Recent Case Results
A new report from the consumer advocacy group Kids In Danger reveals that fewer children’s products were recalled in 2011 than the previous year, but parents aren’t necessarily heeding the recall warnings. Specifically, the report shows that recalls of children’s products decreased 24 percent from 2010, but the number of injuries associated with recalled products increased seven percent.
Pooh Poppin' Piano a diatonic one octave toy piano (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Other noteworthy findings from the report include the following:
- Nursery products were the most-recalled category, accounting for 30% of children’s recalls, followed closely by toys at 26%.
- The most injurious product prior to recall during 2011 was girl’s Keds shoes with decorative stars that caused 27 reports of lacerations.
- There were three deaths in 2011 prior to recall in children’s products, with two strangulations involving a nursery monitor and one entrapment in a bunk bed.
- The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) imposed a total of $3.9 million in fines for companies who violated safety regulations, mostly for failing to report choking, poisoning and drawstrings in clothing and one for selling a banned substance.
- Seventy percent of recalling companies offered a full refund, replacement product or merchandise credit, 27 percent of recalling companies offered a repair kit or replacement parts and three percent offered only new labels or nothing at all.
- Eleven of the recalled products were reported to SaferProducts.gov prior to recall and 13 of the recalled products had reports after the recall was announced.
According to this article, Nancy Cowles, the advocacy group’s executive director, points to higher safety standards and new third party safety confirmations as part of the reason for the reduction in recalls. “New requirements to avoid lead in children’s products and for safer cribs went into effect about the same time,” Cowles said, which she suspects may be part of the reason that the number of recalls has decreased.
Unfortunately, consumers do not seem to be observing the recommendations of the CPSC. According to the report by Kids In Danger, the number of injuries associated with recalls of children’s products in 2011 increased seven percent from 2010. Moreover, only 15 percent of recalled children’s products are returned for repair, according to the CPSC.
Parents and other consumers are advised to register new products with the manufacturer so that they can get direct notification in the event that a product is recalled or there are other safety problems with the product. Parents and other consumers can also check their products for safety at www.SaferProducts.gov.
Steinberg Goodman & Kalish (www.sgklawyers.com) is dedicated to protecting victims and their families. We handle medical malpractice, product liability, personal injury, wrongful death, auto accidents, professional negligence, birth trauma, and railroad law matters. Contact us at (800) 784-0150 or (312) 782-1386.
Continue reading : Report Shows Fewer Children’s Products Recalled, but More Recalls Are Ignored
Tags : children's products,Consumer Product Safety Commission,CPSC,Kids In Danger,product liability,product recall,product safety,Toy,US Consumer Product Safety Commission,
On May 12, 2011, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) reannounced its 2009 recall of approximately one million Maclaren strollers after receiving additional reports of amputations and lacerations caused by the stroller’s hinge mechanism when the consumer is unfolding and opening the stroller.
The recall reannouncement involves all Maclaren single and double umbrella strollers sold prior to November 2009. The word “Maclaren” is printed on the stroller. Maclaren strollers sold after May 2010 are not affected by the recall announcement because they have a different hinge.
At the time of the original recall in November 2009, there were 15 reported incidents, including 12 reports of fingertip amputations in the United States. To date, Maclaren has received a total of 149 reports of incidents with the strollers, including 37 injuries that occurred after the stroller was originally recalled in 2009. The reported injuries include fingertip amputations, lacerations and fingertip entrapments/bruising.
The recalled strollers were sold at various juvenile product and mass merchandise retailers throughout the United States from 1999 through November 2009. The strollers retailed for between $100 and $360.
Consumers who own the recalled strollers and have not yet installed the hinge cover repair kit should immediately contact Maclaren USA at hingecovers@maclaren-usa.com or (877) 688-2326 to receive the free repair kit.
If your child has been injured using one of the recalled strollers, you may wish to contact the experienced Illinois product liability attorneys at Steinberg, Goodman & Kalish to learn about a possible personal injury or product liability claim.
