Washington, DC — As of June 2010, many durable infant and toddler products — including cribs, play yards, strollers, and high chairs — were required to contain a product registration card and a method to register online that allow purchasers of these products to easily register them with their manufacturer. Companies are required to notify all of those purchasers who have completed the registration of a recall or other product safety issue.
But a recent national survey commissioned by the Consumer Federation of America (CFA), and undertaken by Opinion Research Corp. (ORC), found that over three-fifths of parents with children under 12 (61%) were not aware of this new protection. And an even larger proportion of all adults (68%) did not know about the new protection.
“Parents are unaware of this new product safety protection and this lack of awareness could put their children at risk in the event of a product recall,” said Rachel Weintraub, CFA’s Director of Product Safety and Senior Counsel. “If parents fail to register their products, they are unlikely to learn of safety problems with the juvenile products they have in their home,” she added.
The survey also found, however, that when the parents were made aware of the new safety protection, almost all of them strongly supported it. Ninety-six percent thought the safety protection was a “good idea,” while 63 percent thought it was a “very good idea.” (Among all adults, 91 percent thought the protection was a “good idea.”) Moreover, a large majority of the parents (85%) said that “if they purchased a product with a registration card,” they would be likely to “complete and mail it back, or submit the same information on the Internet.”
“Registration cards allow parents the peace of mind that if something goes wrong with the infant and toddler products they buy, they will be contacted,” said Robert Block, MD, FAAP, president, American Academy of Pediatrics. “Yet while the survey shows strong support for these cards, we know that parents need to be made aware of such product protections. It is in the best interest of everyone involved—manufacturers, retailers, parents and children—for companies and stores to promote these registration cards to ensure families are informed of the protections that exist.”
Parents think that manufacturers, stores, and the CPSC have a responsibility to inform them. When parents were asked if these groups had some or a great deal of responsibility for informing them of the protection and how to utilize it, large majorities said that the manufacturers (89%), the retailers (78%), and the product safety agency (90%) had a responsibility to do so. (The majorities for all adults were nearly as large.)
“The companies that make and sell infant durable products, and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, need to do much more to ensure that parents register their products,” said Weintraub.
“The best way to reach consumers with recall information is to directly contact those who bought the product,” stated Nancy Cowles, Executive Director of Kids In Danger (KID). “While the broad brush of a media advisory may get the recall in the news, it does nothing to guarantee that those actually using the product learn of the recall. CFA’s research shows that more must be done to make this an effective safety tool.”
“We were pleased to see that the CPSIA directed juvenile product manufacturers to include product registration cards with the products they sell to consumers. Now we need these companies to spread the word to consumers, so that consumers can be directly contacted in the event of a safety recall.” said Don Mays, Product Safety Director for Consumer Reports.
CFA and KID have compiled a list with links to most manufacturers’ registration sites. In addition, CFA, KID, and Consumers Union have produced a brochure that is available online and available in hard copy upon request.
Eighteen types of durable infant and toddler products are required to have product registration cards. These products include full-size cribs and non-full-size cribs; toddler beds; high chairs, booster seats, and portable hook-on chairs, bath seats; gates and other enclosures for confining a child; play yards; stationary activity centers; infant carriers; strollers; walkers; swings; bassinets and cradles; children’s folding chairs; changing tables; infant bouncers; infant bath tubs; bed rails; and infant slings.
ORC administered CFA’s survey instrument last July, from the 15th through the 18th, to a representative sample of more than 1000 adult Americans, 220 of whom had children under 12 years of age. The margin of error for the whole sample is plus or minus three percentage points.