Each year the CPSC receives 10,000 reports from consumers about dangerous toys. Consumers who report dangerous toys actually help remove faulty, poisonous or dangerous toys from toy-store shelves and children's toy boxes.
There are several reasons to report dangerous toys to the CPSC. First, it can prevent further injuries and incidents. Second, toy recalls hold toy manufacturers responsible for their errors and carelessness. Third, recalls pressure the manufacturers of dangerous toys to issue refunds to consumers.
Filing an incident report with the CPSC is as easy as filling out a simple, online form on the CPSC's website. It only takes a minute.
Fortunately, incident reports do not have to follow an injury or (heaven forbid) a death. Consumers can simply identify an issue and report the danger and the CPSC will take it from there. They will contact the manufacturer about your complaint and you will only be identified to the company if you gave the CPSC permission to share your name. If the CPSC chooses to investigate your complaint, they will follow up by mail, email or phone.
If you have a recalled toy at home, you should take manufacturers up on their offers to refund or replace the toy. It's the only way they'll see that parents really care about toy safety and that we're willing to hold manufacturers responsible for their products.
Sometimes parents can profit from proactive manufacturers' refund programs. I found a recalled toy among my children's toys and I mailed in the dangerous part. A few days later I received a $50 credit from the toy manufacturer. (That's more than I paid for the toy!) Because I have toy samples arriving on my doorstep regularly, I purchased 120 cans of Play-Doh for our local hospital's bingo prize cart. Donating the proceeds from the recall made me feel really terrific!