Firm Resisted Seat Recall, U.S. Says

The chiefs of two federal safety agencies on Thursday complained that a major child seat maker was reluctant to recall 800,000 of its popular infant-carrier car seats.

Ann Brown, chief of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, said most recalls go smoothly, but with Evenflo Co., “we felt like we’ve been dragging them every step of the way.” Ricardo Martinez, head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, agreed.

The recall is of the Evenflo On My Way child seat and carrier, model Nos. 207 and 492.

A defect in the seat’s latch that allows it to release unexpectedly has been reported as causing 89 injuries.

Evenflo, the Piqua, Ohio-based unit of Evenflo & Spalding Holdings Corp., agreed to the recall after being confronted with evidence of the faulty locking mechanism from the agencies’ joint investigation. But for months, company officials “seemed to insist it was the customers’ fault,” Brown said.

The company is providing a repair kit at no charge.

“Evenflo worked closely with both the NHTSA and the CPSC to identify and resolve this issue. A considerable amount of research and testing was done by all three parties and all of that testing was freely shared,” Evenflo said in a statement.