Tristate parents reacted with anger and disdain Wednesday upon hearing that Cosco Inc., the nation's leading maker of baby strollers and car seats, had failed to report that its products were a risk to children and will pay a $1.3 million penalty.

        “This is really scary,” said Molly Akers, 29, of West Chester. She has a Cosco car seat for her 11-month-old son, Conrad. She is considering buying a replacement.

        Parents should be able to buy baby products without worrying that they will maim, injure or kill their child, Mrs. Akers said.

        “If we can send people to the moon, why can't they figure out baby products,” she said. “I knew in the back of my brain that it was an issue that I'd have to stay on top of.”

        On Wednesday, Cosco Inc., a subsidiary of Columbus, Ind.-based Dorel U.S.A. Inc., agreed to pay the federal government $1.3 million to settle charges that the company knowingly withheld information about defects in its cribs, strollers, car-seat carriers and high chairs. The defects allegedly led to the deaths of two babies and injuries to more than 300 children.

        No other baby product manufacturer has paid a larger fine, said officials from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), a federal regulatory agency.

        In the past five years, several Cosco products have been recalled, including Cosco's bungee baby jumpers and its infant car seats and carriers. The car seats and carriers had handle locks that unexpectedly released, allowing the baby to fall to the ground.

        “I want this fine to send the message that we won't tolerate companies that hide safety information from the public,” Ann Brown, chairwoman of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), said in a statement.

        The CPSC says Cosco knew but failed to report that:

        • 24 children became entrapped in its full-sized metal cribs over a two-year period before an 8-month-old in White Lake, Mich., died of asphyxiation in one of the cribs in June 1997. The company initiated a warning label and changes in assembly instructions but failed to tell CPSC.

        • The mattress in a Cosco crib compressed and entrapped an infant at least 10 times. An 11-month-old child in Joliet, Ill., died when he fell feet first through the slats of the mattress platform and was caught at the neck.

        • Children were injured in Cosco's Two Ways Tandem Strollers. In one case, a stroller bearing two children collapsed in the path of an oncoming car and was nearly hit.

        Jennifer Brisben, 30, a mother from Madeira. said the settlement is unsatisfactory.

        “If you knowingly did some thing and continued to profit off of the product ... that's wrong.”

        Diane Hunt of Deer Park, who became a mother in January, admits that she never really thought baby products could be unsafe.

        “We pretty much felt that if they were on the market, they probably were pretty safe. We didn't think too much about it,” she said.

        Lisa Jobe, a mother of two from Lebanon, doesn't have any Cosco products. She doesn't want any either.

        “If anybody asks me about Cosco, I tell them I won't buy it,” she said. “There's plenty of alternatives as far as other products that we can choose from. They really need to work on getting their name back.”

        Susan Laurence, injury prevention coordinator at Children's Hospital, said most parents purchase baby products with a false assumption of their safety. For many, she said, it's tough to keep track of which products are recalled.

        “If it's out on the market, parents think it's gone through a rigorous process and it should be safe for their child,” she said. “We all buy on good faith. Unless there's a recall on it, that's all we really have to go on.”

        She offered these pointers:

        • Visit CPSC's Web site — www.cpsc.gov — to see whether a product has been recalled. The Web site for National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, www.nhtsa.dot.gov, allows parents to check on recalled car seats.

        • Fill out registration cards accompanying new purchases and send them back to the company in case those products are recalled.

Cosby the draw for UC ceremony
Cover-up by Cosco infuriates area moms
School welcomes immigrants' kids
Traffic-stop data scrutinized
Blank facade will remain on Freedom Center
Church to care for city playgrounds
Dispute growing over mold at Sharonville grade school
Zoning may stall hospital move
Butler Democrats fill vacancy
New Fairfield police station to provide extra benefits
St. Ursula unveils building
Blacks form majority of GOP slate
Campaign reform lawsuit plotted
City wants good watchdog to guard riverfront
Councilman wonders if city's getting cheated on storm water
GOP school package introduced
Grant Co. compromises on calendar
Kent State students appeal commemoration decision
Ky.'s prescription tracking system helps convict woman
Low-income tenants want church management ousted
Man accused of spending taxpayer money for porn
Man pleads not guilty in two slayings
Mount Healthy OKs new pool
Murder charge in crash raises questions
Murder charge in baby's death leaves Murray campus in 'shock'
Pair are taken off coal study panel
Proposed runway gets thumbs down on Ohio side
PULFER: McVeigh book
Rally at XU casts light on union's efforts at company
Relations award honors four
Schools offering home program
Showcase set to expand
Sloppy Joe's gives way to One Riverfront Row banquet complex
State spends thousands for worker 'humor' sessions
Student accused of firing gun in Columbus school restroom
Teacher jobs draw interest
9-year-old hit riding bicycle remains critical
Kentucky News Briefs
Tristate A.M. Report