A federal safety commission tasked with investigating the maker of a popular jogging stroller found that nearly 100 adults and children had been injured by the product and pushed for a recall—but it was blocked by a Trump appointee who took over the agency, The Washington Post reports. Britax Child Safety, the maker of the BOB jogging stroller, initially refused a 2017 request from the Consumer Product Safety Commission for a voluntary recall of nearly 500,000 strollers, arguing they were safe and met industry standards, according to the report. Yet the commission had collected 200 consumer-submitted reports from 2012 to 2018 that detailed a failure of the front wheel that caused a slew of injuries. The Consumer Product Safety Commission even sued the stroller company to force a recall, which Britax fought. That was until February 2017, when Ann Marie Buerkle, a Republican appointed by Trump, was named acting chairwoman. According to the Post, which cited documents and interviews with current and former safety officials, Buerkle stopped staffers from pushing for a recall and kept some staff members in the dark about the investigation into the stroller. The agency’s lawsuit against Britax ultimately ended in November with a settlement that two Democrats on the safety panel called “aggressively misleading” for minimizing risks to consumers.
