an article in Tuesday's Wall Street Journal raises one's concerns as to the company's willingness to acknowledge and correct serious problems.
Companies are supposed to report potentially hazardous product defects to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) within twenty-four hours. Mattel claims - and I think rightly so - that twenty-four hours is not enough time to determine whether there is a potential hazard. However, the company seems to take much too long a time to report potential problems. Here are some examples from the Journal:
Power Wheels
Early 1995 - Mattel is notified of possible problems with the electrical system.
March 1997 - Mattel informs CPSC after the commission had already learned about the problem.
October 1998 - Mattel recalls 10,000,000 Power Wheels
2001 - 2005 - Mattel and the commission receive reports of additional fires in Power Wheels produced after the 1998 recall.
Little People Animal Sounds Farms
September 2002 - Mattel is notified of problems with screws
March 2003 - Mattel notifies CPSC
It seems to me that Mattel could do a heck of a better job in letting the commission and, more important, the public know of potential problems within a reasonable time frame. Some Power Wheels have been identified as causes of serious fires in 2000 and 2004.
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