If you purchased this baby seat, you could unknowingly endanger your child.
Bumbo, the maker of a popular baby seat, has begun issuing kits to parents that allow them to attach restraint belts to the chairs making them safer for children. This attempt to ensure the safe use of its product follows a recall of nearly 4 million Bumbo baby seats this month.
The original recall in 2007 prompted the company to add a warning to avoid using the seats on raised surfaces like tables and chairs. Since 2007, there have been 84 instances of babies falling from Bumbo seats, causing 21 infants to have skull fractures. Because babies could still lean back and fall or climb out of the seats, the risk of head injuries was not eliminated. Now, even with the proper use of safety restraints, the company has indicated that the seats should not be used without parental supervision. Additionally, the seats are designed to be used only on a flat floor.
A product recall notifies the public of a defect and is usually combined with an offer of repair, replacement or refund. When a company sells a product that is defective, and that company fails to warn the public of the defect, then the company may be the target of a product liability suit. If the company has issued a public warning and a consumer continues to use the product in an unsafe way or uses the product in a way that was not approved by the manufacturer, then the company may not be responsible.
A manufacturer is most likely to be liable for an injury when an item has been defectively manufactured, defectively designed, or the company fails to provide appropriate warnings or instructions for proper use.