Yesterday, we wanted to get the word out quickly about the 2 million Graco strollers recalled. If you haven’t seen the information:
- here is the CPSC release
- here is the Health Canada advisory (no recall)
- here is the Graco website for processing repair kits
- here is a great flyer for posting about the recall to alert child care providers, parents, grandparents and other caregivers — consider posting where parents gather.
We also had some questions about the reason the products were sold 2000 to 2007; deaths were reported from 2003 to 2005 (as well as one in Canada in 2006); and yet the recall is just happening now in 2010.
CPSC has reported that in initiating a review of injuries and deaths in strollers, they grouped these four deaths and decided it was important to do a recall since many families were using the strollers with no awareness of the risk. Why a recall wasn’t done under a previous CPSC administration and how long this process took for Graco to do the recall are matters currently sealed in CPSC compliance files. We also don’t know why Graco continued to make the product with the same design for several years after the deaths.
We urge parents using these Graco strollers to stop using them and get the repair kit. In fact, given that almost 4.6 million strollers have been recalled since June 2009, everyone using a stroller should probably go to CPSC’s website to check their stroller against the recall list.
In their most recent Nursery Product Report, CPSC reports 12,400 children were rushed to emergency rooms in 2008 for injuries related to strollers and an average of three children a year die in strollers. CPSC’s recent stroller safety advisory or KID’s stroller brochure give important tips for safety.
Here are links to articles on the recall in the New York Times, AOL WalletPop and Bloomberg/Business Week.
