The Recall Desk
CriticalCPSC·85006·Announced 1984-01-24

Six Manufacturers Halt Sale of V-Shaped Accordion Baby Gates

CPSC announces agreement with six manufacturers to stop producing and distributing V-shaped accordion baby gates due to strangulation hazards.

What this means for you

Highest-severity recall. Risk of serious injury or death is documented or strongly suspected. Stop using the product now and follow the agency's instructions.

Our severity reasoning: The source text explicitly reports eight deaths involving the product, which mandates a Critical severity score per the rubric.

Plain-English summary

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has announced an agreement with six manufacturers to voluntarily halt the production and distribution of V-shaped accordion style baby gates. The manufacturers involved are Madison Mill Inc., Mapes Industries Inc., North States Industries, Nu-Line Industries Inc., Paris Industries, and Worldbest Industries. The CPSC staff identified that these gates present a strangulation hazard in the V-shapes along the top edge and in the diamond-shaped openings in the body of the gate.

This action was taken after an eighth death involving an accordion style gate occurred in Meridian, Idaho, in October 1984, where an 11-month-old infant died from strangulation. Since 1975, the Commission is aware of seven additional deaths and at least 23 non-fatal incidents associated with these gates. The companies stated that these actions are not an admission that the products present a substantial product hazard.

The CPSC warns consumers of the potential for strangulation in the V-shaped top edge and diamond-shaped openings. Consumers are urged to use other styles of gates that do not present head and neck entrapment hazards, such as gates with a straight top edge and rigid mesh screen, plastic grids, or vertical slates. The action does not affect the estimated 10 to 15 million accordion style gates already in use, and retailers may continue to sell existing inventory.

The recalled product

Product
Madison Mill V-shaped accordion style baby gates
Manufacturer
Nu-Line
Category
Consumer Product — Baby Gates
Hazard

Distribution

Distributed nationwide across the United States.

Related recalls

Same hazard · strangulation

See all →