Gas Can Design Flaw Causes Explosions and Serious Injuries

Three-year-old Landon was helping his mom pick up toys when he knocked over a plastic gas can just like the one pictured here. The pilot light on a nearby water heater ignited the gas fumes, which flashed back to the nozzle on the gas can, turning it into a firebomb. Landon’s horrible experience has been repeated more than 75 times throughout the country, burning and killing children, teenagers and adults. Many of these injuries might have been prevented with a part costing less than $1 called a flame arrester.

Gas Can or Time Bomb? Millions of plastic gas cans are sold every year in America without a flame arrester. Experts claim this makes them time bombs, which could explode without warning.