Journal Entry

Simplicity cribs

If you got to this page by searching for “simplicity cribs,” you’re probably looking for information on the big Simplicity crib recall of 2007. This recall shocked parents and parenting groups and grabbed headlines, due to both the volume of the crib recall and the seeming bureaucratic incompetence that lead up to it. Simplicity cribs manufactured several crib models that all shipped with wrongly assembled drop side hardware. This would cause the drop side to fall for no reason, which left gaps in the slats large enough for an infant’s head to be caught in. To make things worse, the assembly flaw was fairly subtle, making it difficult to detect when the Simplicity crib was being further assembled at home.

Simplicity cribs affected by the 2007 recall were:

• Aspen 3-in-1
• Aspen 4-in-1
• Crib N Changer Combo
• Nursery In A Box crib set
• The Chelsea
• Pooh 4-in-1

The truly outrageous part of the Simplicity crib recall is that the cribs were sold for two years after an infant death directly linked to the faulty drop side assembly was reported in 2005. After the death of their nine month old infant, Chad and Nicola Johns attempted to sue Simplicity. However, when the incident was investigated by the Consumer Products Safety Commission, the investigator appears not to have looked at the Simplicity crib at all, and the official incident report makes no mention of Simplicity or of the crib’s model. At least two other infant deaths followed in 2005 and 2006. Finally, the local paper The Chicago Tribune compiled and investigative report, which prompted the CPSC to finally issue the Simplicity crib recall. However, the CPSC denies that paper’s involvement. The models of Simplicity cribs affected by the recall had been for sale since 1998, which brought the grand total of cribs that qualified for recall to over one million.

If you own any of the recalled Simplicity crib models, it’s up to you how to proceed. From what we could tell, Simplicity is handling the recall by sending qualified owners corrected replacement hardware for the crib’s drop side. While correctly assembling the crib with this new hardware should theoretically solve the problem, we’d rather get a full refund and just buy a new crib. After learning about the ridiculous story that led up to the Simplicity crib recall, this seems like the safest bet to us. However, refund instructions that we could find were (deliberately?) vague, so we’d recommend contacting Simplicity cribs directly. Alternatively, if you bought the crib relatively recently from a big name store like Target or Walmart you could try returning it there, which could be faster and easier than going through Simplicity.