Phil & Ted's Put the Brakes on Stroller Sales

The Fort Collins, Colorado division of Phil & Ted’s Strollers, is recalling two stroller models that have had eight incidents of brake failures between them.  While none of those incidents occurred in North America, the risk of injury from brake failure is a serious safety concern.  For this reason, the company has joined with Consumer Product Safety Product Commission (CPSC) and Health Canada to recall the two models and provide consumers with a retrofit repair kit.

Both strollers were sold online at Phil & Teds.com, PishPoshBaby.com, and Albeebaby.com. They are also sold at juvenile product specialty stores like Babies R Us.  Each stroller sold in the United States and Canada from August 2010 through June 2011 at a price that ranged between $475 and $500.

According to their website, the company has “implemented the upgrade in production some months ago, creating ‘Series 2’ Explorer and Hammerhead buggies, and are undertaking an initiative to make the new brake available to owners of Series 1 (pre-January 2011). Explorer and Hammerhead buggies, identifiable by serial numbers between 0610/0001(June 2010, unit number 1), and 0111/4788(January 2011, unit number 4788). The serial numbers are read as follows – MMYY/unit number.” Serial number info is found on a sticker located inside the left-hand hinge. 

 Here are the details on the stroller involved in the recall:

Explorer Stroller

• 7,400 sold in USA
• 1,900 sold in Canada
• Metal frame: sold as a single stroller
• Also sold with a special doubles kit to convert it into a double stroller
• 3 wheels
• Cloth seat with canopy attachment
• Colors: black green, navy blue, red/black and green/black
• Phil & Ted’s logo on crotch portion of harness
• Model EX Explorer sticker located on rear axle bar

Hammerhead Strollers

• 160 sold in the U.S. A.
• 65 sold in Canada
• Metal frame: sold as a single stroller
• Also sold with a special doubles kit to convert it into a double stroller
• 4 wheels
• Cloth seat with canopy attachment
• Color:  black
• Phil & Ted’s logo on crotch portion of harness
• HH Hammerhead sticker located on rear axle bar

U.S. and Canadian consumers can contact Phil & Ted’s by phone at (855) 652-9019 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. MT M-F, or visit their website at www.philandteds.com/support.

For Canadian Press Release, click here.

For CPSC Press Release, click here.

For Phil & Ted's website and information on the retrofit kit, click here.

Cars and Strollers: Safety Belts Save Lives

illo from www.vote29.com

Here in Utah, seat belts are a big deal.  Lately the “Click it or Ticket” logo can be seen almost daily on billboards, in the news, and in television ads.  It’s a good law.  It saves lives, and it’s pretty obvious that when you get behind the wheel of an automobile, your life is in the balance.  So buckling up seems to be the smart choice.

But when it comes to infant strollers, those safety belts and harnesses are all too often left un-connected.  There is an arsenal of excuses for this, like “I just set him in the stroller for a minute while I was chatting with my neighbor,” or “I was only walking down to the mailbox, it’s not far,” or “I was in a hurry to get inside for that awesome one-day sale.”  Is it ever safe to deposit an infant in a stroller without engaging the seat belts and/or safety harnesses?  The simple answer is “No!”  

illo from www.cpsc.gov

Infants can surprise you.  You never really know when they are going to discover that if they wiggle to the left and then squiggle to the right they can inch their chubby little bodies right through one of those leg holes.  The problem is that their heads are almost always chubbier than their bodies, so while their body many slide through the hole, their heads can become stuck.  Dangling with body on one side of the opening, and their head and neck on the other side can result in strangulation and death. It can happen in only minutes, and it is totally preventable.

Most stroller manufacturers design strollers to minimize or eliminate this strangulation hazard, but it can happen even on fully compliant strollers.  In the case of four models of Lan Enterprises’ Zooper Strollers, manufactured between February 2009 and June 2010, the leg opening between the seat bottom and the front and side bars was found large enough for this hazard to occur.  These four models were sold nationwide  from May 2009 through May 2011. Although no injuries have been reported, Lan Enterprises is recalling the strollers and providing repair kits as a solution starting on July 1, 2011.

For details of the strollers recalled, click here.

For stroller safety tips from CPSC, click here.