14 DAY TRIAL // Three people have this far been killed in Japan by seemingly harmless foot massagers, which, according to the producers, have been used irresponsibly and beyond their technical specification. While the products offer a fairly decent foot rub, they are not by a long shot suited to perform similarly on the necks. Unfortunately for the three, they were unaware of that, and placed their necks on the devices.
Even so, they could have survived if they hadn't been wearing shirts and ties, which the revolving mechanism in the massagers got a hold off and started winding them. Basically, what happened was that either the victims' shirts or ties got caught up in the gadget, and were wound up so tightly that they disrupted the air flow to their lungs, suffocating them.
Despite the tragedy, people worldwide already began joking about it, speculating that the attack of the machines, as seen in the Terminator trilogy, has begun. But the producers of the device appeared on national television and apologized for the incident, and stating the obvious, which is that people should not use the massage machine on their necks, seeing how it’s a foot massager and all that.
Matoba Electric, the company that produces the Shape-up Roller 2, declined all responsibility over the incidents, and said that the blame belongs solely to the users, who disregarded the safety instructions printed on the manual, and tampered with the cloths covering the revolving mechanisms.
Unlike the US, where such a product would have been instantly recalled, Japanese authorities took no action against the company, agreeing with the fact that it respected all norms of ensuring its product's safety. Although the device is very powerful when it's turned on at maximum velocity, it remains safe if used in a proper manner.
No company in the world can be made responsible for selling a good product if one or more customers decide to use it in a manner that directly disobeys explicit safety instructions.