depends on what the 'problems' are, and what you mean by 'vendor'. My understanding of the law goes like this.
The retailer (vendor) wouldn't be liable for a product if it exploded and killed someone, that would be on the head of the original manufacturer. If a subcontractor (vendor) made a problem part for the product that killed someone, the decision would have to be made whether it was a design flaw in the product as a whole, or a defect in the part made. Usually both would be held liable, anyway, since quality control should catch that kind of thing and things should be designed not to kill people if parts fail.
Beyond pain and suffering, most manufacturers do their best to wash their hands of damage their products cause to other stuff; i.e. washers that eat clothes, software that corrupts your harddrive, etc. They'll pay ya for the product, but the stuff you lose is your loss. Don't know if anyone bothers to test that legally very often.
If the product simply malfunctioned in a reasonable amount of time, the retailer should refund or exchange it, since it would be impossible to say if the defect or damage wasn't caused by their handling of it.
