Car seat and stroller manufacturer Britax announced this week that it is recalling more than 200,000 car seats after customers reported that seats’ chest clips can break, posing a choking hazard for young children.
The recall includes some models of the company's B-Safe 35, B-Safe 35 Travel Systems, B-Safe 35 Elite, B-Safe 35 Elite Travel Systems and BOB B-Safe rear-facing infant child safety seats manufactured between Nov. 1, 2015 and May 31, 2017, according to a recall report from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration.
>> See the affected model numbers
Britax reported that it started seeing an increase in warranty claims due to chest clip damage in October 2016, one year after the company changed the material it used to make the clips in response to complaints that they were too easily opened.
Since February, three customers have reported finding broken chest clips in children’s mouths.
Britax said no choking injuries have been reported. In a notice to retailers, the company noted that the car seats remain safe to use, so long as consumers remove the faulty chest clip.
“The chest clip is not a required safety device: it is added to the harness system to help position the shoulder straps,” the notice said.
The company is providing replacement chest clips to consumers.
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