The British company Maclaren knew that its recently recalled strollers could potentially lop off a tot’s fingertips over five years ago, reports the New York Post, but it didn’t bother to alert the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

The first report of an amputation happened in July 2004, when a two-year-old in Connecticut lost the tip of his right pinkie. The mom sued Maclaren, but the company said the accident was due to her negligence.

The CPSC won’t say whether or not the company should have reported the problem then, but the Post interviewed a former CPSC compliance officer who says he thinks they should have, and that he thinks they should now be responsible for any related fines:

Robert Moro, an engineer and former compliance officer with the Consumer Products Safety Commission, testified in 2007 that “this stroller contains a substantial design defect when compared to other types of designs of strollers intended to be used by children.”

The way the stroller was designed and manufactured in China violated federal guidelines intended to prevent a gruesome “scissoring effect,” Moro said.

“Maclaren had a legal obligation to report this,” Moro told The Post. “It’s extremely unfortunate a lot of little kids had to get their fingers amputated.”

“Maclaren defect went unfixed for 5 years” [New York Post]

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