Dollar Store Toy Box

Small World Toys has recalled 4,000 Ryan’s Room brand Spin-A-Mals Farm and Spin-A-Mals Safari puzzles because of a choking hazard. The boards have wooden pegs in them to hold the gears and animal shaped pieces. These pegs can become loose, fall out and if a child puts it in their mouth they can choke.

These toys are for children over 12 months in age, or over 1 year old, but fortunately no injuries were reported. The only thing reported was that the pegs were falling out.

They were sold at various toy stores from May 2012 to October 2012 and they were being sold for $25.

The only remedy for the toy is a replacement, hopefully better made than those ones.

For the whole report and pictures of the toys, go to the CPSC page here.

Posted on April 17th, 2013 by Mike
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There was a recall on an egg-shaped toy instrument last week. The Basic Beat egg-shaker was recalled because the top of the egg is actually glued on and it can come apart from the egg. A child could choke on such a small piece if they put it in their mouth.

They are not to be mistaken for candy or chocolate eggs you get at Easter.

Only 6,500 of them were actually sold and they were available for sale in five colors: purple, yellow, blue, green and red. This doesn’t help the association with Easter.

They were made in China and sold at various music websites and stores as with Amazon.com between July 2012 and October 2012.

If you want to get a free replacement, you can contact West Music and get a free replacement, but there is little point in getting a refund since they were only $1.50.

The phone number for West Music is 1(800) 397-9378 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. CT Monday to Friday and by e-mail at service@music.com.

They would be a terrible idea to use in an Easter egg hunt.

Posted on April 5th, 2013 by Mike
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A large number of electric battery-operated scooters were recalled by Dynacraft BSC Inc. for a sudden-acceleration problem. The sudden acceleration could cause kids to fall off and injure themselves when unprepared for the sudden acceleration.

About half of the recalled scooters were sold from Toys R Us from October 2012 till January 2013 and had Hello Kitty decor on them. They were made between September 10 and December 3. The model number on the scooters is 8801-03.

The other half of the recalled scooters were an item sold at Wal-Mart. The scooters had Monster High graphics and were made between October 5 and November 7 with the model number 8801-14. These models were sold between November 2012 and January 2013.

Some minor injuries were reported in the form of bloody noses and bruises. People should stop using the scooters and return them for a full refund or store credit.

Posted on March 1st, 2013 by Mike
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With all the issues that have been going on since 2007, you’d think toy makers would be a little more careful in how they make their toys. Are they trying to get away with something or have they just not paid attention to what has been going on with toy recalls the past several years?

This time it’s a Toy Story Bowling Game Rug with Buzz Lightyear on the pack. It comes with one plastic bowling ball, six white plastic bowling pins and a rug to play the game on.

The reason for the recall is the red paint used on the bowling pins. There’s more lead used in the paint than is allowed and is, yet again, a violation of the federal lead paint standard. It was made in China, but imported by G.A. Gertmenian and Sons, LLC located in Los Angeles. All of which is written on the package for verification.

They were sold at Walmart for a couple weeks in September and were $18. I got the bowling set I reviewed before for $1 and it had two plastic bowling balls and 10 plastic bowling pins, but it didn’t have the rug. The red stripe on the bowling set I have was made with some red tape similar to what I would see at the grocery stores used to wrap around cooking bananas so you could tell the difference between the cooking and regular bananas.

Only 600 sets are being recalled so it makes me wonder if it was just a fluke because for something like Toy Story 3, you’d think they’d have made them in the thousands. Another reason I think it may have been a fluke is that customers have been instructed to take their set back to the manufacturer for a free replacement set, which is different than the usual refund offered.

You can see the CPSC report and the picture of the game here.

Posted on May 10th, 2011 by Mike
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ok, I’ve been lazy since getting back to college. I’ve decreased work a little and increased school and homework by quite a bit. Anyway, might as well start with some recalls this year.

The Target Practice Tank Play Set was recalled because the battery powered controller used to move the tank, back and forth, and to rotate the turret has a tendency to overheat and melt. This has some obvious issues with burning people and it poses a burn hazard.

The tank requires 3 AAA batteries to run and it was probably a poorly designed system, common in cheap toys, that leads to the burn hazard. Poorly designed electrical systems without the proper safeguards have that kind of problem, whether it be a house, car or toy. If the toy comes with batteries, I can’t tell if they do, the batteries themselves are probably the same cheap toy batteries that came with my toy cell phone and they have their own problems with acid leakage.

About 67,000, units are being recalled and they were sold at Family Dollar stores in North Carolina for $5. They were made in China and imported to North Carolina.

Fortunately no one was reported injured by these controllers, but they should be taken away from children before they do and they should be returned to Family Dollar for a full refund.

For the full details, read the CPSC report.

Posted on February 24th, 2011 by Mike
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Well, it shouldn’t be too hard to hazard a guess as to why a set of magnets is being recalled in a similar way it wouldn’t be too hard to guess why lead water bottles might be recalled.

The magnetic toy set is called Buckyballs. It’s a set of 216 high powered spherical magnets that can be put together in many different ways, shapes and patterns. So basically, it’s 216 magnets a child can swallow. However, this “toy” isn’t meant for children younger than 13, at least it used to be that way.

