Consumer Product Safety Commission / AP Photo
This week Maclaren agreed to a "voluntary recall" of all of its stroller models sold as far back as 1999 after conceding that their strollers' hinges severed the fingers of 12 children. Now the New York Post says it uncovered a lawsuit proving that the company was aware of the potential defect—which it was required by federal law to report—as early as 2004, but did nothing until federal regulators all but forced it to action. In 2004, 23-month-old Connecticut toddler Carlos DeWinter permanently lost his right pinky to the device while his mother was shopping for a stroller, according to court papers the Post obtained. Maclaren argued that the mother's "own negligence" was to blame. An engineer and former compliance officer for the Consumer Products Safety Commission testified in 2007 that the stroller had a "substantial design defect" when compared to other kids' stroller designs and that "Maclaren had a legal obligation to report this."