Category — Parenting

According to the Chicago Tribune, RC2 is now facing a class action suit over the metal “Take Along Thomas” lines seeking to halt their sale.  The company’s response is interesting in the fact that they actually respond, instead of the normal “we don’t comment on pending litgation.” Also missing are the classic words “frivolous” or “baseless.”  RC2 is maintaining that the metal trains are not part of the recall and they are safe. They’re made in different facilities using different processes.

I don’t think anyone is mistaking the metal trains as part of the recall (though this seems to be RC2’s line of thinking).  The past few articles filed by Maurice Possley at the Tribune seem to indicate a new recall is in order.  Between the nurse from Kansas who claims to have found a metal train that tested positive for lead (and later was ignored by the CPSC), to the report that the Illinois State’s Attorney’s office found metal trains with lead after they mistakenly tested the wrong product in verifying the current recall, it sure does look like the recall might expand.

Fortunately for us, we don’t have a lot of the metal trains, mainly because they don’t fit on the wooden tracks, but this whole thing is getting uglier by the day.  As my wife said, “I wouldn’t be surprised if all it gets recalled”

I have to say I agree with her.

[Update: I've posted an update on this here.]

I was browsing through the stats on the site this evening and noticed a referral from a Google Search for “Thomas Recall.”  I’ve managed to climb to the first page for that, but even more interesting is HIT Entertainment seems to have also bought that Keyword as well.  Check out the screen grab (click the image for a full size image):

Color me impressed, the ad links to the recall page on the Thomas and Friends web site that I noted early. Bravo for doing something to get the word out.

We had a company outing to the Brewers-Astros game last Monday and the baseball-obsessed son got to go. Here we are tailgating before hand. (Thanks to Pat Bieser for the photo!) Here he is enjoying a pretzel in the stands:

It looks like HIT Entertainment finally realized the train wreck (pun intended) it had over its licensee’s recall and posted something about it on Tuesday (at least that is the date of the release.) Specifically they mention that they’ve asked operators of the “Day Out With Thomas” events to discontinue sales of the affected products.

The real sad thing is it took me quite a while to to find the actual release on an actual HIT Entertainment web site. I originally came across it on some splog (spam + blog) looking site called “Lead Maverick” which offers a “Search Engine Marketing Tool.” The release had been posted several times a day over the past two days by a number of users, including “RC2.” Smells like Google Bombing to me, but then again, I’m not an SEO guy (who Jeff Attwood eloquently referred to as the new pornographers of the web.)

Front page of the Chicago Tribune today: Recalled Thomas toys in stores. As a co-worker of mine would say, “Shocker.”

The recall process is broken. RC2 isn’t pulling toys out of the distribution channel, or trying very hard. That was obvious in Green Bay, and now its been confirmed all over the state of Illinois. Even more interesting - it looks like the recall may get expanded.

This isn’t an easily visible fault with the toys we’re dealing with here, either. For the types of recalls where an item may break and expose sharp edges, you can only fault the company so much. Most parents can recognize when a toy has become dangerous - it’s called keeping an eye on your kids. But these are wooden toys that pose a long term risk. It’s not like your child becomes violently ill from lead poisoning right away. The effects, while quick, don’t appear immediately after ingestion.

And to all the critics who blame parents for “buying those cheap toys from China” I challenge you to go look at how much these trains cost. They are not cheap. Most cost upwards of $15-$20 for something that’ll fit in the palm of your hand. I really question how much they’d be if they were manufactured in the US. Yes, labor rates are a lot higher here, but the margins on those things has got to be astronomical. There is sure to be plenty of room to have them safely manufactured here, where there are regulations against things like lead based paint.

A friend forwarded on some more news coverage of the Thomas Recall from this weekend.  Susan Chandler and Maurice Possely of the Chicago Tribune filed this article.  RC2 is based in Oak Brook, a western suburb in the Chicagoland area.  Nice to see the hometown paper picking up on it.  They also note a complaint from February from Kansas City:

In February 2006, Julianne West, a nurse in Kansas City, paid a visit to a home because a child had tested high for levels of lead. While she was at the home, West and a colleague tested the boy’s toys with a portable lead testing device.
An orange metal toy train car tested positive. “The child had been mouthing it,” West said in the report she filed. “I advised the mother … and told her it would be best to put those toys up. It was one of his favorite toys. He was not happy about it.”

This time it was the “Take Along Thomas” line, which if you are a parent you’ll know as the trains they sell at Target that don’t fit on the wooden tracks.  According to the Tribune, West filed a report with the CPSC and never heard back.  The CPSC is not commenting on any individual incident reports or any open investigations.

My wife just called me that there was a piece on NPR’s Day to Day covering the Thomas recall. The interviews with parent bring up an interesting point - prying the toys out of your kids hands. We approached it with the fact that James was going to “The Works” for a new coat of paint (a reward often dished out by Sir Topham Hatt.)

How are you handling this?

Just as I suspected, HIT Entertainment doesn’t care to gets it hands dirty. The New York Time’s David Leonhardt has a piece titled, A Lesson That Thomas Could Teach that more or less confirms via their PR Agency that HIT is pointing the finger at RC2 and saying its not their fault. Yet, HIT Continued to sell these trains at their event this past weekend in Green Bay, WI.

If you were at one of the other “Day Out With Thomas” events, I’d love to know if James or Skarlooey were on sale and if they were items in the recall.