The Consumer Safety Product Commission (CSPC) announced Monday that more than 2.1 million drop-side cribs manufactured by Stork Craft Manufacturing are being recalled following reports of four infant suffocations. Nearly 150,000 of the cribs carry the Fisher-Price logo. It is the biggest crib recall in U.S. history.
The cribs are referred to as "drop-side" cribs because they have a side that moves up and down to allow parents to lift children from the cribs more easily. However, defects in the construction of the cribs can cause the drop-side to detach, thereby creating a dangerous space between the drop-side and the crib mattress, where a child can become trapped.
Stork Craft is offering parents a free repair kit that will convert the drop-side into a fixed side. ASTM International, an organization that sets voluntary industry safety standards, approved a new standard last week that requires four immovable, or fixed, sides for full-size cribs. The CPSC is considering making the ASTM standard mandatory, which would effectively ban drop-side cribs. Meanwhile, Toys-R-Us will stop carrying drop-side cribs as of next month.
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