What Are The Changing & Recent Trends In Products Dangerous To Children & Others?

A recent report released by Kids in Danger has revealed some startling statistics concerning children’s product recalls from 2016.

Report Reveals Children in More Danger Each Year

The report (released in 2017 covering 2016) reflected that:

• Between 2015 and 2016, the number of children’s product recalls increased 12 percent
• There were close to 67,000,000 children’s products recalled (the highest total since 2004)
• Incidents, injuries, and deaths also rose sharply in 2016, totaling almost 5,000 incidents, 400 injuries, and seven deaths before the recalls were issued
• Nursery products comprised 32 percent of all children’s product recalls
• Companies recalling products used Facebook more frequently to alert customers about the recall
• The most common recall hazards were choking, suffocation, or entanglement risks. The products causing these kinds of hazards included IKEA dressers and chests and Munchkin’s Latch Pacifiers and Clips
• The next most common hazards associated with the recalls involved falls, lacerations, and/or other bodily injuries. Products linked to these risks included the Rainbow Play Systems’ plastic trapeze rings and Pacific Cycle’s Instep and the Schwinn swivel wheel jogging strollers

However, it is important to note that only 37 percent of recalls provide full reports, and even those do not contain a full year’s data, thus, it is near-impossible to find out how companies are doing in terms of pulling and/or repairing recalled products.

Regardless, from the information that was collected, there is one trend that should concern all parents: It took an average of 64 reports of serious design flaws and failures before dangerous products were pulled from store shelves in 2016. When you compare this number to 2014 (five) and 2015 (12), a dangerous regression is revealed.

There is no question that manufacturers need to act more quickly to remove these products from store shelves in order to ensure that consumers are adequately protected. It is unacceptable that it takes companies this long to comply with federal regulations and pull these products off of the shelves. 64 children should not be injured and/or killed before action is taken, and why, just within the span of one year, manufacturers went from taking action after 12 reports to waiting until 64 reports to take action and pull products is nothing short of reckless negligence.

Recent Recall: Children’s Robes

In June, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced that “Kreative Kids” recalled their children’s robes due to the violation of the federal flammability standard. These robes failed to meet basic flammability standards for children’s sleepwear, posing a risk of causing burn injuries to any children who used them. The recall applied to eight styles of the 100-percent polyester, hooded robes, in sizes 4-6 and 7-9, in the following styles:

• Purple elephant
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• Lion
• Pink bear
• Ladybug
• Blue puppy
• Duck
• Monkey and
• Princess cat

Consumers have been instructed to immediately cease using the product and contact Kreative Kids for a full refund.

Non-Children’s Products

It isn’t just children who are hurt or killed each year due to defective products, and it is also important to note that children are also injured by more than just children’s products every year. For example, there have been issues of guns that fire when dropped or when the safety is on. Parents who think their children are safe from the gun in the home because the safety is on should be on high alert about this recent defective product issue that has recently gained headlines.

In addition, recently, a claim for $231 million was brought against Nissan for allegedly withholding information from the public about brake defects that caused fatal traffic accidents.

Danny’s Law

Danny’s Law was passed in 2008 after a child was strangled at a daycare center by a portable crib, which collapsed on his neck. He was the fifth baby to die due to that specific product, although at least 17 had died just due to portable cribs with similar designs. The law attempted to make children’s products safer before they are sold rather than trying to get products recalled after they’ve injured a child by forcing the Consumer Product Safety Commission to enact tougher safety rules for durable nursery products (including cribs) and requiring that manufacturers test these products to conform to these standards before they are sold.

The law also requires that manufacturers use registration cards to notify parents if there is a recall. A frequent issue with nursery products is that some parents will donate cribs like these to daycare facilities, not realizing or having been put on notice that they have been recalled.

Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act

The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act was passed in order to more comprehensively regulate product safety. It defines children’s products, provides for labeling and usage standards, and establishes penalties for companies that fail to comply with these standards. Federal law bars anyone from selling products that have been subject to a publicly-announced voluntary recall by a manufacturer or a mandatory recall ordered by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

However, it is clear that there are still not enough regulations in place to provide the appropriate safety standards and recall protocols, as too many children are still getting injured or killed by-products that make their way onto the market, even those that have hurt children before.

Other Options: Attorneys Who Care

To find out if there has been a recall or repair notice posted for a product, you can visit SaferProducts.gov.

However, individuals and families still need some legal recourse, as plenty of products have either inappropriately made it through the testing protocol that existing laws call for, or somehow bypassed the entire testing protocol and still made it onto the shelves, injuring a child. Sometimes the only option that a family has is to file a defective product claim.

If you or your child has been injured or killed by a product, contact one of our dedicated defective product claim lawyers in Charlotte, North Carolina at Brown Moore & Associates, PLLC. We have the experience, education, resources, and commitment to ensure that justice is done and you and your family are taken care of. Contact us today to find out more.