Mattel recalls "Sarge" for high levels of lead

Safety concerns and Chinese cars will go hand-in-hand until the country's automakers start building vehicles capable of undergoing a Western-market crash test regimen without performing involuntary exploratory surgery upon their occupants. Tuesday's announcement of another recall by Mattel showed that safety concerns apply to some Chinese-made toy cars as well. The car in question this time is "Sarge," the military Jeep character featured in Disney/Pixar's 2006 summer feature, Cars.
The recall involves approximately 253,000 Sarge die-cast toys like the one shown above, which could pose a danger to children due to the use of lead paint. Caregivers are instructed to take the toys away from children and contact the toymaker for further instructions. The full Sarge recall details can be seen here. As we mentioned before, this is just part of a much broader toy recall (the second in weeks) announced by Mattel on Tuesday that involves over 9 million Chinese-made toys, the latest in a string of high-profile problems with imported Chinese-made goods this year.

For his part, we're quite certain that Sarge would become apoplectic upon learning he was actually made in China.

Thanks for the tip, starlightmica!

[Source: US Consumer Product Safety Commission]