North County San Diego Injury Lawyers
Now that Thanksgiving has come and gone, many parents in Carlsbad and throughout San Diego County are beginning to think about holiday gifts for children. With considerations for children’s toys often come concerns about toy safety, product defects, and the risks of child injury. According to a recent article in WebMD.com, a safety group has just released its “annual dangerous toys” list just in time for the holiday season. What toys should parents avoid when purchasing gifts for young children?
WATCH Releases List of Dangerous Toys
Each year, World Against Toys Causing Harm (WATCH), a consumer watchdog group, releases a list of dangerous toys. As WATCH emphasizes, “since January 2015 there have been recalls involving more than 800,000 individual products, including 500,000 this year alone.” As such, it is important to be careful when selecting toys for children. Just because a toy says that it is intended for a child of a certain age group does not mean that the product is free of safety defects.
As WATCH points out, “every three minutes a child is treated in a U.S. emergency room for a toy-related injury.” Over the last two years, nearly 20 children’s toys have been implicated in recalls related to safety defects. In many cases, visits to emergency departments result from preventable injuries caused by defective children’s products. Not all children’s products that cause injuries are defective, but numerous toys that may have safety defects are not always subject to a recall. Of the items on this year’s list of dangerous toys, the possibility of a marketing defect, or the failure to warn, seems to loom large.
Generally speaking, product defects that can lead to product liability lawsuits typically fall into one of three categories:
- Design defects (defect in the very design of the product),
- Manufacturing defects (soundly designed product, but a defect occurred in the manufacturing process),
- Marketing defect (there is nothing inherently wrong with the product, but it was not properly marketed so as to warn consumers about potential risks)
Toys Identified as Dangerous for Californians This Holiday Season
What toys topped the list of potentially hazardous products that could result in child injuries? The article lists some of the following:
- Peppa Pig’s Muddy Puddles Family, which can pose a choking hazard because of its small parts;
- Kids Time Baby Children’s Elephant Pillow, which can pose a suffocation hazard but does not warn consumers about such a risk;
- Slimeball Slinger, which can cause eye injuries from the toy’s ammunition;
- Banzai Bump N’ Bounce Body Bumpers, which can cause impact injuries;
- Nerf Rival Apollo Blaster, which can cause eye injuries but does not come with warnings about such a risk;
- The Good Dinosaur Galloping Butch, which can cause puncture wounds but does not have a warning that mentions this;
- Peppy Pups, which can pose a risk of strangulation;
- Flying Heroes Superman Launcher, which can pose a risk of injuries to the eyes and to the face;
- Baby Magic Feed and Play Baby, which can pose a risk of obstructing the airway of a child but does not properly warn about this risk; and
- Warcraft Doomhammer, which can pose a risk of impact injury.
If your child gets hurt after using a product designed for kids, it is important to learn more about filing a claim for compensation. An experienced San Diego County product liability lawyer can discuss your options with you today. Contact the Walton Law Firm to speak with an attorney about your case.
See Related Blog Posts:
Injuries Caused By Exploding E-Cigarettes
Recent Product Recalls Linked to Child Injuries
(image courtesy of Uberprutser)
