The AP reports, “Blinds Xpress is recalling more than 450,000 blinds after a 2-year-old girl reportedly strangled in the loop of a vertical blind cord that was not attached to the wall or the floor.” Both the company and the US Consumer Product Safety Commission announced Thursday that “the recall includes about 139,000 custom-made vertical blinds and 315,000 horizontal blinds.” According to the AP, the blinds were sold “from January 1995 through December 2011 for between $16 and $380 at stores in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana.”
The Detroit Free Press notes that “a 2-year-old Commerce Township girl reportedly was strangled by a vertical-blinds cord in 2009. Blinds Xpress owner Larry Carollo said he settled a lawsuit with the family.” The Free Press adds that US Consumer Product Safety Commission “recommends people with the older window treatments stop using them and get a free repair kit from the Window Covering Safety Council, which is a group of major American window coverings makers, importers and retailers.” Reuters also covers this story.
From the American Association for Justice news release.