. So I do have abrasions all over my back and bruises there and on one hand, and I think it’s possible I bruised some bones in my coccyx and sacrum. So I’m quite sore but alive and ambulatory, thanks to the fact that a good Samaritan came to my rescue. But I think the fact that the wheel base expands with the suitcase expansion is a hazard and an accident waiting to happen. I fear others may not be as lucky as I was and they could suffer far worse injuries or even die as a result of such an unstable situation. I hope you will reconsider this luggage “feature.” Your luggage tried to kill me on my first time using it, but otherwise seems to be very well put together, but under the circumstances praising the workmanship is a little like saying, “So, [REDACTED], other than that, how did you like the play?”

   Model

   Baseline, BLU129CXSP-4

   UPC

   Not sure

   Serial number

   Not sure where to find this.

   Bought from

   from the Briggs Riley website I’ve provided

   Bought

   May 19, 2022

   Where

   Sterling, Virginia: Other

   Who was involved

   Age 72, Female

   The reporter’s relation to them

   Self

   As this report names them

   Brand Briggs Riley, made or sold by Briggs and Riley

   How badly, in CPSC’s words

   Incident, No Injury

CPSC’s disclaimer

Sources