Personal Injury Law

Crib Recall Announced

Today, Delta Enterprise Corp a children's products maker will announce a recall of 1.59 million cribs linked to two infant deaths. This recall follows other recent recalls of cribs and bassinets involving other manufacturers.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission, CPSC, is expected to hold a news conference later this morning to announce the recall, which is being conducted on a voluntary basis by the company. Mandatory recalls are rare, though the CPSC sometimes has to pressure manufacturers to agree to repair or pull their products from the market.

According to the company, the recall results from two different types of hardware used on cribs sold from 1995 through 2005. The hardware, which includes safety pegs for one set of cribs and spring pegs for another, can create a hazard if not properly installed. The improper installation can cause the drop side of the cribs to fall and disengage, creating a gap that can entrap and suffocate babies.

Delta's recall is the biggest in a recent series of crib and bassinet recalls urged by the CPSC. In mid-September, the agency announced a recall of about 600,000 Simplicity Inc. drop-side cribs that involved hardware problems. A month earlier, 900,000 Simplicity convertible bassinets were recalled after federal regulators linked the products to two infant deaths from strangulation. In that case, metal bars were spaced too far apart to prevent infants from slipping through. Another recall last September involved about one million defective Simplicity cribs with drop-side hardware problems that regulators linked to at least two other infant deaths.
Last week, Playkids U.S.A. of Brooklyn, N.Y., recalled about 2,000 convertible cribs because of sides made of a mesh that can create a dangerous gap when it expands.

The CPSC reports that on average, just 15% to 30% of consumers who have purchased a defective product respond when an item is recalled.

Full post as published by Georgia Injury Lawyer Blog on October 21, 2008 (boomark / email).