Valero Marketing & Supply Co. Announce Recall to Inspect Propane Gas; Can Pose Fire and Burn Hazard

Recall Insight

This CPSC action (record #09152) was formally reported on March 12, 2009. It is classified under Moderate severity, with a current status of Active. Valero Marketing & Supply Co., of San Antonio, Texas is listed as the recalling firm. Federal records indicate About 919,000 barrels units are affected, a scale large enough to require multi-state distribution tracking.

The documented reason for this recall is: An odorant is added to propane to help alert customers to a propane gas leak, but this propane might not have the recommended level of odorant. Failure to detect leaking gas can present a fire, explosion or thermal burn… Distribution information was not included in the agency filing, so consumers should assume broad potential exposure until the firm publishes point-of-sale details. The remedy documented by the agency is: Consumers with propane purchased or delivered between January 2008 and October 2008 should immediately contact their propane gas suppliers or retail locations where home propane tank or portable cyli… — consumers holding this product should act on that instruction rather than relying on general guidance.

To put this record in context, PlainRecalls indexes 83,949 recalls across the FDA, CPSC, NHTSA and USDA FSIS going back to 1995. Within the same product category, the database holds 6 closely related recalls, of which 1 were also issued by CPSC. That clustering is a signal — repeated actions in a narrow category often indicate a systemic quality-control issue, a supplier-wide contamination, or a design defect that has propagated across product lines. This recall is roughly 17 years old; older recalls can remain relevant because many units enter resale, rental, and secondary-market channels where the original warning never reaches the end user. Always cross-check the recall number against the official agency page before relying on any summary.