Infant play yard recalled after baby's death; Click for more recalls

Toyota To Recall Floor Mats In 2007 Lexus And Camry

INFANT PLAY YARD RECALLED AFTER DEATH OF BABY (9/27/07)

WASHINGTON (AP) - The death of a child has prompted a recall of infant play yards made in China for Kolcraft Enterprises of Chicago. The company is voluntarily recalling the toy in cooperation with the Consumer Product Safety Commission. A CPSC news release says the agency got a report of a 10-month-old boy who was strangled by a changing table restraint strap that was hanging down into the "Sesame Beginnings" travel play yard.

Twelve different play yards, all of which have the changing table and the restraining strap hazard, are included in the recall, which totals 425,000 units. The play yards were sold at retail stores nationwide from January 2001 through September 2007 for between $50 and $130.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

THOMAS THE TRAIN: RECALLED 9/27/07

More Thomas and Friends railway toys are being recalled because they contain lead paint. The manufacturer is recalling five items, totaling at about 200,000 toys. They were all made in China. This is the second recall from the Thomas and Friends collection.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Toymaker RC2 Corp. on Wednesday announced another recall of 269,000 of its Thomas & Friends wooden railway toys because the surface paint on the products contains high levels of lead. This is the second recall from RC2 ( Charts ) this year for the same brand of toys. The company recalled 1.5 million other Thomas & Friends railway toys in June due to excessive lead content found in the paint used on the toys.

Two months later, El Segundo, Calif.-based Mattel ( Charts , Fortune 500 ), the world's largest toymaker and a company reputed to have one of the toughest safety standards in the industry, announced three recalls this summer for millions of its Chinese-made toys that were found to contain excessive levels of lead or posed a choking hazard. The latest recall from RC2 involves five toys from the Thomas & Friends wooden railway product line: the all-black cargo car, toad vehicle, olive green sodor cargo box and all-green maple tree top, as well as signal base accessories. Two hundred thousand of these were sold in the U.S., with the remainder sold outside the U.S. The front of the packaging has the logo "Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway" in the upper left-hand corner. A tracking code may be located on the bottom of some of the products. Toys marked with codes containing " WJ " and " AZ " are not included in the recall.

The All-Black Cargo Car, included only in the Brendam Fishing Dock Set, is labeled "CARGO CAR" and has either no tracking code or one of the following codes on its undersides: 26833i, 28233i, 23243i00, 24643i00, 25343i00, 27443i00, 32043i00, 34743i00, 01553i00, 04553i00, 13353i00, 14753i00, 15453i00, 18353i00.

The toad vehicle with brake lever is labeled "TOAD" and has the tracking code 16560W000 on its underside. The Olive Green Sodor Cargo Box says "SODOR" on the side. The box was included only in the Deluxe Cranky the Crane Set. The All-Green Maple Tree Top and Green Signal Base accessories were included only in Conductor's Figure 8 Sets. Cargo cars sold in other sets are not included in the recall. The toys, manufactured in China, were sold at toy stores and various retailers nationwide from March 2003 through September 2007, priced between $10 and $40. Manufactured in: China Although no injuries have been reported, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) said consumers should stop using the recalled products immediately and contact RC2 Corp. for a replacement toy.

Consumers can also contact RC2 at (866) 725-4407 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. CT Monday through Friday or visit the firm's Website at http://recalls.rc2.com .

CHILDREN'S NECKLACES MADE IN CHINA: RECALLED 9/26/07

WASHINGTON (AP) - Toys and children's necklaces made in China were recalled Wednesday, including five more items from the popular Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway product line, because they contain dangerous levels of lead. RC2 Corp.'s "Knights of the Sword" series toys and some of its Thomas and Friends items, along with floor puppet theaters and gardening tools and chairs for children, were among the more than 601,000 toys and children's jewelry announced in the recall by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The recalled toys contain high levels of lead in their surface paint, and the necklaces and jewelry sets contain excessive lead in some of their metal parts. Under current regulations, children's products found to have more than .06 percent lead accessible to users are subject to a recall. The government warned parents to make sure children are not playing or using any of the recalled products. This is the second recall from the Thomas & Friends product line after RC2 Corp. announced June 13 a recall of 1.5 million wooden railway toys. The company is recalling five items, totaling about 200,000 toys in all, of Thomas & Friends toys not included in the first recall. Julie Vallese, a CPSC spokeswoman, said today's recalls were a result of both pressure from its agency and the toy industry's own initiative. "There's been a very concentrated concerted effort by both the CPSC and the industry to do a top to bottom investigation of the products to make sure they are not in violation with any toy safety standards," said Vallese. "Today's recall is a result of that work." "The agency overall has been pushing and strongly suggesting to industry, whether it's RC2 or anybody else, to do a systematic inventory," she said. "I don't think consumers have seen the end to lead paint recalls." The CPSC announced seven recalls in all:

- Target, the importer of Happy Giddy gardening tools and children's Sunny Patch chairs, recalled about 350,000 items of the product. The children's gardening tools and chairs, made by Starite International Ld., were sold nationwide from August 2006 through August 2007.

- RC2 recalled about 200,000 Thomas and Friends Wood Railway Toys and 800 "Knights of the Sword" series toys.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

TOYOTA and NISSAN RECALLS:

WASHINGTON (AP) - Toyota and Nissan have both announced safety recalls. Toyota says it's recalling optional "all-weather" floor mats available in two car models -- the Lexus ES 350 and Toyota Camry. About 55,000 vehicles are affected. Federal safety officials issued a consumer advisory about the heavy-duty rubber floor mats, noting that if unsecured, the mat could move forward and trap the gas pedal. They say that could cause the car to accelerate uncontrollably. Separately, Nissan says it's recalling nearly 420,000 sport utility vehicles. The problem is possible corrosion in the tube where motorists pump gas. The recall involves Nissan Pathfinder and Infiniti QX4 SUVs from the 1997-2001 model years. In states that use road salt during the winter, a mixture of snow, water and salt could cause corrosion on the bare metal part of the tube and allow fuel to leak.

On the Net:

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration: http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/

Toyota Motor Corp.: http://www.toyota.com/

Nissan Motor Co.: http://www.nissanusa.com/

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