Big World, Little People

MacNightmare – Maclaren strollers cut off kids’ fingertips!

November 11, 2009 at 9:24 pm Leave a comment

And here I was just thinking about buying a lightweight Maclaren for when our baby gets too heavy for all-day downtown adventures in our beloved Ergo. No Maclarens for us! It’s sickening to think of 12 little people that got their fingertips chopped off with these things. Maclaren’s tagline is “What mothers need, what babies want” – but that’s not even the worst part. When you visit their site, you get this absurd pop-up:

“Safety is at the heart of the Maclaren ethos. It has shaped our culture and our practices. Maclaren has zero tolerance for anything that compromises safety. This policy is central to our product design, development, manufacture and service. It is this practice that also makes us the highest quality manufacturer.”

And the “Recall” link is a tiny one at the top that no one except the most paranoid would ever think to click on.

What kind of crisis PR team came up with that response to a recall?? It’s so MacCrappy, it should be illegal. The first pop-up should say “Step away from the Maclaren!” and have an instant “order safety covers” link! This lack of responsibility is insane.

The scariest part is that after the Bugaboo, Maclarens are the most common strollers in our neighborhood. There seem to be hundreds of styles, and now it looks like they should all be put in a closet until the hinge covers arrive from Maclaren. But I don’t think I’d trust a company after a screw-up like this…

Whatever lightweight stroller we eventually opt for, I know I’ll be doing a lot of testing of parts that would have never occured to me before.

Scary to think that are so many baby products in our homes that have the potential to injure our little ones. I love our Bumbo seat (because Oliver loves it) but am pretty weary of the whole tipping-over-backwards phenomenon I’ve read about.

Makes you wonder how much testing is really enough. And whether you can trust these companies who clearly have their bottom line prioritized much higher than kids’ safety.

Entry filed under: Kid safety. Tags: finger, Kid safety, maclaren, recall, Stroller.