Otis Elevator Company Recalls to Inspect Private Residence Elevators Due to Entrapment Hazard; Risk of Serious Injury or Death to Young Children

Recall Insight

This CPSC action (record #21056) was formally reported on December 17, 2020. It is classified under Moderate severity, with a current status of Active. Otis Elevator Company of Farmington, Ct. is listed as the recalling firm. Federal records indicate About 5,000 units are affected.

The documented reason for this recall is: Children can become entrapped in the space between the exterior landing (hoistway) door and the interior elevator car door or gate, and suffer serious injuries or death when the elevator is called to another floor. 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 disable or block children's access to any Otis or CemcoLift private residence elevator and contact Otis to schedule a free inspection and the installation of space guard(s), if neces… — 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 1 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 6 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.