FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 19, 1998
Release # 98-071 |
Company Phone Number: (800) 533-6708
CPSC Consumer Hotline: (800) 638-2772
CPSC Media Contact: Nychelle Fleming, (301) 504-7063
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CPSC, The First Years Announce Recall to Repair High Chair Gym Toys
WASHINGTON, D.C. - In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), The First Years of Avon, Mass., is recalling about 108,000 First Years High Chair Gym toys for repair. The clacker balls hanging from the center of the toy present a choking hazard to young children.
CPSC and The First Years have received 2 reports of children getting one of the clacker balls stuck in the throat and blocking the airway. Nearby adults were able to pull the balls free and prevent the children from choking.
The First Years is offering a free repair kit, consisting of easily installed permanent covers for the ball-shaped ends of the clacker toy. The covers will prevent the toy from entering a child's throat.
The First Years High Chair Gym is an activity toy consisting of a metal wire frame about 7 inches high and 10.5 inches wide. It attaches to a high chair tray by two large red suction cups. Several brightly colored plastic toys hang from the wire frame. Two 1-inch diameter plastic clacker balls, one black and one white, are suspended from the center of the frame by rigid plastic arms about 3.5 inches long. A yellow plastic spinning toy on one end of the frame has "the first years" molded in one end with a sun on the opposite end.
Discount and toy stores sold the First Years High Chair Gym toy nationwide from January 1995 through November 1997 for about $10.
Consumers should take the toy away from children immediately and call The First Years at (800) 533-6708 anytime for the free repair kit and installation instructions or write to The First Years at One Kiddie Drive, Avon, MA 02322-1171.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is still interested in receiving incident or injury reports that are either directly related to this product recall or involve a different hazard with the same product. Please tell us about your experience with the product on SaferProducts.gov
CPSC is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of injury or death associated with the use of the thousands of consumer products under the agency's jurisdiction. Deaths, injuries and property damage from consumer product incidents cost the nation more than $900 billion annually. CPSC is committed to protecting consumers and families from products that pose a fire, electrical, chemical or mechanical hazard. CPSC's work to ensure the safety of consumer products - such as toys, cribs, power tools, cigarette lighters and household chemicals - contributed to a decline in the rate of deaths and injuries associated with consumer products over the past 30 years.
Federal law bars any person from selling products subject to a publicly-announced voluntary recall by a manufacturer or a mandatory recall ordered by the Commission.
To report a dangerous product or a product-related injury go online to www.SaferProducts.gov or call CPSC's Hotline at (800) 638-2772 or teletypewriter at (301) 595-7054 for the hearing impaired. Consumers can obtain news release and recall information at www.cpsc.gov, on Twitter @OnSafety or by subscribing to CPSC's free e-mail newsletters.