The Recall Desk
SevereCPSC·01012·Announced 2000-10-13

Century Recalls Rear-Facing Infant Car Seats Due to Handle Breakage

Century is recalling about 4 million rear-facing infant car seats/carriers because the handle can break, causing infants to fall and suffer injuries.

What this means for you

Illness, injury, or structural failure has been reported. Stop using the product immediately and contact the manufacturer for a refund or repair.

Our severity reasoning: The recall involves a structural defect in a child safety product with over 200 reported injuries, including skull fractures and concussions, which meets the rubric criteria for significant injury reports.

Plain-English summary

Century Products is recalling approximately 4 million rear-facing infant car seats/carriers manufactured between January 1991 and July 1997. The recall is limited to seats with a molded, one-piece, one-color plastic handle colored white, gray, or tan. The date of manufacture, written as month, day, year (010191 through 073197), is located on a label on the side of the seat.

The recall is issued because the handle can break, crack, or fail to lock when the seat is used as an infant carrier. If the handle breaks while carrying an infant, the seat can drop to the ground, potentially causing serious injuries. Century has received more than 2,700 reports of handle-related problems and over 200 reports of injury, including concussions, skull fractures, lacerations, broken bones, bruises, and scratches.

Consumers should not carry the seat by the handle until it has been replaced. The product can continue to be used as a car seat. Graco, which now owns the Century brand, will provide a free, easy-to-install replacement handle. Consumers can call Graco toll-free at (800) 345-4109 or visit www.gracobaby.com to receive the replacement.

The recalled product

Product
Century rear-facing infant car seats/carriers

Distribution

Distributed nationwide across the United States.