Before You Gift: The Year’s Most Dangerous Toys
We know it’s not easy buying holiday gifts for children. You don’t want to be the person who buys socks for the kids every year. You want to make sure the children in your life enjoy the gifts that you give them.
That being said, you also have the responsibility of giving kids gifts that are safe and won’t cause injuries later on in the year.
That’s a lot of pressure!
Luckily, with online resources like internet recalls, you can begin to narrow down your search.
The 10 Most Dangerous Toys of the Year
Let’s start by looking at the 10 most dangerous toys of 2016 according to WATCH. You can cross these gifts off your shopping list now. In no particular order, they are:
Peppa Pig’s Muddy Puddles Family
Kids Time Baby Children’s Elephant Pillow
Slime Ball Slinger
Banzai Bump N’ Bounce Body Bumpers
Nerf Rival Apollo XV-700 Blaster
The Good Dinosaur Galloping Butch
Flying Heroes Superman Launcher
Baby Magic Feed and Play Baby
Warcraft Doomhammer
Peppy Pups
It probably seems obvious how some of these could be dangerous from the name alone. Slime Ball Slinger? Doomhammer? Boby Bumpers? Anytime toys involve projectiles, hitting, or using your body as a bumper car, you can see how injuries might result.
The dangers aren’t as immediately apparent in others, though. Peppy Pups are a crib toy with a string that is 31 inches long, which makes it a choking hazard. Baby Magic Feed and Play Baby also comes with a choking hazard – a spoon that could be swallowed by children.
This List Is Just the Beginning
The gifts listed above are just a few of the products that you should be watching out for this holiday season. As you do your Christmas shopping, make sure you research. Look to see if any toys or products that you purchased this year have been part of a recall by visiting Recalls.gov.
Don’t limit your research to children’s gifts, either. Remember the recent controversy with the hoverboard disasters from last Christmas? Defective products can lead to big injuries for both children and adults.
How Your Loved Ones Can Be Notified of Safety Issues
What if you don’t know a gift is unsafe until after it’s been opened and used? That’s unfortunately a risk that we all take by giving and trying out new products. You can, however, take an important step to make sure you hear about a product recall as soon as it’s issued.
How? Simple. Turn in the manufacturer’s warranty forms. If you can send them in (or ask recipients of the gifts you give to send them in), you will be notified of any recalls first. That way, you can get a dangerous product away before it causes injury.
Of course, something bad has to happen for a product to be recalled. Often, many people will be injured in some way before a recall happens. What this means is that at any given time there are defective products out on the market that we don’t know about yet.
If you or a loved one is injured by a defective product, be sure to document the injuries, the doctor’s appointments that follow, and any medical bills you have to pay from the accident. All of this information will be useful in reporting the injury to the manufacturer, and possibly helping other people who own the same dangerous toy or product. Moreover, it can be used as evidence if you decide to seek out compensation for the injuries that you or your loved ones have sustained.
Not sure whether or not you have a case? Get in touch with a Florida personal injury lawyer today.
About the Author:
A partner at Lawlor, White & Murphey and a distinguished personal injury lawyer, Ben Murphey tries complex disputes that include civil appeals, maritime and admiralty claims, wrongful death, and labor disputes. Mr. Murphey has been recognized for his excellence in the area of personal injury litigation by being rewarded with a 10/10 AVVO Rating and named a Super Lawyers “Rising Star” for 2010-2013 and Super Lawyers for 2014-2016. Mr. Murphey regularly tries cases in state and federal courts around the country, being admitted to practice before all Florida courts and the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.