Dorel Asia & Stork Craft Crib Recall

635,000 Dorel Asia cribs recalled for risk to infants

About 635,000 cribs sold at major discounters nationwide have been recalled by Dorel Asia SRL for strangulation and suffocation hazards that killed one child and injured 10 others, the government said Tuesday.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said that the hardware holding up the side of the crib can fail, causing the drop side of the crib to detach, which could trap and suffocate a child.
The drop side is "the side of the crib that caregivers can move up and down to get a child in or out of the crib," said Kim Dulic, a spokeswoman for the CPSC.
"When the drop side detaches it creates a space in which an infant or toddler can become entrapped and suffocate or strangle," the organization said in the statement.
Infants are also at risk of entrapment and possible strangulation if a slat on the crib is damaged, which can occur when the crib is in use, in storage, during shipping and handling and while putting the crib together or taking it apart.
CPSC and Dorel Asia have received 31 reports of sides detaching from cribs, resulting in the death of a 6-month child who was trapped and strangled in a Dorel crib, and three children were injured.
In a separate statement issued late Tuesday, Dorel said the circumstances of the infant's death were "highly unusual." The parents were arrested for "child endangerment with death" after trying to hold their broken crib together with duct tape, the company said.
There have also been 36 reports of slats breaking, which resulted in the bruising and scratching of seven children, according to the CPSC. The slats problem affects both drop-side and stationary cribs.
The recalled Dorel Asia cribs were carried at K-Mart, Sears, and Wal-Mart stores nationwide from January 2005 to December 2009, and cost between $120 and $700 apiece.
Owners should immediately stop using the cribs. Repair kits will be provided in February and, depending on the crib model, the kits will include two to four new sides as well as hardware to immobilize the drop side of the crib.
Consumers with questions can contact Dorel Asia at (866) 762-2304 between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. ET Monday through Friday or visit the company's Web site at www.dorel-asia.com.

Stork Craft Crib Recall

Stork Craft Manufacturing recently recalled 2.1 million Stork Craft cribs due to entrapment, suffocation and fall hazards. Faulty hardware on the recalled drop-side cribs may allow the drop-side to detach, potentially trapping children and causing serious or fatal injury.

Stork Craft is providing repair kits to convert the drop sides on the recalled cribs to fixed sides. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has warned parents not to use these cribs until installation of the repair is complete or to instead find alternative safe sleeping arrangements for their babies. The CPSC, Health Canada and Stork Craft have identified 110 drop-side detachments, including 15 entrapment incidents, four of which resulted in suffocation deaths. In addition, authorities have attributed 20 falls to the defective Stork Craft cribs, some of which resulted in injuries.

The recalled Stork Craft cribs contain plastic trigger and one-hand drop-side hardware. Drop-side cribs with metal rods are not subject to the recall. Stork Craft manufactured the defective cribs between October 1997 and December 2004 and sold them under both Stork Craft and Fisher Price labels.

Many retailers sold these cribs, including:
-BJ's Wholesale Club
-J.C. Penney
-Kmart
-Meijer
-Sears
-USA Baby
-Wal-Mart and Walmart.com
-Amazon.com
-Babiesrus.com
-Costco.com
-Target.com

If you believe that you have a crib subject to one of the above-referenced recalls, please contact the manufacturer, retailer, distributor or CPSC immediately to receive the proper information regarding repairing the defect. If you or your child has been injured by a faulty or defective crib, you should contact an experienced personal injury and product liability attorney to determine if you have a case.