400,000 Simplicity Cribs Recalled Due to Suffocation Risk

Simplicity Inc. is recalling about 400,000 cribs after a Texas infant suffocated and died after becoming trapped in between the side and the mattress of one of the beds.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission, which announced the recall today, said plastic hardware on the cribs can break or bend, allowing the drop side to separate and create a gap big enough to trap babies. There have been at least 25 reports of such incidents involving the drop-sides detaching on Simplicity cribs, the CPSC said.

In one case, an eight-month-old baby in Houston died after becoming stuck between the mattress and the side of a defective drop-side Simplicity crib, officials said.

Dozens of Children Trapped

In six of the more than two dozen entrapment incidents, the drop side on the crib detached because the plastic flexible tab deformed or broke. In four of the drop side detachment incidents, other plastic parts, including connectors or tracks, deformed or broke. In two of the incidents, two children became entrapped between the drop side and the crib mattress. There were no reported injuries, according to the CPSC.

The beds were sold nationwide at department stores, children’s stores and other retailers from January 2005 to June 2009 for between $150 and $300.

The commission said children should not be allowed to sleep in the cribs, which should be immediately returned to the store where they were purchased.

Simplicity, based in Reading, Pa., reportedly has gone out of business and appears “to no longer conduct day to day operations,” the commission said in its statement about the recall.

Earlier Simplicity Recalls

Today’s recall is just the latest in a string of massive actions involving Simplicity cribs. In September 2008, the company recalled about 600,000 cribs due to risks of entrapment, suffocation, and strangulation. That recall followed a similar action to remove nearly 1 million Simplicity convertible bassinets after two children died after becoming trapped between the side of the beds and the mattress.

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