The agency wanted the defective strollers to be repaired or replaced at Britax's cost and for the company to launch a campaign to warn the public about the stroller's dangers — how recalls are typically handled. But Britax was not backing down.
No recall? Tess Sawyer says she still won't put her daughter in the BOB jogging stroller that the company insists, despite numerous injuries, is not defective:"The trust is gone."
But the leadership of the safety agency was about to change. And that meant Britax might not have to recall the BOB after all. The agency has historically been a leader in protecting children, passing strict limits on lead in children's toys and ending the sale of deadly drop-side cribs. Its lawsuit against Britax ended in November with a settlement, approved by a 3-to-2 commission vote reflecting the new Republican majority. In a rare written dissent, the panel's two Democrats called the settlement"aggressively misleading" for seeking to downplay the risks to consumers.
The front of the stroller dipped forward. The back wheels lifted off the ground. Sawyer struggled for control. She wasn't hurt. Her daughter, not yet a year old, was rattled but fine.The front wheel of Tess Sawyer's BOB jogging stroller with quick release. BOB had produced a special online video in 2013 to instruct users on its use. A few months later, it added a hang tag to its strollers that warned about the dangers of incorrectly using the device.
The new design had a closed stroller fork and modified quick release, so the wheel couldn't fall out as easily. But that left nearly 500,000 BOBs with the original design. And they were continuing to cause problems. Buerkle, who has served on the commission since 2013, was the only commissioner to oppose proposed portable-generator rules aimed at reducing carbon monoxide poisoning in 2016. She was again the lone vote that year against a then-record $15.45-million penalty for a company accused of making humidifiers prone to catching fire.In Buerkle's first two years as chairwoman, the number of companies fined for misconduct declined to five in 2017-2018 from 12 in 2015-2016.
Staff members tried for months to get Britax to agree to a voluntary recall. But the company declined. Months passed with no action, with Britax insisting the steps taken to inform consumers about the quick release were adequate to ensure the strollers were safe.Ordinarily, at this point, staff members might seek to pressure a reluctant company into agreeing to a voluntary recall, but Buerkle refused to allow staff members to do this, according to the eight officials who spoke to the Post.
That changed when longtime Democratic Commissioner Robert Adler found out about it in late 2017. He told others that"a little birdie" had informed him, according to five officials with direct knowledge of the discussions. On Jan. 10, 2018, a closed-door hearing to discuss"a compliance matter" was held at the agency's headquarters in Bethesda, Md., according to the. The agency's compliance staff members were"unanimous and unequivocal" about the need for a BOB recall, said Robinson, who, at the time, had only a few months remaining on the commission.
That's correct, replied assistant general counsel Mary Murphy, the agency's attorney. The stroller passed a test in the lab. But, she said,"it does not replicate what happens in real life, which is what we're seeing when we have these defect scenarios."Tess Sawyer's BOB stroller was the subject of a Consumer Product Safety Commission case.
Kaye and Adler, the two Democrats, voted for it. Buerkle and Baiocco voted against it. A tie vote meant the subpoena was denied. Robinson, the former commissioner, said the deal was a sign of what Britax had anticipated all along."The only way this can be explained," she said,"is they knew they could do whatever they wanted once the majority changed."
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