Pennsylvania Injury Attorneys Blog
On Tuesday, Graco voluntarily recalled 3.7 million car seats due to a buckling issue.
According to an article on WNEP.com, the red release button that is found at the center of the harness may become difficult to unlatch, or may get stuck. This can make it difficult to remove a child from the car seat quickly in the event of an emergency. In the article, Graco is quoted as saying “that food and dried liquids can make some harness buckles progressively more difficult to open over time or become stuck in the latched position.”
Models affected include harness buckles on toddler car seats and harnessed booster seats produced from 2009 to July 2013.
The company is offering a replacement buckle. They recommend that consumers continue to use the seat until they obtain the replacement buckle, so as not to put the safety of any children at risk.
The recall was prompted by an investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Graco has recalled 11 model seats, but they are contesting with the NTSA the recall of an additional 7 model seats. If the additional 7 model seats are added to this recall, the total number of car seats being recalled will increase by 1.8 million, making this the biggest recall of child car seats.