Stork Craft to Recall 2.1 Million Cribs

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced the largest crib recall in United States history, involving cribs with dropdown sides, fearing they may be unsafe, even deadly.

The CPSC, in cooperation with Stork Craft Manufacturing Inc., of British Columbia, Canada, today announced the voluntary recall of more than 2.1 million Stork Craft drop-side cribs, including about 147,000 Stork Craft drop-side cribs with the Fisher-Price logo. The recall involves approximately 1,213,000 units distributed in the United States and 968,000 units distributed in Canada.

CPSC: Information on Models, Where Sold And When

In a press statement, the CPSC urged parents and caregivers to immediately stop using the recalled cribs, wait for the free repair kit, and do not attempt to fix the cribs without the kit. They should find an alternative, safe sleeping environment for their baby. Consumers should contact Stork Craft to receive a free repair kit that converts the drop-side on these cribs to a fixed side.

Visit Stork Craft Web Site for more information or call the company toll-free at (877) 274-0277

As "Early Show" Consumer Correspondent Susan Koeppen reports, the products are being blamed for serious injuries and even four deaths.

Michele Witte thought her 10-month old son Tyler was safely tucked into his crib. But when she went to check in on him…

"I just fell to my knees and I started screaming," Witte recalled.

The crib she considered to be Tyler's safe haven turned out to be a death trap. He had been sleeping in a crib with a drop-down side. Somehow his head got stuck in a gap between the side rail and the headboard.

"To see the horrific sight of him strangled between the headboard and side rail of his crib was just horrifying to me," Witte said.

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission there have been dozens of deaths over the past decade involving drop-side cribs made by different manufacturers. The federal government has recalled nearly 5 million cribs in the past two years -- the vast majority of them cribs with drop sides.

Tomorrow's recall involves multiple models of drop-side cribs made by Stork Craft - from January 1993 to October 2009 - 147,000 of them with the Fisher Price logo. Malfunctioning plastic hardware is to blame. Parents are being told to stop using the cribs immediately and go to the company's website, www.storkcraft.com, to receive a repair kit.

Of the 500,000 full size cribs sold in the U.S. last year, 100,000 of them had drop sides. Parents like the convenience of being able to put the baby in the crib with the side down.

In 2007, the CPSC began recalling 2 million Simplicity drop-side cribs because they posed a strangulation hazard.

"There have been deaths with this crib and this company is out of business and parents should not use a Simplicity crib," Inez Tenenbaum of the CPSC said. "The hardware was not strong enough. It was plastic and so the drop side came out and the child was wedged between the mattress and this drop side and strangled."

Now even the crib industry says cribs with drop-down sides no longer meet their industry safety standards. And the CPSC is currently working on mandatory federal regulations.

But the legislature in Suffolk County, New York isn't waiting. It recently banned the sale of drop-side cribs starting in February. The retailer Toys R Us is no longer selling cribs made with this feature.

"We cannot have a crib that takes the lives of infants out there on the market for unknowing consumers," Witte said.