Bed Warning Issued To Consumers

PRODUCT: Bunk beds sold in 1985 and 1986 at Aaron Furniture and Mattress Company of Oakland, CA. The beds are darkly stained pine, with a built-in ladder on the head or foot board. They are 80 inches long, 60 inches high and 44 inches wide.

PROBLEM: According to CPSC, bunk beds purchased from the company in 1985 and 1986 have too much space between guard rails and side rails, too much space between the end of the mattress and head or footboards, and the beds lack mattress supports, adequate cautionary labeling and instruction manuals as required by a voluntary industry standard. The bunk beds have been implicated in the death of an eight- month-old boy.

WHAT TO DO: Consumers who bought the beds from Aaron furniture and Mattress Company of Oakland during 1985 and 1986, or consumers who are not sure where they bought their bunk beds, should check to make sure the mattress fits snugly in the bed frame. There should be no more than 1- l/2 inches of space between the mattress edge and the frame edge when the mattress is pushed up against a corner of the bed frame.

WASHINGTON, DC -- Following a child's death in California, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) today issued a warning to parents who purchased bunk beds from Aaron Furniture and Mattress Company of Oakland, CA.

According to CPSC, bunk beds purchased from the company in 1985 and 1986 have too much space between guard rails and side rails, too much space between the end of the mattress and head or footboards, and the beds lack mattress supports, adequate cautionary labeling and instruction manuals as required by a voluntary industry standard.

CPSC learned of the bed's design deficiencies while investigating the death an of eight-month-old Oakland boy who became trapped between the mattress and the headboard. The large amount of space between the mattress and the headboard allowed passage of his body, but his head became entrapped. According to CPSC, the mattress was standard twin bed size, but the inside measurements of the bunk bed frame were too large for the mattress.

The style of bed involved in the fatality was manufactured exclusively for Aaron Furniture and Mattress Company by Pacific Cascade Distributing of Redding, CA. Both firms went out of business in 1990.

The affected bunk beds are made of darkly stained pine with 4-inch by 4-inch corner posts consisting of two "2 x 4's" nailed together. This construction appears to be unique to this bunk bed.

The beds have a built-in ladder on the head or footboard. The outside dimensions of the bed are 80 inches long, 60 inches high by 44 inches wide. The beds sold for $40 to $100 each. The affected bunk beds have an expected useful product life of up to 15 years.

Consumers who bought a bunk bed from Aaron Furniture and Mattress Company of Oakland during 1985 and 1986, or consumers who are not sure where they bought their bunk beds, should check to make sure the mattress fits snugly in the bed frame. There should be no more than 1-1/2 inches of space between the mattress edge and the frame edge when the mattress is pushed up against a corner of the bed frame.

CPSC is issuing this warning as part of its mission to protect the public from unreasonable risks of injury and death associated with consumer products. The Commission's mission is to reduce the estimated 28.5 million injuries and 21,600 deaths associated each year with the 15,000 different types of consumer products under CPSC's jurisdiction.