5.5 Million Window Blinds and Shades Recalled After Three Children Died of Strangulation

Reports that three children died after being strangled by window blind pull cords have prompted six window covering manufacturers to recall their products. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, two deaths were attributed to products from Lewis Hyman Inc. of Carson, which sold their oval roll-up blinds and Woolrich Roman Shades at Target stores nationwide between 1999-2008. In 2007, a 1-year-old Maine boy was strangled by one of the blinds’ lifting loops that fell into his crib. Then, in 2008, a 13-month-old boy from Arkansas was found strangled with his head between the cord and the backside of the shade.

The third strangulation death was attributed to a vertical blind manufactured by Vertical Land, which were sold between 1992-2006 in the company’s Florida stores. In 2006, a 4-year-old Pensacola girl was strangled to death by a loop formed by the blinds’ beaded pull cord.

Other children narrowly escaped death by strangulation when their parents discovered them wrapped in a blind cord. Roman shades, manufactured by Pottery Barn Kids, nearly killed four children who wrapped themselves up in the exposed inner cords on the backside of the blinds. Again, a 2-year-old boy in Pennsylvania nearly strangled to death before his mother found him hanging from the looped beaded chain on an Ikea Melina roman blind.

Overall, the recall affected 5.5 million window blinds and shades from Ikea, Pottery Barn Kids, Vertical Land, Lewis Hyman and Victoria Classics (both who sold their products through Target stores), and Lutron Electronics, Inc. All companies have pledged to either refund consumers’ money or provide a free repair kit.