Steinberg Goodman & Kalish (www.sgklawyers.com) is dedicated to protecting victims and their families. We handle medical malpractice, product liability, personal injury, wrongful death, auto accidents, professional negligence, birth trauma, and railroad law matters. Contact us at (800) 784-0150 or (312) 782-1386.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) reissued its 2008 recall of 985,000 Delta cribs on March 22, 2011after the manufacturer, Delta Enterprises, Inc., learned of the death of a 7-month-old girl in 2009 after she had become entrapped between the detached drop-side and the mattress of the crib and suffocated. The crib had been purchased second-hand and reassembled without the safety pegs in the bottom racks of the crib.
The CPSC issued its original recall of the Delta drop-side cribs in 2008 following the death of an 8-month-old girl who had become entrapped and suffocated in the crib. At the time of the original recall, the CPSC warned consumers that missing safety pegs could cause the crib’s drop-side rail to disengage from the track, creating a hazardous space in which a child could become entrapped and suffocate.
The reannouncement of the recall involves cribs made in Taiwan and Indonesia and sold between January 1995 and December 2005 at major retail stores, such as Kmart, Target and Walmart for approximately $100. The CPSC urges parents to be cautious about buying used cribs.
The recalled cribs include the following model numbers (located on the top of the mattress support board):
- 4320, 4340;
- 4500, 4520, 4530, 4532, 4540, 4542, 4550, 4551, 4580;
- 4600, 4620, 4624 – production dates 01/06 thru 11/07, 4640, 4660, 4720, 4735, 4742, 4750 – production dates 01/95 thru 12/00;
- 4760, 4770, 4780, 4790;
- 4820, 4840, 4850, 4860, 4880, 4890, 4892; and
- 4900, 4910, 4920, 4925-2, 4925-6, 4930, 4940, 4943, 4944, 4947, 4948, 4949, 4950, 4958, 4963, 4968, 4969, 4980.
Delta’s name and address is printed on the mattress support boards and its logo is on the crib’s top teether rail.
Parents and caregivers should immediately stop using the recalled cribs and contact Delta at (800 816-5304 or www.cribrecallcenter.com to receive a free, easy-to-install repair kit. In the meantime, parents and caregivers should find a safe, alternative sleep environment for their child until the repair kit, including new safety pegs, can be safely installed on the crib.
If your child has been injured using one of the recalled cribs, you may wish to contact the experienced Illinois product liability attorneys at Steinberg, Goodman & Kalish to learn about a possible personal injury or product liability claim.
Steinberg Goodman & Kalish (www.sgklawyers.com) is dedicated to protecting victims and their families. We handle medical malpractice, product liability, personal injury, wrongful death, auto accidents, professional negligence, birth trauma, and railroad law matters. Contact us at (888) 325-7299.
A recent survey conducted by Consumer Reports National Research Center determined that the vast majority of Americans were unaware of whether they had purchased food, medication or a product (other than a car) that had been recalled in the past three years. In fact, only one-fifth were aware that they had purchased a recalled product in the past three years.
The survey also found that:
- Half of Americans were not confident that manufacturers and retailers effectively communicated safety information with government agencies;
- Two-fifths of Americans were not confident that manufacturers and retailers provided consumers with appropriate product recall information;
- Less than a quarter of Americans have researched a purchased product to determine whether it had been recalled; and
- More than half of Americans never or rarely completed product registration cards.
According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), at least 124.7 million products were recalled in 2010. Overall, recalled products were associated with 26 deaths, according to the CPSC.
Consumers are reminded of the importance of completed product registration cards so that they can promptly be notified of a product recall. According to an article published by WLS-TV Chicago, some companies, such as Costco, are taking additional precautionary measures to ensure that consumers are notified of product recalls, such as maintaining purchase records so they can contact customers directly in the event of a product recall.
Consumers can view a listing of product recalls at www.recalls.gov. The experienced Chicago product liability lawyers at Steinberg, Goodman & Kalish are committed to protecting consumers and those injured by safe and dangerous products.
Steinberg, Goodman, & Kalish (www.sgklawyers.com) is dedicated to protecting victims and their families. We handle medical malpractice, product liability, personal injury, wrongful death, auto accidents, professional negligence, birth trauma, and railroad law matters. Contact us at (888) 325-7299.
