The U.S. toy maker on August 14 announced a recall for 436,000 die-cast cars world-wide that contain lead paint. It also expanded a November recall of toys that contain magnets that can be swallowed by children. That recall now covers 18.2 million magnetic toys globally.

The latest moves follow Mattel's announcement earlier this month that it was recalling about 1.5 million toys world-wide that may have been tainted with lead paint.

When more than one magnet is swallowed, the magnets can attract each other and cause intestinal perforation, infection or blockage, which can be fatal.

The emergence of a second recall is bad news for Mattel, which so far has weathered its problems with little damage to its share price. The company announced a $30 million charge to its second-quarter earnings related to the first recall. But more recalls may start to hurt as parents begin to think about toys for the coming holiday season.

News of the second recall comes after the owner of a Chinese toy factory at the center of the earlier recall committed suicide, according to Chinese officials, just days after Mattel identified his company, Lee Der Industrial Co., as the manufacturer.

Toy-industry analysts and observers say they are already seeing toy manufacturers increase the level of scrutiny given to parts and products made in China in response to the recent spate of safety problems.

"When you look at what's going on, toy manufacturers are checking and double-checking and have really upped their levels of testing," says Jim Silver, who is the editor of Toy Wishes, a consumer toy magazine published in New York, as well as the editor of an industry trade magazine.

Still, toy sales of at least one recalled product are proving relatively resilient. In June, RC2 Corp., of Oak Brook, Illinois, recalled about 1.5 million toys from the company's Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway product line. But sales of the toys have actually increased recently, according to Mr. Silver.

"I've been tracking the sales to see what kind of effect the recall would have, and the fact is that there hasn't really been any effect," Mr. Silver says. "I think it's because companies are taking care of things."

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