Manufacturer's that design defective products need to be held accountable. When those defective products involve our children, many questions must be asked. It can be particularly baffling when a company is accused of producing a defective product, but does nothing to fix the problem. If you or a family member are a victim of defective products, then please call the Pennsylvania defective products lawyers at Dallas W. Hartman, P.C. for a free consultation.
This week, Graco Children's Products has finally decided that it will recall more than 1.9 million car seats for infants. This comes after numerous demands from safety regulators. Officials are calling it the largest recall for infant's car seats in our country's history.
The announcement for the recall, which came Tuesday afternoon, ends a 150+ day debate between Graco and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Early in 2014, Graco recalled more than 4.2 million toddler car seats due to faulty buckles; however, Graco refused to recall infant seats until now.
The same buckle issue that caused the toddler seat recall was at the front of the infant seat debate. Safety officials said that because both seats introduced the same problem, both seats should be recalled; but Graco argued that infant seats are different because they detach and can be removed quickly from a vehicle in an emergency.
After the initial recall of toddler seats in February, the NHTSA probed Graco for not including the infant seats in the recall. The NHTSA cited various complaints and thousands of letters from parents who were unhappy with the defective buckle systems. The NHTSA even threatened several civil suits against Graco, but Graco continued to refuse the recall. Graco's parent company, Newell Rubbermaid, Inc., backed Graco, but they both eventually conceded. On 27 June, Graco wrote a letter to the NHTSA saying that they did find it difficult, at times, to unlatch infant car seat buckles.
Graco and Rubbermaid did say that there have been no injuries reported because of the problem, but that they have agreed to the recall as a sign of good faith to Graco customers.
The infant car seats included in the recall are the Aprica 30, SnugRide Click Connect 40, SnugRide 35, SnugRide 30, SnugRide Classic Connect 35, SnugRide Classic Connect 30, and the SnugRide. These most recent recalls by Graco brings the total recall amount to more than 6.1 million.
If you or a loved has been injured by defective products, or if you have a child that was injured because of a malfunction on one of Graco's car seats, then please call the defective products attorneys at Dallas W. Hartman, P.C. and talk to an intake specialist about your situation. Call 800-777-4081 today.
Source: WFMJ, "Graco gives in, agrees to recall infant car seats" 1 July 2014