The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and five retailers have announced the recall of Tots in Mind Crib Tents and Play Yard Tents due to entrapment and strangulation hazards. The firm, Tots in Mind, Inc., is no longer in business but retailers have agreed to provide refunds to consumers who own the affected products. The CPSC urges consumers to not attempt to repair the products themselves.
The defective tents pose a risk of serious injury or death to infants and toddlers. The CPSC has received reports of 27 tent failures between January 1997 and April 2012, one of which resulted in death and another which resulted in serious injury. A two-year-old boy died in 2008 after being trapped between the top rail of a play yard and the bottom rail of a play yard tent. This fatality was reported in a previous July 2010 recall of play yard tents. The reported serious injury occurred in 2007 when a two-year-old boy suffered a catastrophic brain injury when the crib tent inverted and he became trapped at the neck by the product. The other 25 reports known to the CPSC (with 3 injury incidents) involved entrapment between the play yard/crib and tent, or, failures of the tent zippers and fabric.
The recall includes a wide range of models of approximately 330,000 play yard or crib tents sold for between $60 and $85. As Tots in Mind, Inc. is no longer in business, retailers who sold the dangerous products are offering store credit or refunds to consumers. These retailers include Burlington Coat Factory, Bed Bath & Beyond, Buy Buy Baby, Walmart, Babies R Us, Toys R Us, and Amazon.com. Consumers should contact the store where they purchased the defective crib or play yard tent for a refund or store credit.
At Blume Forte, our knowledgeable product liability lawyers in New Jersey have the experience and resources to investigate your claim and determine its potential merit. To learn more about your legal rights and options, call us at 973-845-4421 for a no-cost consultation.