Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act could ban children's motorcycles

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Honda_CRF50F.jpgA Congressional act issued in response to last year’s Chinese lead-tainted toys scandal could inadvertently end the sale of children’s motorcycles like the popular Honda CRF50F. Honda and other members of the Motorcycle Industry Council are actively working to have such products omitted from the act, but with CPSIA coming into effect on February 10, they may not have time to do so.
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This means that, baring action by Congress, the sale, display or
promotion of any motorcycle intended primarily for children
12-years-old or younger will have to cease on February 10. This could
massively effect dealers who have already invested in stock and
advertising.

The letter points at that while Honda’s paint contains “little or no
lead,” CPSIA also bans products that contain 600 parts per million of
lead in any of their materials. Alloys used in the construction of
motorcycles commonly contain small amounts of lead. CPSIA is intended
to prevent the sale of lead containing items that could be ingested by
a child. Even though most children we know don’t eat motorcycles or
ATVs, it fails to distinguish them from, say, a small toy.

Honda and other manufacturers are working to gather official test
results of how much lead is in each of their components and, in the
long run, could potentially manufacture these models with alternative,
lead-free components. But, because the act is retroactive, it applies
to the sale of any product.

The MIC and SVIA are lobbying Congress for action. 

Thanks for the tip, Kevin.

  • JR

    Not cool. Not cool at all.

  • http://www.piaggiousa.com/ Enthusiast

    Why is the government telling us what we can/cant do? Oh yea I forgot, because we let them.

    • Shear'Ree

      :: comment deleted by HFL ::

  • Jonesy

    Thats a load of bullshit, how many of your kids put there CRF50 parts in their mouth … Please…
    Its just another way to control the population. I am a Honda/Yamaha/Suzuki/Kawasaki dealer and this will be a serious dent for us… Its a huge load…

    • modelasian

      C’mon Jonesy, there’s a difference between poorly written legislation and Big Brother putting the screws to the good little people.
      Hint, hint: all laws control people. Good thing GWBush and his Treasury peeps kept out laws “controlling” the banks from selling bundled mortgages.

      • Mark 42

        modelasian,
        The conservatives were railroaded into the mortgage situation.
        Lookup “Fanny Mae Warnings”.

        Less regulation is better.
        It’s not the government’s job to protect everyone from everything.

        Parents can read, and should be responsible for kids’ safety. Put labels on products that have dangers which are not intuitively obvious.
        Parents are responsible for kids, Including use of proper protective gear, etc.
        We don’t need bike helmet laws and all this regulation… my kids are supposed to wear bike helmets even on our dead end street well away from traffic.
        Life has risks – deal with it!
        A little chlorine in the gene pool may even be a good thing from time to time.

  • bzr

    They’re trying to find the most tenuous loophole in an attempt to think of the children, WHO WILL THINK OF THE CHILDREN. Who’s going to confuse an EZ-Bake Oven for a mini Honda motorcycle?

    I’m just jealous because I didn’t have one of these when I was 12 or younger. Hell, I didn’t even have a set of Power Wheels, and my bicycle was decidedly non-motorized.

    • Chris

      Same here, bro. I’m a city slicker. There’s no dirt for us to ride outside of Central Park unless you have a pick-up and a private garage.

  • uberbox

    Our congress has lost it’s collective mind, I really mean it. This is just one more piece of bullshit to come out of Washington created by people who really have no clue what they are talking about or how the laws they are supporting will actually impact the economy or people of this country.

  • http://cohobot.blogspot.com/ coho

    That has got to be the stupidest goddam thing I have heard all day.

  • big brother

    just wait ’till tomorrow … our government will most likely do something even more stupid. i mean, isn’t that their job?

  • Jason

    there is a void for vagueness clause written in to the constitution, if the statue is written badly there is a chance to over turn it, i belive that there will have to be a limit of lead( that there is) and a discription of what products, i dont belive that they could just say “toy” because anything could be a “toy”. that is where the vagueness would come to play. I would have to see the whole bill to know better but i belive there is a good cause to have it thrown out.

    • jconli1

      constiwhatnow?

  • http://artistruth.livejournal.com will

    Hopefully it will. Kid’s motorcycles are a superb way to teach kids about safety and personal accountability.

    The same kind that they’d need to know this legislation is bullshit. Besides, the kid will find it difficult to stuff the motorcycle in his mouth if every inch of skin is covered by riding gear.

  • http://weroam.wordpress.com Darek

    Oh WTF! I’d be twice as pissed if had a kid but this is ridiculous.

  • Tappet McGinley

    This whole lead deal is a bunch of crap. We played with lead black powder bullets our entire childhood and turned out ten times smarter than these idiot kids coming up these days.

    • chili sv

      Oh calm down. You don’t really expect Congress to think of every possible exception do you? They will figure it out. And yes you should be smarter than children and no you weren’t smarter back then. Kids today are much smarter than in prior generations.

      • T McGinely

        Yea that is why they dont play outside, weigh 300 lbs and 50% of them have autism. Do I need to mention trophies for trying? What are they trying to protect these little jewels for? So they can grow up to work in a cubicle? We were tough back in the day no one gave a crap about us and we liked it.

  • Spartandude

    Hmm…this law sucks. Look up Geekdad on Wired.com for more info. The verbage is extremely vague and would include these motorcycles. Any product that can be construed by a typical consumer as being intended to be used primarily by a child 12 and under is included in this law. Also any product that fits this discription is included. So far the only loophole allowed is for resale or goodwill thrift stores. This law hurts individual manufacturers more than the larger ones because each product (one offs included) must be fully tested by a third party. Also certs of materials used is not enough. No combinations of materials can be tested as a conforming material may mask the percentage of lead in the non conforming material. This is boogus. If you are an american write your congress person and your senators NOW!!!!
    I will not be nearly as affected as I plan to make all the toys that my children play with (science sets, telescopes, live steam engines. etc) in my garage. So THBHTHBHTHB to these uniformed and overbearing laws.

