Graco Pays $100,000 To Settle Alleged Reporting Violations

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has accepted a settlement agreement in which Graco Children's Products, Inc. of Elverson, PA will pay $100,000 to resolve allegations that the firm failed to report a defect in certain Graco strollers as required under the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA).

The CPSC alleges the company knew that eight models of its strollers made before June 1989 were defective because children were exposed to recline brackets that could cause finger tip fracture, laceration, or amputation. CPSC further alleges that, although the firm was aware of several child finger tip amputations and introduced a safety guard to prevent future injuries, Graco never reported the problem to the agency, as required by the CPSA. A CPSC-approved program to provide consumers currently using the subject strollers with retrofit guards was implemented by Graco in October 1990.

By signing the Agreement, Graco does not admit, and expressly denies, that it violated the statutory reporting requirements. It also denies that its products contained any defects and claims that its recline mechanism was a state-of-the- art design.

Consumers are reminded that Graco is providing owners of the following strollers, manufactured before March 1989 with a free safety guard kit to prevent finger injuries: Travel-Mate, Stroll-A-Bed, Elite, Brougham, Regency, Regency Ltd., Premier and Premier Ltd. Consumers should immediately call 1-800-344-8000 to order a free safety guard.

The CPSC is issuing this warning as part of its mission to protect the public from unreasonable risks of injury and death associated with consumer products. The CPSC is the Federal agency responsible for consumer product safety. Some 15,000 different consumer products fall within the Commission's jurisdiction and each year these products are involved in an estimated 30 million injuries and 22,000 deaths.