Two more infants killed in Simplicity bassinets prompts re-announcement of recall
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
The death of two more infants trapped in Simplicity bassinets prompted the Consumer Product Safety Commission today to re-announce its August 2008 recall of the child beds.
The recall was first announced last year after the death of two other children. A total of four deaths have been reported to the commission involving Simplicity bassinets. The recall includes more than 900,000 bassinets sold as far back as 2001 and as recently as last year.
The hazard in the Simplicity 3-in-1 and 4-in-1 convertible bassinets stems from metal bars spaced farther apart than federal standards allow, the commission said.
If Velcro-attached fabric that covers metal bars on the bassinet isn’t attached properly, a pocket can be created where children can become trapped, the commission said.
Children also can become stuck between the bassinet’s metal bars without the fabric attached, the agency said.
In the latest two incidents, a 6-month-old girl in Fort Worth who died in January after she was trapped between two exposed bars on the bassinet. In September 2008, a 2-month-old girl in Demorest, Ga., suffocated when she was caught in a pocket of fabric, which was not properly secured to the bassinet.
The commission also received two other reports involving 10-week-old and 3-month-old infants whose heads became trapped between the bassinet’s lower bar and mattress. The infants were freed and uninjured, the commission said.
The recalled bassinets were all manufactured before May 18, 2008, and include some sold under the Graco brand and others with Winnie the Pooh characters printed on the bed’s fabric.
Simplicity is owned by children’s furniture manufacturer SFCA Inc. of Reading, Pa.
The model numbers for recalled Simplicity bassinets are: 3000, 3010, 3011, 3012, 3013, 3014, 3015, 3016, 3017, 3020, 3025, 3026, 3027, 3030, 3040, 3045, 3046, 3047, 3050, 3060, 3070, 3111, 3112, 343-8363, 343-8399, 5730, 5750, 8383, 9250 and TD250, the commission said.
Model numbers on the recalled Graco-branded bassinets include: 3000CL, 3010HAV, 3011WHE, 3011WHK, 3014NGS, 3016LAU, 3017NCB, 3025C, 3030SAR, 3050SAR, 3111DPC, 3111ZOL, 3112DOH, 3122TGT, 5730FKB, 5750SAR, 8393, Graco said in its own recall statement.
Owners of the recalled bassinets can return the beds to the stores where they bought them, the commission said.
-- Nathan Olivarez-Giles