Would open-source prevent this kind of thing? Probably. In this case, someone has to make the hardware, supply and maintain the infrastructure, so the problem is probably a little more complex than the simple contrast between closed and open source. There really aren't a lot of large open-source-everything projects out there (hardware + software + mechanical + whatever else) to know how this would play out.
Hardware, as a business, is really capital intensive. Software isn't. A college student in a dorm can sit down and write software that gets distributed to millions and reaches every corner of the world. And the cost of doing so is virtually nothing.
To replicate this in hardware is almost impossible (yet). There's a lot more to it than just designing and building it. There's support, warranties, regulatory requirements, etc.
Here's a dumb example: Who wants to be responsible for the lawsuit when an ill-designed piece of hardware kills someone because it does not deal with high-voltages in a safe manner?
Or another one: Who wants to be responsible for a recall of thousands or even millions of devices if they are found to be defective in some way?
Again, regardless of the contrast between hardware and software I don't think that this issue can be used to champion the FOSS flag.