CPSC, Pottery Barn Kids Announce Recall of Toy Chests

Recall Insight

This CPSC action (record #05211) was formally reported on June 29, 2005. It is classified under Moderate severity, with a current status of Active. Pottery Barn Kids of San Francisco, Calif. is listed as the recalling firm. Federal records indicate About 5,800 units are affected.

The documented reason for this recall is: A problem with the lid support on the toy chest could cause the lid not to stay open, posing the risk of an impact injury to a child's head, fingers or hands. Distribution information was not included in the agency filing, so consumers should assume broad potential exposure until the firm publishes point-of-sale details. The remedy documented by the agency is: Consumers should immediately stop young children from using these toy chests and contact Pottery Barn Kids to determine if their toy chest lid support needs replacement. Pottery Barn Kids will provid… — consumers holding this product should act on that instruction rather than relying on general guidance.

To put this record in context, PlainRecalls indexes 83,949 recalls across the FDA, CPSC, NHTSA and USDA FSIS going back to 1995. Within the same product category, the database holds 6 closely related recalls, of which 6 were also issued by CPSC. That clustering is a signal — repeated actions in a narrow category often indicate a systemic quality-control issue, a supplier-wide contamination, or a design defect that has propagated across product lines. This recall is roughly 21 years old; older recalls can remain relevant because many units enter resale, rental, and secondary-market channels where the original warning never reaches the end user. Always cross-check the recall number against the official agency page before relying on any summary.