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With the number of Simplicity drop-side crib recalls having now reached two million, government safety regulators said yesterday that parents should discard drop-side Simplicity cribs sold mostly through Wal-Mart and other mass retailers.
Ten infant deaths in recent years have been blamed on Simplicity cribs, the government said.
"You should not put your baby to bed tonight in a Simplicity drop-side crib," said Scott Wolfson, spokesman for the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. But the agency said its warning did not apply to cribs on which parents had installed special hardware.
The agency recalled an additional 400,000 Simplicity cribs yesterday, bringing the total number of recalled Simplicity cribs to two million in the last two years. The cribs recalled yesterday were sold at discount stores between January 2005 and last month.
The Simplicity cribs' hardware can break or deform, allowing the drop side to detach and create a gap between the mattress and the side of the crib where a small child could be trapped and suffocate.
Simplicity Inc. was based in Reading, although it outsourced its crib manufacturing to companies in Asia.
SFCA Inc., a private-equity firm in Bethesda, Md., acquired Simplicity's assets in auction after the Reading company defaulted on its loans more than a year ago.
The consumer-protection agency said yesterday that the company was no longer conducting day-to-day operations.
Cribs that were fixed after a 2007 recall to hold the drop side in place with the special hardware are safe, according to the CPSC. But cribs recalled yesterday or last September do not have a fix and can be returned to the place of purchase for a refund, replacement, or store credit.
For details, contact the commission at 1-800-638-2772.
Contact staff writer Bob Fernandez at 215-854-5897 or bob.fernandez@phillynews.com.
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