Graco and Simplicity Cribs: Another Death, Another Recall?

Pineville, MSA recall is intended to protect the consumer, but Graco and Simplicity don't seem to have safety on their agenda. Over one million Simplicity and Graco cribs were recalled in September after three children died; now a fourth death has been reported, but in a crib that was not part of the biggest crib recall in history.

The Joplin Globe reported that the baby died of "accidental positional asphyxiation" after she was caught between the rail of the bassinet and the mattress of a Simplicity Inc. 4-in-1 bassinet. The child's torso became caught in a gap between the rail of the bassinet and the mattress. The Globe reported that "She was feet down and in a position that every time she exhaled, she slipped down a little further...she got down far enough that her chest couldn't expand to breathe."

This bassinet--model No. 3112DOH--has Winnie the Pooh decorations and is available at Wal-Mart and Target stores, and online.

The recalled cribs proved to be deadly because the faulty drop rail detached from the crib and created a gap where a child could fall and suffocate. It was also due to defective design: all three fatalities occurred because the parents mistakenly installed the drop rails upside down.

Initially, Simplicity offered to send parents repair kits with new hardware they said would correct the problem, but the repair kits were flawed and didn't even come with instructions.

A ConsumerAffairs.com reader in Mars Hill, ME reported that her 16-month old daughter got the slider of her crib to slide down far enough so she could fall out. "This is an outrageous slip-up," she said. "I demand my money back."

A reader in Redondo Beach, CA said that she purchased two Simplicity cribs in 2004 and they had several problems. The manual stated that the mattress support should be on the highest level, but this caused her daughter to fall out of bed. She phoned the manufacturer and customer service said the manual had a typo or the consumer was wrong! As well, the parts that came with the crib were incorrect. Either the screws didn't fit or parts were missing. "When I tried the screws they gave me," she said, "a gap was created between the crib and the transitional rails. My other daughter got her leg stuck in this gap!"

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is also investigating the death of a 1-year-old child in a Simplicity crib with newer style hardware, in which the drop-side was installed upside down. CPSC also received reports of seven infant entrapments and 55 "incidents" in the recalled cribs. But Simplicity and the CPSC have come under fire for not acting fast enough and that for more than two years, they knew of the defective cribs--they knew that these cribs could potentially cause babies to suffocate.

According to the Chicago Tribune, complaints about the design of one Simplicity crib dated back to 2005 and the newspaper further documented the failure of the CPSC to fully investigate the death of 9-month-old Liam Johns at that time. The Tribune reported that the CPSC inspector did not even bother to identify the type of crib involved in his death. And the CPSC only decided to issue the Simplicity and Graco crib recall after it learned that the newspaper was about to publish an expose detailing the agency's pathetic 2005 investigation.

If we can't rely on our federal watchdog agency to ensure our safety, who can we rely on? Maybe it's time to get legal help.