Parents Sue Wal-Mart Over Children's Bike
Dec. 21, 2005 — -- The parents of nine children injured in bike accidents are suing Wal-Mart, saying the bikes are faulty.
"The point I would like to make with explaining what happened to Allen in this bike accident is that Wal-Mart and Dynacraft should be held accountable, and they should recall these defective bikes," said Cheryl Abplanalp, whose son Allen was injured in a bike accident.
Allen Abplanalp was 7 years old when he got a new bike for Christmas. Six weeks later, the front tire on Allen's bike came off while he was riding it. He hit the pavement, face-first, causing the equivalent of third-degree burns.
"He was delirious," Cheryl Abplanalp said. "He kept saying: 'Mommy, Mommy, I don't know what happened. What happened?' And he was saying: 'I don't want to die. I don't want to die.'"
Allen's bike was one of almost 500,000 bikes made in China by the Dynacraft Co. that featured a quick-release lever for the front wheel.
"That's what caused his accident," Cheryl Abplanalp said. "The front tire literally dropped off the bike."
In trial testimony, a Wal-Mart claims adjuster said she saw a pattern of such accidents, blaming them on small children who pulled the quick-release lever.
"The quick-release lever on some of the bikes would trigger and the front wheel would come off," Lisa Thomasson-Jameson said.
Wal-Mart and the Dynacraft Co. say they stand behind the bicycles and continue to see kids' bikes with a quick-release mechanism, although not the same model. Wal-Mart says it's the carelessness of the children and the parents that is to blame for the accidents.
The Abplanalps' attorney, Mark Webb, disagrees.
"It ends up being, according to my metallurgist expert, a ticking time bomb, where in a matter of just days, weeks, months or years, that wheel has a very strong likelihood of coming loose," Webb said.
Allen has recovered from his physical wounds, but the emotional scars remain. He is now 13 and hasn't been on a bicycle since his accident.
"I have dreams that it happens again, and I'm [in] so much pain, sometimes I die, you know," Allen said.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission told ABC News that it is investigating the complaints. That probe could result in a recall of the bikes.
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