Five major retailers have agreed to stop selling Tots in Mind brand crib tents and play yard tents associated with serious injuries and a fatality, and will give consumers a refund even though the product manufacturer has shut its doors.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced today that retailers Amazon, Bed Bath & Beyond/Buy Buy Baby, Burlington Coat Factory, Toys R Us/Babies R Us and Walmart are voluntarily recalling the following Tots in Mind products:
- Portable Playard Tent
- Original Cozy Crib Tent
- Cozy Crib Tent II
- Crib Tent for Convertible Cribs
- Portable Playard Tent Plus Cabana Kit
About 330,000 of these crib tents and play yard tents were sold at numerous retail stores and online for between $60 and $85. Consumers can identify these products by the Tots in Mind logo on a fabric label. There are no model numbers or product names on the product.
Parents and caregivers should immediately stop using these products because their infants and toddlers are at risk for serious injury or death due to strangulation and entrapment hazards if the dome portion inverts inside the crib or play yard, or if the product becomes partially detached from the crib or play yard.
In 2007, a two-year-old boy suffered a catastrophic brain injury after the crib tent inverted and its rod entrapped his neck.
In December 2008, a 2-year-old boy in Vinalhaven, ME died after he was able to pop open the clips holding the product on the play yard. In his attempt to climb out of the play yard, he became trapped between the play yard frame and the base of the tent and was found hanging by his neck.
There are 25 additional reports of inverted crib tents in which children were entrapped between the product and the crib or play yard. Three of these cases resulted in injury.
The fatality and injuries occurred between January 1997 and April 2012.
This is the second recall for these products. After determining clips that attach the tent to the top of the play yard could break or be removed by a child, manufacturer Tots in Mind issued a recall in July 2010 for these products, in which the company distributed replacement clips meant to solve the problem. The company has since gone out of business and is no longer honoring any recall.
Because the CPSC is still receiving reports of product failure and injuries associated with these products, the five major retailers have agreed to stop selling the products and offer refunds on their own. Consumers who bought their Tots in Mind crib tent or play yard tent at these retailers can receive a full refund or store credit, depending upon the retailer’s policy, by contacting the retailer by phone or though their website.
Amazon at www.amazon.com
Bed Bath & Beyond at www.bedbathandbeyond.com or Buy Buy Baby at www.buybuybaby.com or by calling (800) GOBEYOND
Burlington Coat Factory at www.burlingtoncoatfactory.com or by calling (888) 223-2628
Toys R Us at www.toysrus.com or Babies R Us at www.babiesrus.com or by calling (800) 869-7787
Walmart at www.walmartstores.com or (800) 925-6278
Consumers who purchased any of these dangerous products at other retailers should also stop using them, even if the CPSC has not listed that a refund is available from that retailer at this time.
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