As we had mentioned before, more than one million Maclaren baby strollers were being recalled since November 2009 in the USA due to safety concerns caused by several cases of children with finger injuries and, in the worst cases, even amputations.

Now, according to the Times Online, “many of the children, who were aged between one and eight at the time, lost part of their finger joint when the buggies were unfolded, and needed operations to reattach the joint or a skin graft”. The newspaper adds that “others suffered broken bones or deep cuts which left scars, and in some cases permanent loss of feeling or disfigurement”.

The same source explains the company has already been sued by angry parents, noting that some of the accidents included in the compensation payout occurred as far back as 2003. If parents are willing to sue, it is expected that compensation payments could be in the range between £2,500 and £10,000 for children with ages between one to eight years old, depending on the severity of the injury.

MaClaren had already issued safety kits that can be ordered free of charge. The free safety kits can be ordered on Maclaren customer services on 01327 841320. More information can be found on the company website here.

Given that every single parent around the industrialized world has (or should) have one pushchair to move the baby around, how hard can it be to choose one for a newborn baby? It’s easy, right? To help you answer that question, take a look at this article published in the Financial Times about the Maclaren baby strollers and after that, to put a bit more of sensation on top of it, take a look at the headline of the Daily Mail about the same subject.

What it states, essentially, is that the US Consumer Product Safety Commission says that the popular “[Maclaren] baby stroller’s hinge mechanism poses a finger-tip amputation and laceration hazard to the child when the consumer is unfolding/opening the stroller”. And as a consequence, 12 children suffered amputations from getting finger tips caught in the hinges in the USA. It’s easy, right?

I happen to be one of the customers in Britain who have bought one of those Maclaren baby stroller models (a Techno XLR) but, together with my wife, we still decided to use it because, as far I’ve read until now, the risk is low (12 children affected for one million units sold over 10 years) and requires a reasonable degree of lack of attention and bad luck for something so terrible to happen. I am not paranoid and I certainly don’t have the litigant spirit of the American people, so for me this news, although very disturbing, serves only to emphasize even more that every single detail counts in the first months of a baby’s life.

Here’s the criteria I used to choose this baby stroller:

Safety and confort. The baby’s well being is the primary and ultimate goal. This pushchair looks spacious, comfortable and has a 5 point harness for added security. The BBC program “Watchdog” considered it to be one of the safest pushchairs in the UK market, last September.

Use. Living in a second floor without lift means I will have to carry it up and down the stairs every day. Also, I don’t have a car so I’ll probably use public transports often, so it was important that it was compact and lightweight. The Techno XLR weights 8kg.

Price. There are strollers for practically every budget. I looked for something in the middle range that could be good value for money.

Duration. Ideally, I intend to use the stroller for as long as possible, unless it proves to be strictly necessary to get something different for different ages. The age range is from birth to 3 years.

Customer reviews. I searched online, compared prices and read reviews. Most of them about the Maclaren Techno XLR are very positive, with ratings usually ranking an average of 4 points out of 5.

Reputation. I never paid any kind of attention to Maclaren’s baby strollers until my wife was pregnant and, until this incident, I heard nothing but good things about the Maclaren brand. I have to assume this is still valid. And every baby shop (Kidicare, Mothercare, Bambino Direct, etc…) sells them.

Style. Looking good is not my top priority, but of course I want my baby to travel with style!

What about you? Will you still buy a Maclaren baby stroller for your newborn after what you’ve read here?
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