Graco Snugride Recall

[babykate]

I haven't looked very hard but I don't see any posts about the Graco Snugride Recall so I'm doing my own. I am very unhappy with Graco's handling of the recall. I discovered several months ago (by accident) that my daughter's car seat had been recalled. I was reassured by Babies R Us that hers was not in the recall but later found out that it was. I tried calling the Graco Recall line several times, leaving messages which was my only option. Someone was supposed to get back to me but after several weeks still no response. I finally got smart and got another number to call. The person I spoke with was very nice and walked me through checking the seat to see if all the pieces were there. Her seat was the exact model, manufacture place and date that was recalled. According to the checks Graco walked me through, her seat was okay but I still had doubts. I was upset though that Graco had never contacted me about the recall. I had sent in my registration paperwork in November and it was March before I got through to anyone. I also had her seat installed by the fire department and they supposedly sent in their own registration paperwork to Graco. I asked the Graco rep why I was never contacted and she didn't know. She took all my information so I could be contacted in the future. The other day, 6 months after my initial call to the recall line, I got a letter in the mail from Graco. The letter said it was being sent in response to my call to the recall line. Are they that behind?? I have practically all Graco products but am furious about how they handled the recall. I'm going tomorrow to buy my daughter a Britax seat. I still like the SnugRide but wish I hadn't trusted it this long. Anyone else have a similar experience with this recall???

[JElaineB]

No, I did not have a similar experience. I am signed up for a couple of email lists for recalls, so I got an email about the SnugRide recall, then about 2 days later got the letter from Graco about the recall. I checked out my seat and it was just fine. There would be big pieces of metal missing, apparently, from the seat and/or base if it was defective. I had no problems continuing to use my seat after that. Sorry you had a bad experience. You might consider signing up for a recall email list, they come the same day or next day after most recalls. The two I am on are:

[link:www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prerel.html|Consumer Product Saftey Commission (CSPC) Recall info]
(click on the Recall Subscription List link to get the emails you want sent to you)

[link:www.safetyalerts.com/|http://www.safetyalerts.com/]
(Click on the Sign Up Now link to get emails sent to you.)

For both you can choose the categories you are interested in (such as Children etc.)

Jennifer
mom to Jacob 9/27/02

[kristine_elen]

The Graco recalls really bother me. I am not sure why they are always so highly rated. It seems like every year they do a recall and say, "Whoops, we forgot to install the latches that keep your baby from flying out the rear windshield." I mean, get with the program -- we are trusting our babies' lives to you people. Luckily, our snugride was not one of the seats that was recalled, but it still makes me angry. I know every brand, pretty much, has had a recall, but with snugride it's getting ridiculous. I hope Consumer Reports and the Fields take that into account next time before saying how great these are. (We now have a Britax Marathon and the installer at the hospital said Britax is militant about contacting parents if they even think there might be a problem with a seat, so that made me happy.)

[Momof3Labs]

We don't have a Graco seat, but before you feel 100% safe with Britax, you might want to read the discussions from several months ago about the Marathon:

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dcforum/DCForumID6/1637.html

[alandenisefields]

Trust us, folks, we do look carefully at recalls and how companies conduct them. However, ALL major car seat makers (yes, Britax included) have had recalls in the past 5 years. Sadly, they are a fact of life in the car seat market.

We do agree that if you send in a registration card, you should be notified of a recall. Again, that is how it SHOULD work, but in the real world, MOST companies simply put out a press release and expect parents to be watching the media (or subscribe to our newsletter list). We agree this is frustrating, but what can we say?

We will continue to lobby companies to do a better job in "quality control" to prevent these problems and ask them to mail/email notices to registered parents.

Thanks again,
--
Alan & Denise Fields, authors
BABY BARGAINS * TODDLER BARGAINS * BRIDAL BARGAINS * CYBERBRIDE * YOUR NEW HOUSE
Web: www.windsorpeak.com.
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 303-442-8792
Address: Windsor Peak Press, 436 Pine Street, Boulder, CO 80302

--
The readers speak! Check out our new message boards for our books at:
http://www.windsorpeak.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi

--
Have you seen our new book, TODDLER BARGAINS? It's brand new! For details, click here: http://www.toddlerbargains.com

[calebsmama03]

YES! We too had sent in our paperwork right away so we'd be notified of any recalls. Graco NEVER contacted us, to this day! Luckily my MIL had ordered the seat off the BRU website, and Amazon (who runs the site) sent her an e mail, and she contacted us with the info. We called all our friends who'd purchased this seat and none of them were notified by Graco either. :-( Very disappointing from such a large and generally respected company!

Lynne

Mommy to Caleb 3/3/03

[amp]

We did receive a letter re: the recall that indicated how we should check our seat to be sure it was ok. We also saw the recall on these boards, in Good Housekeeping, Consumer Reports, etc. I had already checked the website and emailed the Field's for further info by the time that Graco notified me. I guess I understand people's frustration, but I am happy with my Graco Snugride and I also understand that every carseat maker has had recalls, not all of which have been handled without flaws. Just my 2 cents.

[C99]

I didn't receive a letter from Graco, but I don't think the recall was handled badly. I regularly check this site, where the recall notice was posted, and saw notifications about the recall just about everywhere -- the local Y, the local daycare (and my child isn't even in daycare; we were just visiting), via e-mail from friends, etc. I didn't rely on BRU to tell me that my seat was not affected; I downloaded the recall information directly from Graco and checked the seat myself.

[Raidra]

I had registered for the Snugride LX5 in French Bear, and yesterday my aunt went into BRU to buy it. One of the salespeople told her that model had 3 recalls in the last year, but if she bought the Snugride manufactured in China, that would be safe. Has anyone heard of this? Something about the ones made in the US have been recalled, but the ones made in China haven't. She ended up buying the Snugride LX5 in Glen Plaid, which the salesperson said wasn't recalled.

She also said that there was a man shopping there who was talking about all the different models of carseats while reading out of a book.. sounded like the Baby Bargains book when she described it. :)

[Lenox12]

I went to BRU today and they have re-stocked the Snugride LX5 in French Bear and the other recalled items.
Ann

[marybliss]

Yes, I saw that too at BRU... all the Snugrides were back on the shelf. When I spoke to a Graco rep, she said the problems originated out of a big plant in Ohio... and that yes, the ones made in China were okay (go figure). ALSO... if your Snugride has a manufacture date AFTER MARCH 8, 2003 - then it's also okay.

Mary