Problems With Drop Sides Cribs | ABC30 Fresno

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By ABC30

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Fresno, CA 22-cribs have been recalled in the last two years and have resulted in at least five infant deaths.

One morning in 2007, Carolyn Zabriskie-Hartung and her husband Andrew awoke to a sound no parent wants to hear, their daughter Abigail shrieking in pain.

Carolyn Zabriskie-Hartung said, "We ran in there and we found Abigail with her hand caught in between the front part of the crib and the base."

Thankfully, Abigail was okay. But her crib was eventually recalled, and Consumer Reports says there are lots of problems with cribs, especially ones with drop sides.

Don Mays with Consumer Reports said, "The problem with many drop side cribs is that the hardware can fail, and if it fails, it can open up a dangerous gap in which a child can get their head entrapped and possibly strangled."

Problems with drop sides have led to the recent recalls of more than a 1,500,000 delta cribs and more than a 1,000,000 simplicity cribs.

Toys "R" Us has announced it will no longer order drop-side cribs. With so many cribs recalled, it's all the more important that consumers not buy secondhand cribs.

Don Mays said, "We bought this crib off craigslist for just 40 dollars. Yet we found it's been recalled. It's very dangerous."

Consumer Reports says instead parents should get a stationary-side crib, with sides that don't drop. A good choice is the IKEA Leksvik. It's a consumer reports best buy at $160-dollars. And it rated excellent for safety.

At this point, the consumer product safety commission has announced the recall of some 4,000,000 cribs. You can check if your crib is one of them by going to the C.P.S.C link below.

Click to visit the C.P.S.C. website