Parents and companies should be mindful of product recall
Parents in Los Angeles, California, are always concerned with their children’s safety. Much like these parents, manufacturers of children’s products should be mindful of the safety of children when designing, producing and innovating their products. Unfortunately, some children’s products, ranging from baby monitors to child safety seats and cribs, are considered defective products.
When a certain product is deemed dangerous, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and the manufacturing company announce a product recall to notify the consumers about the dangers it may pose. However, a recent report claimed that the product recall efforts are not enough to keep the consumers safe. For example, a mother who lost her 10-month-old daughter in a product liability incident said that she was not aware that the crib her baby was using was recalled five years ago. Tragically, the defective crib collapsed on her baby, strangling the infant and resulting in death.
In memory of her baby’s death, the mother joined the Kids in Danger, an organization dedicated to recall awareness and children’s safety. According to a KID report, there is only a 10 percent response rate in child product safety recalls, which means that people do not hear about such recall announcements. Also, companies and regulators wait too long before issuing the product safety recall, resulting in injuries and deaths.
The child product safety advocates point out that the companies should promote product recalls just like they do when advertising their products. They may take advantage of social media to convey the information about the dangerous products.
Conveying information about the defective product may cost a lot for a manufacturing company. But the potential losses could be nothing compared to the lives at risks due to the dangerous product. Additionally, the safety of the consumer should be the company’s priority, because any consumer injury or dangerous product-related death could result in civil liability.
Source: USA Today, “Only 10% recalled kids products fixed or returned,” Alicia McElhaney, Feb. 20, 2014