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Where does the consumer's duty end and the manufacturer's duty begin? Three different theories address this question: The contract, "due care," and the social costs views.
In the contract view of business' duties to consumers, the relationship between a firm and its customers is essentially contractual. When we purchase an item, we enter voluntarily into a "sales contract" with the firm.
First, businesses must provide a product that actually lives up to the express claims that they make about it. In addition, they must also carry through on any implied claims they knowingly make about it.
Generally, such claims refer to one of four areas: reliability, service life, maintainability, and product safety. Businesses, therefore, must provide products that are as reliable, longlasting, easily maintained, and as safe as consumers are led to believe them to be.
Sellers must not take advantage of gullibility, immaturity, or ignorance, which reduce the buyer's ability to make a free rational choice.