  • Scott

    Maybe if we tell the kids the bikes taste like veggies they won’t eat them. What about lead weights on your car or truck wheels kids are always licking those things I see it all the time. Maybe we should just put the kids in bubbles till they’re twelve.

  • Tim

    Honda just needs to market their small motorcycles to midgets that are over the age of 12. That’ll keep The Man off their back. Then, anyone who tries to go after the manufacturer or seller for injuries to their child would fall flat because they were misusing the product.

  • Diane

    I’m sure the mother’s group that is behind this are all too busy getting new laws passed about how to protect kids to actually watch their own. Instead of banning motorbikes that are actually good for the kids, try telling the countries that are sending us their cheap crap full of lead to keep the junk. Seems to me it is the flaws in the laws we already have that allow the lead filled garbage on the market to begin with.

  • Melanie

    what about computers?? Don’t they use lead solder to put the components together?? Why don’t we ban computers and TV’s too?? This is propsterous and will break my 3 boys’ hearts!!

  • CATHY BAKER

    This is TERRIBLE. In this already terrible economy does the government realize how many motorcycle dealers this law is going to put under? Does anybody know the actual name of the bill? EVERYBODY needs to contact their state representatives ASAP.

  • Mike L in MN

    This is definately the stupidest bill I have seen in quite a while! I just heard about it today and couldn’t believe it so I had to check it out. As others have stated there is lead everywhere. I understand keeping it out of infant’s toys and other things that can end up in little kids mouths but MOTORCYCLES and ATV’S….You’ve gotta be kidding me! I have two kids who WILL be riding little atv’s and motorcycles. My son is 3 and loves the outdoors. I can’t believe that the government can decide what our kids can and can’t do. What about all of the video games? All of the electrical connections are soldered with lead, there is lead in almost every home that is 10 years old or older. Most fishing tackle, so now we can’t go fishing. Our cars have lead in them so we can’t go anywhere. Almost every school has lead in it weather it is in the plumbing or wiring so we can’t send them to school. You get the point this is REDICULOUS!!!

  • Fred in NC

    American KIDS are overweight ( 10 year olds dragging around 120oz BIGGULPS with tits biggers than their mothers, dumbed down ( taught socialist garbage)global warming , over protected (can’t walk to school or shoot a gun) , wimpy ( can’t play dodgeball, and can’t do MATH or READ or Write without the help of their computers. ( HELPLESS)

    Now we think that our kids may “EAT” the paint of the gas tank or lick a crankcase?

    If they are truely this dumb , maybe we should ban the birth of more children.

    Another victory for the dark side.

  • Dave in Anaheim

    Not being able to sell parts for existing bikes? Except for internal parts, they can’t sell parts to keep existing bikes usable. What do I do with bikes I still have payments on? Can’t fix them. Can’t sell them. (Yes this will affect used bike sales as well.)

    What’s next?

  • Mike

    Ban a family product that gets kids and families off the couch and into the great outdoors. What is happening to America? When I was a kid I could take $.50 cents to the gas station and purchase my grandma’s cigarettes out of the vending machine, lay in the back of the Chevy above the rear seat while staring at the sky, ride with the entire little league to Dairy Queen in the back of the pickup, stand 35 feet away from each other and throw weighted, sharp lawn ‘jarts’ at each other… The list can go on and on. Why not ban McDonald’s Big Macs and the XBox 360? Land of the Free? It’s gone. How long will we stand for this treatment? They can’t jail us all!

  • http://ace.mu.nu PA

    You don’t really expect Congress to think of every possible exception do you?

    Laws shouldn’t be written with a load of exceptions – they should be written with specific targets.

  • John green

    My daughter has a lt-50 quad and a crf-50. What do you mean to high lead content. Then we should ban children from cars and trucks cause you know they are way over 600 ppm
    Aloha

  • Bill

    Just vote them all out next election

  • Lisa Head

    This ban should apply to the cheap China “toys” that are poisoning our children and clogging up our landfills. If I have to pay property taxes or registration fees on something….ITS NOT A TOY!!!

  • Unclegeekster

    Hey everybody, bicycles are next! Then skateboards, razors, in-line skates, etc. I think my kids Wii has lead in it somewhere. I think I saw the dog chewing on a pencil so the PETA should ban them too!

  • http://motoxer Damon Leopold

    You know after reading all the above it seems that 90% of us agree except for the Obama, Pelosi,Reed, etc. voters. My kid has been riding since he was 3 1/2 and is now 10 and is a very responsible, normal weight, makes A’s, great physical condition, works on his bikes, all 3 of them, and has eatin it with best of them but has NEVER to my knowledge has eatin his bikes or parts although he did kiss his bar pad when he won his first national event. MAybe I better have him tested. Hopefully we can survive 2 yrs. and come to our sinces and vote these assholes out. To the person that said the trophy kids are over weight and do no physical activity, KUDOS. If these parents spent more time in the great outdoors that GOD have provided for us with their kids instead of tring to push their LEFT
    WING CRAP on everyone, maybe things would not be so bad. Well I guess thats the CHANGE they were looking for. Call all your elected represenatives.

  • Dan Stingley

    This is total horse shit . The government should have to explain to my two boy’s why they can’t ride their dirt bikes ,because I can’t even buy tires for a flat or brakes when they go bad. It has been over 20 years since the bastards said we can’t buy three wheeler’s.That was a ten year ban , so honda should piss them off again by producing a new line of bad ass three wheelers, seeing as that government regulation has expired. Worry about world issue’s and leave my kid’s to me…