Worst Toy List: Inflatable Bongo Ball A Potentially Bumpy Ride

December 11th, 2012. By AbiK

A huge inflatable ball that you can climb into by any other name—e.g.,  Bongo Ball, Giga Ball, GBOP Ball, Human Hamster Ball—whatever—is still a huge inflatable ball that you can crawl into and roll around in. Some even let you bounce around in them, bumping into things (and other people) as you play. It gives new, and literal, meaning to “living in a bubble” for sure—but does it afford the same protection that the saying implies? Uhh, probably not.

And definitely not according to consumer watchdog group World Against Toys Causing Harm (WATCH). WATCH has put the Bongo Ball, available at Toys R Us, on its 10 Worst Toys list for 2012.

Recently we posted about a study in which bounce houses—another inflatable fave for bouncy good fun—were found to be the cause of injury requiring medical attention in what amounts to 30 children a day! A number of those injuries were the result of a child somehow jumping out of the bounce house and landing on a hard surface. At least they weren’t encased in the inflatable and it didn’t land on top of them in the process.

But, as WATCH indicates in its report, when you’re in a big inflatable ball, you’re pretty much encased (see pic above) and your movements—some of which could be necessary to help protect yourself, say in a fall—could be restricted, potentially leading to an impact injury. It’s not hard to imagine—think about falling accidentally on a concrete patio in that thing. Makes you wonder what might be worse—the potential for a whiplash type injury or your head banging against the concrete. Neither option sounds great.

If the comments over at the Toys R Us website where the Bongo Ball is sold are any help, the possibility of one or more of the air chambers deflating or losing air can also add to the risk for injury; the “pillow” you thought you were landing on suddenly isn’t there anymore.

While the Bongo Ball is the 51-inch inflatable ball that WATCH identifies as potentially dangerous, check out the similar “Waterwalker” that you can find over at Gigaball.net (at right)—you have to love the picture the company uses to promote the floating version of the gigaball—now that looks safe, right? Forget just being concerned about being stuck inside some big plastic thing on top of water and hoping it won’t puncture—your greater worry is apparently whether you’ll come out bruised and battered. The irony here is that even backyard trampolines warn not to have more than one person use at a time—but Gigaball.net? They’ll even promote having more than one person go at a time!

It should be  noted that most of these inflatable balls—save the Waterwalker—do indicate that they are NOT to be used as floatation devices and that they should be used with parental supervision.

It doesn’t come as a surprise though that WATCH added this toy to their Worst Toys list for the year.

Tags: Bongo Ball, Bounce House, Defective Product, GBOP Ball, Gigaball, Inflatable Ball, Injury, Toys R Us, WATCH, Worst Toy List

This was posted on Tuesday, December 11th, 2012 at 10:23 am and is filed under Accidents, Defective Products, Emerging Issues, Personal Injury . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.