Recalled Toy Shows Up on Popular List

Among the 36 top toys listed in the November issue of Sesame Street Parents magazine is one its readers may consider too hot to handle. It is My First Roadster by Fisher-Price, a $149 battery-operated buggy that’s being recalled as a fire hazard.

Ira Wolfman, editorial director of Sesame Street Parents, said the issue went to press before the government on Wednesday announced the recall of up to 10 million Fisher-Price vehicles--the largest recall ever involving a toy sold in stores. The Consumer Product Safety Commission said 150 fires have been linked to the kid-sized roadsters, which can be driven at speeds up to 5 mph.

Fisher-Price is a unit of El Segundo-based Mattel Inc.

Wolfman said the ride-on toy was extensively tested by parents and children, receiving high marks from both. The magazine said the vehicles gave children a “real sense of power” and parents “felt My First Roadster was quite safe.”

“Clearly, anything you recommend can have problems you are not aware of,” Wolfman said. “My relief is that virtually no one has received the magazine yet. And by the time they do next week, they won’t be in danger of buying a defective toy because they’ve been recalled.”

Sesame Street Parents is published by New York-based Children’s Television Workshop and has 1.1 million subscribers. It isn’t sold on newsstands.

Wolfman said the December issue of Sesame Street Parents will contain a note alerting parents to problems with the toy.