What’s happening is that the stroller’s hinge is dangerous (fingertip amputation and cuts/laceration possibility) – mostly when the user is folding or unfolding the stroller. This is just like the Maclaren stroller recall. There has been a report of a child fracturing their finger due to this hinge.

The recall affects these models: Ruby, Onyx and Topax and they were sold between August 2009 and November 2009.

What should you do? According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission: Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled strollers and contact Regal Lager to receive a free hinge cover retrofit kit. Contact information below:

For additional information, contact the Company Service Center at (800) 593-5522 between 8:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. ET Monday through Friday or visit the firm’s Web site at www.regallager.com/recalls – consumers can also email the firm at info@regallager.com

To see the actual product recall information page – go here: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml10/10123.html

The affected models are:  Volo, Triumph, Quest Sport, Quest Mod, Techno XT, TechnoXLR, Twin Triumph, Twin Techno and Easy Traveller.

What should you do?

Stop using the stroller immediately, and contact Maclaren USA to receive a free repair kit. The repair kit consists of hinge covers that will cover the hinge mechanism.  They’re made to fit on all Maclaren stroller models. Here are the contact details:

Contact Maclaren USA toll-free at (877) 688-2326 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday or visit the firm’s Web site at recall.maclaren.us.

If you’ve purchased a Maclaren stroller anytime after 1999, I would definitely give them a call, to request any information about what to do and also to receive the repair kit that will make your stroller safer.

This includes Bugaboo Bee Strollers that were bought between August 2007 through April 2009 for about $530.

This recall involves about 22,500 Bugaboo Bee strollers that have item code 580210 on a label on the back of the seat and item code 50100 on a label on the plastic support under the seat. “bugaboo® bee” is printed on the left side of the seat. The strollers were sold in blue, dark khaki, pink, red, yellow, and black.

If you even think you might have one of these particular strollers – please stop using the stroller immediately and contact Bugaboo so you can get your free repair kit (yes, they make you repair it yourself – but they do include the parts and instructions .

To order the bracket kit, go to www.bugaboo.com and fill in the special order form or contact Bugaboo customer service. For more information, contact Bugaboo at (800) 460-2922 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. PT Monday through Friday, visit www.bugaboo.com, or email bugaboobee-service@bugaboo.com.

For more information, please go to: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09233.html

It’s also a good idea to check online about product recalls – because although it’s standard practice for a store to send back any products that are on their shelves that have been recalled, it’s not ALWAYS done.  So it’s good to know ahead of time whether a product has been recalled so you can check the manufacture date to make sure you’re not buying a product that wasn’t properly replaced when it was recalled.

Some other resources for checking on product recalls are listed below:

• Office of Defects Investigation – This is primarily for vehicle recalls (mostly regarding safety restraints) but they do have a section just for child safety restraints and car seats.
• US Consumer Product Safety Commission – This is a great resource for many things regarding safety and product recalls.  They too have a section related to child products – which they separate by ‘toys’ and ‘everything else but toys’
• Child Product Safety – This site was started by the Arkansas government and shows product recalls separated by year or category.
• Baby Center – This is Baby Center’s Product Recall Finder site – which gets the recall information from ODI mentioned above (Office of Defects Investigation).

Many of these sites also have RSS feeds that will update automatically when a product gets recalled, which are very useful.  An RSS Feed is just a file that lists all the posts of a site/blog and gets updated automatically if you subscribe to them (there’s many readers that can access these feeds) – so once you subscribe to one of them, you can just open your reader and it will show all the lastest posts, or in this case, the latest product recalls.  I have one of these feeds showing on this blog – in the right sidebar.  It’s displaying ODI’s child product (not toys) recall feed.  It will get updated anytime they add a product to that list/feed.

This recall involves Baby Jogger City Mini single and double strollers. Consumers should stop using this model immediately and request a new, free replacement restraint buckle and installation instructions – from Baby Jogger.  This affects strollers with a manufacturing date between Nov. 1, 2007 through Feb. 28, 2009.

The restraint buckle looks like this:

For additional information, contact Baby Jogger at 877-506-2213 between 8:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. ET, email the firm at recall@babyjogger.com, or visit the firm’s Web site at www.babyjogger.com

Resource: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09334.html