CPSC, NHTSA and Britax Announce Recall of Infant Car Seats Due to Fall Hazard

Recall Insight

This CPSC action (record #16081) was formally reported on January 21, 2016. It is classified under Moderate severity, with a current status of Active. Britax Child Safety Inc., of Fort Mill, S.C. is listed as the recalling firm. Federal records indicate About 71,000 units (in addition 3,900 units were sold in Canada and 990 units in Mexico) units are affected, placing this recall in the million-unit bracket that typically triggers nationwide consumer alerts and retailer sweeps.

The documented reason for this recall is: The car seat carry handle can crack and break allowing the seat to fall unexpectedly, posing a risk of injury to the infant. Distribution information was not included in the agency filing, so consumers should assume broad potential exposure until the firm publishes point-of-sale details. The remedy documented by the agency is: Consumers should immediately stop carrying the car seat by the handle until the repair is installed. All consumers who have previously registered their product with Britax will automatically receive … — consumers holding this product should act on that instruction rather than relying on general guidance.

To put this record in context, PlainRecalls indexes 83,949 recalls across the FDA, CPSC, NHTSA and USDA FSIS going back to 1995. Within the same product category, the database holds 6 closely related recalls, of which 1 were also issued by CPSC. That clustering is a signal — repeated actions in a narrow category often indicate a systemic quality-control issue, a supplier-wide contamination, or a design defect that has propagated across product lines. This recall is roughly 10 years old; older recalls can remain relevant because many units enter resale, rental, and secondary-market channels where the original warning never reaches the end user. Always cross-check the recall number against the official agency page before relying on any summary.