North Carolina Product Liability Lawyer & Attorney : D. Hardison Wood : Toy Safety, Child Restraint, Car Seats

Evenflo has announced a recall of  over 1 million car seats. Please ensure your child's car seat is not affected.

Make / Models :		Model/Build Years:
EVENFLO / 390 (DISCOVERY)		2005-2008
EVENFLO / 391 (DISCOVERY)		2005-2008
EVENFLO / 534 (DISCOVERY)		2005-2008
EVENFLO / 552 (DISCOVERY)		2005-2008
Recall Number:	08C002000
Summary:
EVENFLO IS RECALLING 1,000,000 MODELS 390, 391, 534, AND 552 DISCOVERY CAR SEATS OR ASSOCIATED TRAVEL SYSTEMS MANUFACTURED FROM APRIL 2005 THROUGH JANUARY 2008. IN RECENT LABORATORY TESTS CONDUCTED BY EVENFLO AND NHTSA TO EVALUATE THE PERFORMANCE OF THESE SEATS IN HIGH IMPACT SIDE COLLISIONS, IT WAS REVEALED THAT THE CAR SEAT COULD POTENTIALLY BECOME SEPARATED FROM ITS BASE UNDER THESE CONDITIONS.
Consequence:
SERIOUS INJURY OR DEATH COULD RESULT IF THE CAR SEAT BECAME SEPARATED FROM ITS BASE.
Remedy:
EVENFLO WILL NOTIFY REGISTERED OWNERS AND PROVIDE A FREE SUPPLEMENTAL DUAL-HOOK FASTENER TO ENSURE THAT THE CAR SEAT REMAINS ATTACHED TO ITS BASE IN A HIGH IMPACT SIDE COLLISION SIMILAR TO THOSE IN THE RECENT TESTS. THE RECALL IS EXPECTED TO BEGIN DURING FEBRUARY 2008. TO OBTAIN THE FREE FASTENER, OWNERS SHOULD CALL EVENFLO AT 1-800-356-2229 BETWEEN 8 AM AND 5 PM EST OR ORDER ONLINE AT THEIR WEBSITE AT WWW.EVENFLO.COM/DISCOVERY.
Notes:
EVENFLO HAS NOT MADE A DECISION THAT THESE UNITS CONTAIN A SAFETY RELATED DEFECT, HOWEVER EVENFLO WILL PROVIDE A FREE SUPPLEMENTAL DUAL-HOOK FASTENER. CUSTOMERS MAY ALSO CONTACT THE NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION'S VEHICLE SAFETY HOTLINE AT 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), OR GO TO HTTP://WWW.SAFERCAR.GOV.

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Something we may not link commonly link together are upholstered furniture and home fires. However, home fires involving upholstered furniture can spread more quickly. The CPSC took action on this very fact and issued the following statement:

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) voted unanimously (2-0) to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPR) on a new mandatory standard to address residential upholstered furniture fires.

The goal of the proposed standard is to prevent ignition or slow the spread and intensity of upholstered furniture fires. These fires cost the U.S. about $1.6 billion each year. CPSC staff estimates the proposed standard, once fully effective, would prevent an estimated 100 deaths and 130 injuries every year.

“Fires involving upholstered furniture are a leading cause of fire-related deaths in U.S. homes,” said CPSC Acting Chairman Nancy Nord. “Stopping a furniture fire in its tracks or slowing its spread would buy consumers precious time to get out of their homes.”

Under the proposal, manufacturers could meet the performance standard by using smolder-resistant cover fabrics or interior fire resistant barriers to protect the furniture’s internal filling material which is the primary fuel in an upholstered furniture fire.

The CPSC’s objective is to reduce the fire risk in upholstered furniture without requiring the use of fire retardant chemicals. Manufacturers will not be required to use chemicals to meet the proposed standard. In its environmental assessment, CPSC staff projects most manufacturers and importers would likely choose options that do not involve fire- retardants in fabrics or filling materials.

“CPSC is now on track to develop a mandatory safety rule that will save lives and protect consumers,” added Acting Chairman Nord.

An NPR is the second step in the agency’s three step rulemaking process.

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I came across a new site  that discusses common mistakes made with car seats...With such an important child safety issue, we felt it important to post some of the information here.

Most parents understand the importance of putting their children in car seats, especially their younger kids, but reports still show that 80% of kids aren't secured correctly in a car seat.

Among the easiest mistakes to avoid is to just make sure that your child is in the correct car seat for his age and that he is facing the right direction.

• Infants should be in a rear facing infant only seat or convertible seat until they are 1 year old AND twenty pounds. Children who reach twenty pounds before their first birthday still need to face backwards and can be moved into a rear facing convertible seat. Smaller infants who don't reach 20 pounds until after their first birthday should also continue to face backwards. This is more a minimum though. Many people advocate continuing to sit toddlers rear facing in a convertible seat until they outgrow it for added safety.
• After they are twenty pounds and have passed their first birthday, toddlers can use a forward facing car seat (either a convertible, combination or forward facing seat) until they are about 40 pounds.
• Children over forty pounds should be placed into a belt positioning booster seat (either a combination seat or booster seat) and they will usually stay in it until they are at least 8 years old.
• You should not use your car's regular seat belts until they fit correctly when your child is about 80 pounds and is 4ft 9 inches tall. Remember that your child will not be ready to use regular seat belts until the shoulder strap fits across his shoulder and not his neck, and the lap belt fits across his hips and not his stomach.
• All children under 12 years of age should be placed in the back seat of the car, especially if you have passenger side air bags.

Read the entire article here.

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As  we know sports injuries are all  too common in  high schools across the nation.  The injuries are not exclusive to the sport, they happen in everything, football, soccer, baseball, basketball, hockey and more.  It is a promising idea to us that there are studies such as the  this one    where there are monitors placed inside the helmets of football players.  These monitors register to a laptop on the sidelines indicating what type of blow to the head the player just received.

The purpose of the high-tech headgear, which uses six strategically placed, spring-loaded accelerometers to wirelessly beam information to a Web-based system on a laptop computer on the sidelines, is to more effectively – and more immediately – detect when blows to players’ heads may result in concussions or more severe brain injuries.

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This is a very unfortunate story, and our thoughts and  prayers go out to this child's family. 

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