Friday’s recall involves 13,792 booster seats sold in the United States with model numbers that begin with “310” built between Nov. 24, 2009, and April 9, 2010. In Canada, 4,479 units made between Dec. 17 and April 26 are part of the recall. Unsold units will be removed from shelves, and Evenflo said it is sending a consumer notice to registered owners of the affected seats.
Maestro child restraints built after April 2010 aren’t affected by the action, said Evenflo, which employs about 150 people at its Miamisburg headquarters and about 300 people at a factory in Piqua.
Children weighing under 40 pounds should not be placed in the seat without the use of a free repair bracket. Children who weigh more than 40 pounds may continue to use the seat without the internal harness as a booster seat until a remedy kit arrives, the company said.
Evenflo officials were not available for comment Friday, according to a spokeswoman. Instead, the company released a prepared statement that reads, in part, “Our testing exceeds the rigorous government standards but, despite our best efforts, sometimes issues arise that are only detected when our products are used in the field.”
According to an Oct. 12 letter from Evenflo to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which regulates car seats:
Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports, contacted Evenflo about Maestro booster seats sustaining damage during testing at MGA Research Corp. Evenflo and Consumers Union personnel met Sept. 29, and the company reviewed test records and tested Maestro units.
Evenflo said it couldn’t replicate the results in its internal lab. However, Maestro units were again tested at MGA on Oct. 7.
“Although the company was only able to replicate the Consumers Union test results on units built prior to April 2010 at MGA and not at its own facility, the company has elected to proceed with this notification to NHTSA,” according to the letter.
A free reinforcement kit can be obtained in the United States by calling 1 (800) 233-5921 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern Time.
Evenflo urged customers not to return seats to retail stores.
Between December 2008 and September 2010, Evenflo had eight recalls through the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, more than any other manufacturer had during that time period, the Dayton Daily News reported in September.
Evenflo’s last corrective action through the NHTSA was in November 2009, after it neglected to put on car seats a label that contained information about how to register the car seats in the event of a recall. It also had two Discovery car seat recalls involving more than 1 million units in 2008.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7457 or bsutherly@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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