The CPSC added another 96,000 Jardine cribs to its existing recall yesterday, bringing the total to at least 472,450. Jardine is a brand name used exclusively at Babies R Us and Toys R Us to sell low-end cribs [mostly $150-300] manufactured by Dorel, one of the Baby Industrial Complex's biggest conglomerates.
The first giant Jardine recall was announced last summer. 320,000 units of 28 models manufactured and sold between 2002 and June 2008 were pulled after 42 reports of spindles and slats made of flimsy, low-density wood breaking, creating an entrapment hazard and causing several injuries.
In September 2008, Toys R Us announced its own crib safety standards, patterned on UK and Canadian testing, which dictate spindle strength, wood type and density, and joint and glue strength. [See the complete standards announcement here. Ironically, Dorel is a Canadian company. It manufactures its cribs in Taiwan, China, and Vietnam.]
Unfortunately for TRU's attempt to get ahead of the collapsing cheap-ass crib story, their new standards only apply to "cribs received by the company's third party testing facilities on or after October 1, 2008." And between TRU/BRU and Dorel, they still had enough of the Jardine breakaway-slat cribs on hand to generate two more recalls in 2009.
Those recalls cover another 150,000 cribs manufactured as recently as 2008 and sold as recently as April 2009. TRU temporarily pulled the Jardine cribs in May 2008, ahead of the recall, so it's possible--though no one is saying anything--that Dorel fixed the design and materials specs for the cribs as incident reports piled up. So it may be the case that Jardine cribs manufactured last summer--and certainly those manufactured after October 2008--don't have the same shitty wood, and may be completely strangulation-free. Always good things to look for when buying a crib.
But that still leaves the question of how safe are Jardine cribs that are already in use, but which haven't [yet?] been recalled. What percentage of all the Jardine cribs sold in the last few years does this rolling recall affect? Does Dorel decide which models to recall based on what is reported to break? Or is there a more proactive attempt to identify cribs made with components similar or identical to those involved in the incident reports?
In an attempt to map out the scope of the Jardine recall, I loaded all the model information and dates from the three CPSC announcements into a Google spreadsheet, then tried sorting them by model and mfr date. Without making some significant assumptions, though, it seems hard and/or probably useless to map it all out on a timeline. But one thing that concerns me is that the 2009 recalls do seem like they are filling in the original recall as well as extending it in time.
It's enough to make me want to hear which Jardine models Dorel and Babies R US haven't recalled yet--or else to just come clean and say, "You know what, that's all of 'em! But we're getting better, we promise!"
CPSC recall announcements for Jardine/Dorel/BRU cribs from June 2008, Jan. 2009, and April 2009 [cpsc.gov]
Safely tucked away from Dorel and BRU's corporate sites: Jardine Crib Recall Information [jardinecribrecall.com]
Previously: TRU imports Canadian crib safety standards
We purchased a Jardine crib from BRU way back in Feb 2008, with a planned due date of June 2008. I have been watching the recall announcements closely, always finding it hard to believe that our 'color' crib had not been recalled, but also happy that I did not need to go out and find an alternative crib.
Well, the day is now here where our crib color and manufacture date fall into the recall announcement. So I called Jardine and went to their recall website. I have a package arriving from them next week where I am supposed to put all of the mounting hardware into a pouch and send it back. I will eventually receive a voucher in the mail that will allow me to purchase a crib at BRU.
Went to BRU today to scope out what was on the floor and what was available. Turns out they have nothing in stock at the store, and very little in the pipeline at the warehouse of any cribs (I would imagine that they are letting their stock drift down to very low levels rather than carrying product in these times). So, it looks as we will be ordering a crib, to be delivered in 4 - 8 weeks. So we'll keep our little guy sleeping in his current 'defective' crib until the replacement is here or close to being here, and then disassemble pieces of the Jardine crib to ship back to the manufacturer.
I imagine that we'll be taking the rest of the defective Jardine crib to a bonfire this summer, as I don't know what else we are going to do with it.
I have a dorel crib and it does perfectly fine and has never given me nor anyone i know a problem seeing as my daughter and my neice both sleep in one everynight
that's great. If it's one of the recalled models that's been discovered to have a deadly defect, I hope your kid stays safe. And that you'll tell whoever you give or sell the crib to when you're done.
