The Consumer Product Safety Commission is announcing that Evenflo is recalling over 700,000 high chairs. The product manufacturer is concerned that faulty screws on the chairs could pose a choking or fall hazard for children.
Approximately 643,000 Evenflo Envision High Chairs and 90,000 Majestic High Chairs are being recalled. The Majestic recall is an expansion of an earlier recall of some 90,000 Evenflo chairs involving metal screws and plastic caps on both sides of the chairs coming loose and fall out, posing a choking hazard or a fall hazard to children if the seatbacks fell backward, reclined, or came off. The expanded recall includes additional models that reportedly have exhibited the same problems.
The list of recalled products include:
- Injuries Prompt Evenflo High Chair Recall, WebMD, April 2, 2009
- Evenflo Recalls Envision™ High Chairs Due to Fall and Choking Hazards, CPSC.gov, April 2, 2009
- Evenflo Expands Recall of Majestic™ High Chairs Due to Fall and Choking Hazards, CPSC.gov, April 2, 2009
- Evenflo Recalls Majestic™ High Chairs Due to Fall and Choking Hazards, CPSC.gov, December 18, 2008
- Fisher-Price Recalls 3-in-1 High Chairs Due to Fall Hazard, CPSC.gov, March 24, 2009
Recall Details
At the time of the Majestic recall last December, there were more than 1,000 reported incidents of the screws or caps coming out of the chairs, as well as over 140 reports of the seatbacks falling back, reclining, or coming off. There were more than 90 reports of injuries, including bruises to the head, broken bones, cuts, and abrasions. There were also incidents reported involving kids who would take the fallen screws or plastic caps and placed them in their mouths.
As for the Evenflo Envision chairs, there have been over 300 reports of the seatbacks reclining suddenly or detaching, which could result in fall accidents. There have also been reports of the screws coming out of the chairs, posing a choking hazard. 35 reports mentioned bruises, abrasions, and other injuries, as well as one incident where a child was holding onto a screw but fortunately did not choke.
Just last month, Fisher-Price announced its own high chair recall. The danger that the seat could fall back or the booster seat detach while the child was in the chair prompted the manufacturer to recall approximately 24,000 3-in-1 High Chair to Booster. One child reportedly sustained a skull fracture after falling when the seatback detached.
High Chair Injury Lawsuits
According to a 2001 Pediatric News article, most high chair injuries happen to kids younger than age one who fall from the chairs. The National Electronic Injury Surveillance System of the US Consumer Product Safety Commission says that from 1994 to 1998 there were about 40,650 high chair-related injuries that resulted in hospital emergency visits. Head injuries and facial injuries were among the most common kinds of injuries, with 94% of injuries involving fall accidents.
If your child was injured because of a defective high chair or another poorly designed infant product, you may be entitled to product liability compensation.
Contact the product liability lawyers at The Gilbert Law Group, P.C. for a free consultation about your injuries to children case.
