Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Here's the problem: The brand new fire extinguisher failed when I tried to use it on a vehicle fire just a couple of months after purchasing it. Just a tiny puff of contents came out, and the pressure guage still was in the green zone. Fire fighters arrived and put out the fire. They looked at the fire extinguisher to make sure it wasn't user error and confirmed that it wasn't working. To the good, Kidde replaced the fire extinguisher after I called them up, and they requested that I send the defective back for their examination with shipping prepaid. But the experience makes me wonder....how do you know if a fire extinguisher will work before the time you need it most? I checked if a failure was a regular occurrence. I couldn't find information on that but I was surprised how many fire extinguisher recalls have occurred. Would consumers even know?