The thought that one may have purchased and regularly used a children's product that is dangerous or defective likely sends chills down the spine of many Pittsburgh area parents. The sad reality is that this occurs on a regular basis. Recently, a settlement was reached between the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Aqua-Leisure for the latter's failure to make known that the inflatable baby boats it sold were defective.

The defect was a serious one that could lead to death of the babies in them, via drowning. This could occur when leg straps used in the product tear making it possible for the children sitting in the boat to fall into the water. Thankfully, no deaths were reported due to this happening.

The baby boats were sold throughout the nation between the years of 2002 and 2008.

Prior to the issues encountered with these baby boats, the company experienced similar problems with another model. The problems with this model involved tearing seats, and led the business to recall 90,000 of them sold under the name "Sun Smart". There were other issues experienced with even more models between the years of 2003 and 2006 which lead to a minimum of 24 complaints from individuals who had purchased the products. None of these were relayed to the CPSC as is required by law.

Any information that reasonably supports the assertion that a product is defective must be reported to the CPSC within 24 hours of learning about the defect.

Though Aqua-Leisure continued to deny that the products were defective, hazardous or that they violated the federal reporting requirements, it agreed to the settlement. As a result of the settlement, the business will pay a total of $650,000.

Source: GateHouse News Service, "Aqua-Leisure to pay $650,000 for defective baby boats," Oct. 18, 2012