While someone 13 or older should be careful with children around, the recall is actually due to a slight change in the toy standards rules.

The toys were being sold between March 2009 and March 2010. They are now being recalled because on August 17th 2009, the toy standard rule for selling high powered magnets went from 13+ to not under 14. This caused a problem because the package lists the Buckyballs for ages 13+, below the minimum age for the new toy standard age minimum.

Complete sets of the Buckyballs listing ages 13+ can be returned to Maxfield and Oberton in New York for a refund. You don’t have to return it if you don’t want to, just don’t get caught selling it at a garage sale years down the road.

It’s illegal to sell or resell toys that have been recalled.

Posted on May 31st, 2010 by Mike
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North Carolina Firefighters are pleased with a recent statewide ban on novelty lighters. These novelty lighters are modeled after a wide variety of items, including toys, that catches a child’s interest to play with them.

This has lead to the start of many accidental fires since parents can’t always tell the difference and they don’t notice it in time to stop their kids from playing with them. North Carolina thought it best to just ban lighters made to look like things other than lighters, which is probably the best solution to that problem. As they say, an ounce of prevention.

Firefighting is one of many jobs where its better when they are doing as little as possible, like a funeral home operator. They can then be ready for real emergencies rather than accidental fires started through something like a kid playing with a lighter they thought was a toy.

For more on this statewide lighter ban, go here.

I am just wondering if those so called novelty lighters were in fact lighters or if they were some of those toys that were recalled for starting on fire when played with.

It would be quite the twist if they were just toys that started on fire when you played with them, or is that a fair description of a lighter?

Posted on October 10th, 2009 by Mike
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The Consumer Product Safety Commission issued another penalty with the offending party being the Target retail store chain for selling toys with high levels of lead paint. Again, this violates a lead paint standard started over 30 years ago to keep toys safe for kids.

They have to pay $600,000 which sounds like a lot, but to some people it should be more. For many companies such as this, $600,000 is a drop in the bucket so it seems more like a slap on the wrist than a big hit to the companies wallet. Perhaps a larger fine would get companies to buckle down on meeting the toy safety standards.

The toys were sold back in 2006 and 2007 so they were already recalled, voluntarily by Target and CPSC. There’s nothing really new to worry about at the moment, but that was near the start of the long line of recalls so they are just now getting to the fines to ensure companies comply with toy safety standards or else face further penalties.

View the entire story at Walletpop.com.

Do you think the fines should be higher or have the penalty amounts already issued been enough to send a clear message?

Posted on October 5th, 2009 by Mike
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One has many options at their disposal when it comes to dealing with an owned toy that is being recalled for any of the several reasons toys have been recalled for lately. Some people simply throw the toy out, other people exchange it for a different item and the rest get a refund where available, if the refund is worth the time and money to get.

One thing you shouldn’t do with a recalled toy is try to sell it.

Garage sales are great to clear out some old junk and make some money on the side, but the Consumer Product Safety Commission have the power to monitor garage and other sales of that type to ensure any toys that have been recalled aren’t being sold. Anyone caught selling any toys that were recalled in the past could go to jail reports Bob Barr from the Barr Code.

I guess it would depend on the situation on what could happen, but saying you didn’t know you couldn’t do that isn’t going to get you off the hook. In fact, it would probably get you in more trouble since that would be a common excuse. It’s as they say, ignorance of the law doesn’t make it ok. Toys being sold on the internet are also being watched so that’s not a safe option either if you’re trying to sell.

Even donating toys is getting tougher because of the recalled toys. It’s just slightly a slap in the face to the kids “Here you go, a cheap toy that might put your eye out or stunt your mental development, enjoy”.

Since it’s the Consumer Product Safety Commission regulating this sort of this, you should probably check their website for all recalled toys if you plan on donating or selling toys. It’s not that big of a list although the first recall was back in the 1970s.

That sort of thing is probably just going to deter people from donating toys. I know I wouldn’t want to try and do something good like donate toys only to find out something I donated was recalled and I look bad for donating a bad toy.

I don’t think you can get into trouble for donating a recalled toy, but it would most certainly be frowned upon, defeating the purpose of the donation in the first place. Any toys known or are suspected of being bad would just be kept out of circulation.

Would this keep you from donating or selling old toys?

Posted on September 17th, 2009 by Mike
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Hey, something Lego is being recalled and it isn’t for a choking hazard. With its tiny blocks, I long suspected a choking hazard warning would eventually come up since those blocks could fit down a child’s throat.

The recall doesn’t have to do with a block choking hazard though. It’s about a burn hazard for remote controls used with a train kit.

Lego Systems Inc is recalling about 1,600 Power Functions IF Remote Controls because it needs batteries and the batteries can overheat with almost a half a dozen reports of them overheating. Thankfully no one had the opportunity to yell out “BURN” a la Michael Kelso.

They were sold out of the Lego catalogs and on their website lego.com in April and May of this year, 2009, for 13 bucks and they went along with the Emerald Night Train and the Power Functions kit.

People who purchased the remote control should contact Lego Systems Inc to find out if their unit was part of the recall, usually determined through a serial number or something, and they can get it replaced if they got a bad one.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has the full report here.

Posted on July 23rd, 2009 by Mike
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