Six companies recall window blinds and shades after deaths and near-strangulations
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Six companies around the country are recalling millions of window coverings after reports of three children who died after being strangled by the products’ cords, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said today.
Two deaths were attributed to products from Lewis Hyman Inc. of Carson. The company recalled 4.2 million oval roll-up blinds, which sold at nationwide retailers for $6 to $20 from 1999 through 2003, and 600,000 Woolrich Roman shades, which sold at Target for $25 to $43 from 2006 through 2008. In 2007, a 1-year-old boy from Maine was strangled by one of the blinds’ lifting loops that had fallen into his portable crib. A 13-month-old boy from Arkansas was found strangled in 2008 with his head between the exposed inner cord and the cloth on the backside of one of the shades.
Vertical Land, based in Panama City Beach, Fla., recalled thousands of its blinds and shades. The products were sold at the company’s stores in Florida from 1992 through 2006 for $60 to $200. About 800 cellular shades had a free-standing looped cord, and 15,400 horizontal blinds were missing stoppers to prevent the inner cords from being pulled out and wrapping around children. Nearly 16,500 vertical blinds, one of which was cited in the strangulation death of a 4-year-old Pensacola, Fla., girl in 2006, had a loop formed by a beaded chain or a weighted cord.
After six reports of children becoming wrapped in the exposed inner cord on the backs of Roman shades, San Francisco company Pottery Barn Kids/Williams-Sonoma, Inc. recalled 85,000 units. The products, which sold at Pottery Barn Kids from 2003 through 2007 for $30 to $60, left no permanent injuries. But between 2006 and 2008, four children were found with the cords around their necks and two had to be freed using scissors. Two more had red marks around their necks after freeing themselves.
Retailer IKEA recalled 120,000 Melina Roman blinds, which it sold for $20 to $40 from 2006 to 2008. The space between the exposed inner cord and the fabric on the blind’s backside posed a threat to children, according to the safety commission. Both the agency and the retailer received a report of a 2-year-old boy who escaped strangulation when his mother found him hanging from the blind’s looped bead chain.
Though no injuries have been reported, 245,000 manual Lutron Shading Solutions roller shades are being recalled because of the risk of strangulation from a looped beaded chain. Distributed by Lutron Electronics Co. of Coopersburg, Pa., the shades were sold at specialty dealers and Expo Design Centers around the country from 2000 through April for $200 to $2,000.
About 163,000 thermal sailcloth Roman shades and matchstick bamboo shades from Victoria Classics of Edison, N.J., are being recalled. Children could injure themselves between the exposed inner cord and the fabric on the blind’s backside, or could be strangled when the easily knotted or tangled cord is pulled out. The shades were sold at Target from September to June for $15 to $40.
-- Tiffany Hsu
