Just when you thought you'd heard every possible CPSC recall of 500,000 cheap dropside cribs, they spring a new one on us. Today the agency recalled all dropside cribs made by Generation 2 Kids and branded either Generation 2 Worldwide or ChilDESIGNS.
Generation 2 Worldwide, based in Dothan, Alabama, went out of business in 2005, so there is no specific production or sales date information. But the cribs were sold at major national retailers, including Buy Buy Baby, KMart, and Wal-Mart for the incredibly low price of $60-160. And an archived 2003 version of G2W's website also lists babystyle, babyage, babyuniverse, Costco, and other retailers, so basically everywhere cheap cribs were sold.
This recall was precipitated by 28 reports of dropsides or mattress platforms detaching and entrapping kids or dumping them on the floor. That includes the three babies ages 6-8 months who died of entrapment or suffocation in broken cribs. The dates of those deaths: September 2002, October 2003, and July 2007. That's right, no one apparently took any safety anything about three reported deaths for 2.5-7 years.
Whatever were the CPSC and JPMA doing during that time frame? And whatever might have changed, that the CPSC is now apparently combing through its archive of incident reports, looking for common threads and threats?
According to message board threads, Generation 2 Worldwide [the company] and ChilDESIGNS [the brand] used to be called Nelson Juvenile Products. The Nelson name was used as late as 1997, and the earliest version of the ChilDESIGNS website is from 1999. It bears this proud statement:
Quality... Second only to Safety.©Indeed, when it comes to dropside crib recalls, G2W stands shoulder to shoulder with the biggest company in the baby furniture industry.We take great pride in our commitment to safety. All Childesigns cribs have been awarded JPMA Certification, an approval not earned by all juvenile furniture manufacturers. Every Childesigns crib meets our own extensive testing procedures while also meeting or exceeding the requirements of the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC). As a leading manufacturer of high value juvenile furniture, Generation 2 Worldwide has set a new standard in quality assurance.
Wow, pretty soon parents will want to just throw a mattress on the floor and go with that.
yeah, like most of the world already does.