WASHINGTON – When death and injury result from the normal use of a product, Americans turn to lawsuits. They may find it difficult to sue Chinese manufacturers for toxic toothpaste or lead paint-laced "Sarge" toy cars, but it won't be hard to bring a case against Mattel Inc. or other U.S. firms buying from China and selling at home.

The liability threat is one reason so many made-in-China product defects are coming to light now. To avoid going to court and to limit the damage if they get there, U.S. companies are hiring product testing firms and sending quality-assurance employees to check on their Chinese suppliers. Those who find problems are voluntarily working out product recalls.

"At least Mattel, by taking action like they have with a massive recall – that certainly is one way to limit their liability," said Doug Jacobson, an international trade attorney with Dallas-based Strasburger & Price LLP. "The best way to protect yourself is to revisit your suppliers and make sure they're meeting your standards."

Mr. Jacobson noted that one case has been filed against Fisher-Price Inc. over lead paint applied in China to some of its toys. The defect was announced earlier this month, when Fisher-Price and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced a recall of 967,000 toys, most of which feature Sesame Street and Dora the Explorer characters.

"Probably the first of many of these cases to come," Mr. Jacobson said.

A New Jersey tire distributor has been sued by the families of two men killed in a Pennsylvania van crash last year. The lawsuit alleges the van was equipped with tires made by Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber of China.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a recall notice this summer for 250,000 tires made by that firm. The Chinese company has denied wrongdoing.

Tuesday's recall of millions of toys made in China for Mattel followed the company's inspections of its Chinese suppliers. Most of the products involved a defect involving small magnets that, if ingested, could perforate a child's intestinal tract. Toy cars were recalled because they were coated with lead-based paints, a violation of manufacturing standards both in the United States and China.

AAFES, the Dallas-based Army & Air Force Exchange Service, worked with the Consumer Product Safety Commission last month to recall about 13,000 Soldier Bear toy sets that, once again, were made in China with lead-based paints.

The most serious product defect discovered recently involved sweeteners made in China and added to cough syrup in Panama. The sweetener was actually diethylene glycol, an ingredient in some types of antifreeze. The syrup was blamed for at least 100 deaths and possibly hundreds of others.

More than 60 percent of the products recalled this year by the Consumer Product Safety Commission were made in China. In the European Union, Chinese manufacturers have been the source for 48 percent of product recalls.

The Chinese government has worked with U.S. agencies to strengthen its consumer product regulatory oversight, but says media reports have made the problems sound far worse than they are. A Health Ministry spokesman there last week said the coverage of the safety problems was an attempt to undermine China's hosting of next summer's Olympic Games.

"Foreign media are using irrelevant cases, or just a few cases, to make the safety issue much bigger than it is and have linked this to the success of hosting the Olympics," said spokesman Mao Qunan.

Still, the Chinese widely publicized the execution of the former head of their consumer product safety agency, who was convicted of taking $800,000 in bribes to allow unsafe products onto the market.

On Saturday, the co-owner of a Chinese company supplying Mattel committed suicide.

Mr. Jacobson urged U.S. companies to "re-examine the supply chain and do a top-to-bottom review of your Chinese company's manufacturing process.

"If you don't, you set yourself up to be liable," he said.

Consumers, meanwhile, have to rely on U.S. regulation and common sense, he said.

"Just because something is imported from China doesn't make it inherently bad," he said. But to the extent possible, buy products from companies that have something to lose if there is a problem.