Evenflo highchairs - named amongst flurry of baby product recalls in USA

April 4, 2009 by Baby Chums
Filed under: News, Product News

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced recalls of merchandise, including cribs that can cause suffocation, high chairs with falling seats, and toys that pose a choking hazard.

Recalled products were sold around the USA at Toys R Us, Babies R Us, Wal-Mart, Kmart, Burlington Coat Factory and other stores.

Scott Wolfson, a commission spokesman said; Approximatley 643,000 Evenflo Envision high chairs and 90,000 Evenflo Majestic high chairs were recalled Thursday because plastic fasteners and metal screws can fall out and allow the seat back to fall backward or detach.

320 complaints were received about Evenflo products because of suddenly reclining seat backs or completely detaching and smaller reports of screws or fasteners falling out of the Envision chair. The company has had 16 similar reports on the Majestic chair, Wolfson said.

Wolfson also said only last week, that Fisher-Price was recalling 24,000 of its 3-in-1 high chairs after the company received reports of the seat falling backward from its frame when the booster seat release was unlatched while the child was still seated.

Fisher-Price is offering a free repair kit to parents, he said. The company received one report of a child’s skull being fractured after the seat fell back.

The Evenflo high chairs were manufactured in China; the Fisher-Price chair was made in Mexico, Wolfson said.

And on Wednesday, about 4,000 What’s Inside soft toy boxes were recalled because the head of a stuffed butterfly toy can fall off, creating a choking hazard, Wolfson said.

Finally, about 1,900 SunKids convertible cribs, built in China and imported by Commerce-based Suntech Enterprises Inc., were recalled because children could suffocate in the crib, Wolfson said.

A gap can open between the side of the crib and its mattress if the bed’s mesh is not zipped into place, and a child could suffocate if wedged in the gap, Wolfson said.

The drop side of the crib also can fail to fully latch, which could result in children falling out, he said. No incidents have been reported with the crib, Wolfson said, but a 5-month-old died in August after being trapped in a similar crib. The SunKids convertible cribs were sold in California, New York and New Jersey between Jan. 2007 and Oct. 2008.