Products designed for babies and children need to be rigorously tested for safety. However, some products intended for children make it into Cincinnati homes despite coming with hidden dangers and defects that could cause an injury to a child.

For example, a feeding a chair that clamps to the top of a table, as opposed to a traditional highchair, seemed like a convenient space saver to many Ohio families. However, about 54,000 of these tabletop feeding chairs were recalled this week because many of these chairs have detached from tables with infants still inside.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has received at least 19 reports that certain models of "metoo" brand clip-on chairs have unexpectedly detached from tables. When the brackets holding the chairs to the tables failed, at least five children were injured. Two of the incidents resulted in crushed fingers or serious lacerations. The three other injuries involved bruising after children fell and hit the floor.

The clip-on chairs, which are imported by phil&teds USA Inc., were the subject of a CPSC warning in May. However, the CPSC stated that phil&teds was not willing to issue a recall that the CPSC found acceptable at that time.

As part of the recent recall, which is acceptable to the CPSC, phil&teds will be giving customers repair kits to make the clip-on chairs safer. The repair kits will equip the chairs with rubber grips designed to cover the metal clamps that hold the chair to the table. In addition, the repair kits will include plastic spacers designed to prevent any further injuries to children's fingers. Parents are strongly encouraged not to use the recalled "metoo" clip-on chairs until they are repaired.

Source: Bloomberg Businessweek, "Kids' tabletop chairs recalled," Jennifer C. Kerr, Aug. 17, 2011