Britax Child Safety has been forced to issue a recall on more than 55,000 of its car child safety seats because the safety harness is being chewed apart by children, posing a choking hazard.
According to a report from Edmunds.com, the recall was issued after Britax received three reports of children biting off small pieces of the chest pads on three specific models of its child safety seats. The recall action includes 55,455 child safety seats. The models included in the the call-back are the Boulevard 70-G3, the Advocate 70-G3, and the Pavillion 70-G3. These car seats were manufactured on or after June 11 of this year.
The company said in its recall statement that these newer model child car safety seats were made with “an enhanced harness system that incorporated a softer, more pliable, non-toxic material.” The chest pad is marketed by Britax as the Hugs pad. This design change was intended to provide more comfort to the child in the seat.
To reduce the risk posed by these child safety seats, Britax announced that is making the new harness design less likely to be chewed by children. “If the consumer has concerns that his or her child may bite the Hugs pad, the Hugs pads can be safely removed from the child seat until a replacement pad is received. Consumers can continue to use the child seat without Hugs pads until the replacement pads have been installed,” the company added in its recall statement.
The company is offering a replacement chest pad for the affected models and Edmunds.com editors suggest that parents who still use the recalled car seats should remove the allegedly chewy pad to eliminate the choking risk altogether. Britax did not mention in its statement whether any of the three incidents reported to the company in which a child ingested part of the safety seats if it led to any injuries.
Child car safety seats generate billions in sales every year but are among the most recalled of all juvenile products. Many products available to parents that are designed to protect children from hazards are, in fact, dangerous and pose safety hazards of their own. Child car seats, along with high chairs and other devices that are designed to secure children suffer from defects that put children at grave risk of serious injuries or death.
Parents of young children should be wary of the latest safety recalls for products they may be using. Even the slightest defect in one of these products could have serious consequences.
