Andrew and Carolyn Hartung, of Manalapan, pose with their children, Dawson and Abigail. Andrew Hartung began pushing for a recall of a specific type of baby crib in September after Abigail got her fingers stuck in her crib. The model was recalled Nov. 8. MANALAPAN – In a press release dated Nov. 8, the federal Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) issued news of a recall of a designer baby crib. It was a response that was due in no small measure to the vigilance of one man, Andrew Hartung, 36, of Manalapan.
Hartung and his wife, Carolyn, awoke on the morning of Sept. 20 to a sound that led them to a terrifying discovery. He said the couple heard the shrieks of their daughter, Abigail, now 16 months old, and the sound of banging.
Hartung said a quick glance at their video baby monitor told him something was amiss with the baby’s crib.
“Carolyn said the crib looks broken,” he recalled.
They rushed into Abigail’s room and found their daughter holding onto the side of the crib where it was supposed to meet with the other side with her fingers being pinched in between.
“Thank God she wasn’t hurt worse,” said Hartung, who added that upon inspecting the crib he found that the bolt holes had been drilled too closely to the edge, which had caused the wood to split and the resulting separation of the sides of the crib.
Hartung said once he discovered the flaw in the crib’s construction, he felt obligated to tell the company what had occurred so that the possibility of it happening to others could be addressed.
Much to his shock and chagrin though, Hartung said he found a corporate entity that refused for almost a month to take any steps to alert the public of the safety hazard the cribs presented. He said he was appalled at the apparent lack of concern on the part of Bassetbaby employees.
Hartung said a company vice president informed him that his was the only complaint and said the company was not going to take any action to notify anyone, until Hartung threatened to contact the CPSC directly, which he did.
Hartung said the CPSC sent an investigator to his residence and the baby’s crib was removed from his home. That was on Oct. 8. He said he could not believe he had to make so much noise for so long in order to get the matter to be a concern to someone other than himself.
“I’m astonished at the way a company with Bassetbaby’s supposed high standards could take such a disregard in such an important matter. Families put their faith and trust in their products. We put our baby’s life in a baby crib. To have it fall apart is a parent’s worst nightmare.
“I expected better from them when I first alerted them to the situation and couldn’t believe that I had to make as much noise as I did to get someone to want to do something about this problem. I mean we were talking about a baby’s crib and the possibility of serious or fatal injuries to babies,” he said.
Said Hartung of the cribs: “My fatherin law paid a lot of money for that crib and we thought it was safe.” He wondered how many other parents were resting on the same assumption.
Hartung said he even went so far as to notify Wendy Bellisimo, under whose name the cribs are marketed, and said he was encouraged when Joseph Bellisimo contacted him. Hartung said Bellisimo was “horrified” by what Hartung disclosed to him and said it was the first the Bellisimos were hearing of the problem.
Hartung said it was four days short of a month after Abigail got her fingers stuck in the crib before Bassetbaby contacted its distributors to inform them of the voluntary recall.
According to the CPSC, this recall involves Wendy Bellissimo Collection convertible cribs, model numbers 5945-0521 and 5545-0521, sold in honey and cherry finishes. The full-size cribs have a sleigh design and one of the following purchase order numbers at the bottom rail of the headboard: 272903, 272904, 273904, 276728, 276729, 291081, 323975, 324472, 320318, 323976, 332883 365620, 368466 in honey, and 338535, 338537 and 332884 in cherry.
No other Wendy Bellissimo Collection cribs are involved in this recall.
The cribs being recalled were sold at Babies “R” Us stores nationwide from July 2005 through October 2007 for an approximate cost of $500.
According to a press release from the CPSC, the cribs are being recalled due to an “entrapment and strangulation hazard.”
The cribs in question, approximately 8,900 units marketed under the label Wendy Bellissimo Collection convertible cribs, had been imported from a Chinese manufacturer named Goodbaby Child Products Company Ltd, of China, by Bassettbaby, of Bassett, Va.
The CPSC cited the hazard as being the possibility of the bolts connecting the top corners of the crib coming loose and creating a gap, thereby posing a “serious entrapment and strangulation hazard.”
According to the CPSC, Bassettbaby had already received 85 reports of bolts loosening, including one report of a 13- month-old child’s hand becoming trapped between the railings.
According to information provided by the CPSC, consumers should stop using the cribs immediately and contact Bassettbaby for a free repair kit.
Consumer contact information included consumers contacting Bassettbaby either by telephone at (888) 897-4689 between 9 a.m. and 10 p.m. daily or by visiting the Web site at www.bassettbaby.com
Meanwhile, Hartung, who has made the Coast Guard his career, said it was likely the discipline of that service that helped him meticulously log the series of developments in the ordeal as they unfolded as well as to maintain the follow through that proved necessary to get any officials to take action.
“I feel good about being able to bring it to people’s attention. I know I likely saved someone’s child from injury or even death,” he said.