You're missing the point Jennifer. If they are good enough 99.9% of the time, then that's still 472 failures. 472 times a child is at risk of suffocation. That's still too much, so I don't know why you'd want to risk it.
well i have a better one i have the dorel sleigh and when i called dorel they were just like send pics to customer service and hung up.my son has never slept in this crib that i bought at walmart the side rail just falls down it does not come off the track but the key word here is falls down ya think our goverment would take a look at the dorel company they need to recall all cribs that have drop side from every maker not just one how many babies need to die
i have the dorel 3 in 1 sleigh bed that the drop rail has broken off of. it came completely off track today when my 2 yr old got up from his nap. he wandered into the living room so i'm searching the internet hoping to find out if its been recalled but so far no luck. i bought the crib at walmart in 2007. it's been great until now. can anyone tell me if its been recalled? my email is jktipton@yahoo.com thanks.
I have a Dorel crib model # da0504kmc-1n bought on 2006. Any ideas on whether or not it has been recalled? My dfaughter wa safe in it but now I am afraid to let my 6 month old son sleep in it. Thanks for your help!
I bought my daughter a Dorel 3-1 baby crib and the drop rail has broken . This is dangerous and he could have been seriously hurt had it not broken on my daughter trying to let it down.Model number da1614b3.I feel no Dorel product for children are safe what so ever. What can we do to stop this company from making cruddy crap and selling it to us for our children. We just bought this crib in 2009. My grandson has not even used it but a few times.
A few weeks ago I saw the photos of potential injury/suffocation due to drop-down side rails with a crib brand dofferent from mine, so I tried to push the thought out of my head that this could be my daughter. But today I took a look at the brand and tried to find it at the retailer where I bought it in October 2008. They no longer sell it, so I looked online and found the story of Jimmy Buccer, III who was injured, though not seriously, fortunately, in nearly the same crib my daughter uses. Now to decide what to do with my Dorel drop-down sleigh crib.
ALL drop-side cribs are dangerous because the design itself is flawed. Dorel knows this and so do all crib manufacturers. Profits over safety. Here's a short list of some of the dozens of babies killed because the siderail detached or loosened on their dropside cribs...
My son, Tyler Jonathan. Bobby. Serenity. Morgan. Liam. Emrys. Ariel...
Please stop using drop-side deathtraps.
Lori said:
I purchased Dorel model # DA0504KMC in white back in 2006 for my first child and noticed that the drop side was never quite right. Luckily I used a crib tent to prevent my child from escaping the crib. This actually imobilizes the drop side and keeps everything in place. My son is now using the crib with the crib tent. The only issue that I noticed before hearing of the recall is that there was a space between the mattress in the front left corner. I have been rolling a receiving blanket and filling in the space under his sheet and the mattress so it fits tight. Now that I heard of the recall I know why this is happening.
It's really your duty as a parent to contact Dorel and get the replacement parts. I simply went on their website, you fill out the information, they email you a FedEx label and you peel off the warning labels on the back of the crib and mail it with the paperwork you filled out online. If your labels are missing from the back of your crib, they advised to take a picture of your crib and make copies of your original paperwork. They will be sending all three sides of the crib to me along with new hardware. Eventually these cribs will be back out there on Craig's list or yard sales. So just because you havent had any issues with your crib doesn't mean you won't in the future when the plastic hardware degrades or warps causing an injury or death. Do the right thing and get the parts!!!!!!
I also forgot to mention that after they mail you the replacement parts and hardware, it will imobilize the drop side, no longer allowing it to move. I am basically getting everything but the back side of the crib which is solid wood. I think it depends on the type of crib-some may be getting 100% new cribs depending if your crib has slats in the back.
The crib mattress fit tight when my daughter first used the crib in 2006. Like I said in my other post, a space was begining to develop in the front left corner. This is a result of the defective drop side. I can't stress enough how important it is to get the replacement parts. My heart goes out to any parent who has tragically lost a child due to a defective crib.
I've returned the required parts per Jardine's website and I've received two free replacement cribs. No problem at all................
I also just sent in the hardware and received the very cheap replacement crib. The replacement is not the same quality material or even the same color. What a joke these companies are.