Infant Products Recently Recalled
When we buy products for infants, we should be able to assume that they are safe for use. Taking a baby on a car trip, for example, should not arouse concern about whether the child’s car seat could pose unnecessary dangers. However, dangerous child products often make their way to consumers, and parents across the country have to contend with potentially serious child injuries. According to a recent article in the Huffington Post, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced the recall of certain strollers and infant car seats made by the company Britax.
What is wrong with the strollers and car seats? There are two different product defects at issue in the recent recall. When it comes to the strollers, there are certain materials in the product that pose a choking hazard. As the article notes, “the foam padding on the stroller’s arm bar can come off in fragments if the child bites the arm bar, posing a choking hazard.” Britax has received 117 reports of children biting foam off the arm bar, and five separate reports of kids choking on the foam. These strollers were manufactured from April 2010 through December 2012. About 49,000 of these products were sold in the U.S.
There is a different problem entirely with the Britax B-Safe 35 and B-Safe 35 Elite infant car seats. What is wrong with these products? The recall notice from the CPSC, indicates that “the car seat handle can crack and break allowing the seat to fall unexpectedly, posing a risk of injury to the infant.” In other words, if your child is strapped into one of these car seats and you pick up the seat, your child could fall numerous feet to the ground and suffer fall-related injuries. Britax has already received reports of 74 different incidents involving broken car seat handles. The products were manufactured between October 2014 and July 2015. More than 71,000 units were sold in the U.S.
How Can You Know if Your Child is in a Recalled Car Seat?
The Britax recall is not the only car seat recall to hit the news in recent years. Given the seriousness of a car seat recall, a fact sheet from SafeKids.org helps parents understand the risks involved in using a recalled car seat and the steps that need to be taken to ensure that your child is safe.
According to the fact sheet, child product safety measures should begin as soon as you buy an infant car seat. Based on a survey by Safekids.org, about 80% of parents believe it is important to register child products such as car seats, yet less than half of the parents who buy these products actually return the safety card to register the product. In 2014, more than six million car seats were recalled because of safety defects, but only about half of those car seats sold were actually repaired.
Here are some important steps when it comes to keeping kids safe in their car seats:
- Register the car seat as soon as you buy it;
- Take a photo of the car seat’s label and keep it on your phone so you have the data handy in the event of a recall; and
- Sign up for monthly recall alert emails.
If you do learn that your child’s car seat has been implicated in a product recall, you should stop using it immediately. If your child suffered an injury because of a product defect, you should speak with an experienced product liability lawyer to determine your rights.
