How much stress did it take to make the parts fall off. If the kid had to beat the crap out of the toy to get it to fail, then I don't think the manufacturer should be held responsible, If the parts just dropped off, then that's another story. In my mind anyway it boils down to reasonable expectations.
From the story, there’s no indication she abused the toy to cause the failure but who knows.
I would suspect they wouldn’t be recalling if it had to be badly abused to fail. Anything can be destroyed with some effort...
I worked in product safety testing, specifically designing testing programs for McDonald Happy Meal toys.
The tests for toys intended for children under 3 years old are clear. There is a bite test, a drop test, flammability tests, pull tests, etc. If paints are used, you test for heavy metals in paints.
Lead happens in domestic paints as well. The allowable limit is very, very low.
McDonald’s has all its toys made in Asia for the last two decades. Statistical sampling and testing of the toys as they are being produced reveals any possible flaws before the toys leave the factory. The testing only takes a day or two.
It is clear to me that either Mattel did not randomly sample the toys properly to establish their safety or Mattel did not test the toys at all until they arrived in the United States.
Either way, Mattel took the cheap route and is now paying the price via their reputation.
McDonald’s was committed to never, ever having a Happy Meal Toy recalled for a clear safety defect.
I admit I had to scroll up to see where that came from.