Clek has issued a notice regarding the covers of certain 2014* model year Foonf and Fllo car seats. They were described as not containing chlorinated flame retardants, but may contain the chemicals. This is NOT a recall, it is a customer satisfaction campaign. There is no safety issue involved and these products remain fully appropriate for their intended use in the vehicle. Clek is alerting impacted consumers that their seats were described incorrectly, and the company will provide replacement covers that do not contain chlorinated chemicals.
This notification is for certain Clek Foonf and Clek Fllo seats. You can check to see if your seat is impacted by first identifying the style of your Clek Foonf or Fllo seat. Styles possibly impacted are:
- 2014 model year Foonf seats with Flamingo, Snowberry, Tank, Dragonfly, Ink, Blue Moon, Shadow, or Tokidoki (Rebel, All-Over, Travel) colors, and
- Fllo model seats with the Flamingo color manufactured in 2014.
If you have one of these seats, remove the fabric from the cushion of the seat and look for the 10-digit code (e.g. 104576D-FMO). If the digit immediately following the dash is a C or D, your cover may have been incorrectly described and may contain chlorinated flame retardants. If the digit is E or F, your seat was properly described and is not impacted. Please see Clek’s updated notice to see if your 2014 model year Foonf or Fllo is affected.
*Please note that some 2014 model year seats have a manufacturing date in late 2013 and these were most likely to be affected.
You can also visually check the padding sewn to the bottom of the seat pad. Impacted seats (like the one pictured below) have a foam material that is not sewn to the cover at the hole for the crotch buckle.
Seats that were properly described (and therefore aren’t impacted) contain a woven fibrous material that feels like cotton batten. This fabric might or might not be sewn to the holes around the crotch buckle holes, depending on when it was manufactured. Seats that are not impacted look like this.
If you have an impacted seat, you can call or email Clek’s customer service at 1-866-656-2462 or customerservice@clekinc. If you have registered your seat and it is one of the impacted models, Clek will automatically send a replacement cover.
Because this is NOT a safety recall, consumers can continue using their seats as usual.
Remember that all seats need to meet federal flammability standards, and currently that standard can’t be met without the use of flame-retardant chemicals. Some companies have moved away from (or never used) certain types of chemicals, like chlorinated or brominated flame retardants, instead opting for chemicals considered “safer.” Chlorinated flame retardants can be used in car seats, but the issue with these Clek seats is that they were described as not containing the chlorinated chemicals when they may actually contain them.
We have written before about flame-retardant chemicals and why they concern some consumers:
Should You Toss Your Toxic Car Seat?
I purchased our Clek Foonf specifically because it was supposedly free of flame retardant chemicals. Our seat was one of the “falsely advertised” seats and I am very disappointed that I paid a premium to avoid these chemicals only to have my son exposed to them for the better part of his 2 years. Yes they are sending a new cover, but I cannot undo the year and a half of exposure to those toxins.
I bought my seat because of no chemicals, but looks like my seats are not affected. Whew!