China has taken a lot of heat as of late for various recalls such as toys and, most recently, Simplicity cribs … but perhaps, things are not always what they seem …
• Mattel did their research and found, in a new study of 550 U.S. toy recalls, that the majority of the problems were because of design flaws and not because of manufacturing defects or lead paint. China is only responsible for the production of these toys, not the design. The toy company found that only 10 percent of the defects were due to manufacturing issues such as inappropriate raw materials, overheating of batteries and lead paint, while 77 percent of the recalls were due to design flaws.
• Unfortunately for China, the weight has not yet lifted due to the recall of one million Chinese made, Simplicity brand cribs. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, three infants have died and seven were trapped when the drop side of the cribs detached causing a dangerous gap. The Consumer Product Safety Commission explained that this was the result of the drop side being installed upside down.
• In June, the Consumer Product Safety Commission recalled nearly 40,000 nursey-in-a-box cribs (incidentally, they too were manufactured by Simplicity) because the assembly instructions on how to attach the drop side were incorrectly explained.
This article appears in Sep 26 – Oct 2, 2007.
