Graco told parents to wash stuck car-seat buckles — then recalled 6.1 million seats

The Signature, QT and QT3 harness buckles on Graco child seats could stick in the latched position or refuse to unlatch, trapping a child in a crash that needs a fast exit. In January 2014 NHTSA formally asked Graco to recall 5.6 million seats. Graco refused, insisting the buckles were not a safety defect, and told parents to rinse them with warm water instead. Under pressure, on February 11, 2014, it recalled 3.77 million toddler and booster seats built 2009–13.

The recall kept growing: 400,000 older seats in March, then about 1.9 million infant seats in July, taking the total past 6.1 million — the largest child car seat recall in US history at the time. Complaints included a parent who took 45 minutes to unbuckle a toddler. By December 2014 NHTSA was investigating whether Graco had delayed its reporting, a failure that can carry fines of up to $35 million.

Graco later acknowledged it had failed to give NHTSA timely notice as federal law requires, and settled for $10 million — $3 million paid to the agency and $7 million pledged to child-safety campaigns or forfeited within five years. It had known about the buckle problem long enough to have extended a warranty on those same buckles before any recall.