The Detroit News reports that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating “whether Graco Children’s Products Inc. delayed a recall of 6.1 million child seats.” The News quotes US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx saying, “The department is committed to ensuring that parents have peace of mind knowing that the car seat in which they are placing their child and their trust is safe and reliable,” adding, “Any delays by a manufacturer in meeting their obligations to report safety issues with the urgency they deserve, especially those that impact the well-being of our children, erodes that trust and is absolutely unacceptable.” It also quotes NHTSA Deputy Administrator David Friedman saying, “There is no excuse for delaying a recall to address any safety-related defect,” adding, “If Graco delayed in protecting children and infants from this defect, we will hold them accountable.” The company faces fines of “up to $35 million,” but the Administration “wants Congress to raise the maximum fine up to $300 million per incident.”
CNBC reports that Graco “first reported the issue to NHTSA in February,” yet it also reported that “it had been monitoring the problem since 2009.” CNBC quotes Foxx as above as do WTSP-TV St. Petersburg, FL, and WREG-TV Memphis, TN.
The New York Times reports the news in the context of Administrator Friedman’s upcoming testimony before “a congressional hearing looking into defective airbags made by the Takata Corporation.” It also quotes Friedman as above.
From the news release of the American Association for Justice.
