Toy Basketball Nets Recalled

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

December 21, 1998 / 9:00 PM EST / CBS

If you bought or plan to buy a toy basketball set for your little one this holiday season, find out if it is one of the toy hoops that are part of a voluntary recall announced by the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Jane Francis, spokesperson for the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, appeared Tuesday on CBS This Morning to demonstrate the dangers of the net and to provide information as to what parents can do if they have hoops in their homes.

Basketball sets made by Ohio Art, Little Tikes, Fisher-Price and Today's Kids have been recalled because young children have gotten their heads caught in the nets. Nets on 10.1 million toy basketball sets need to be replaced.

Since 1988, CPSC and the manufacturers have received 20 reports of children under 5 years old getting their heads and necks caught in the nets of toy basketball sets. In 1992, an 18-month-old child died after becoming entangled in a partly unhooked net.

The CPSC's Francis says this is one of the commission's largest recalls.

The CPSC, says Francis, worked side by side with the toymakers to put safer, redesigned basketball sets on the market. So chances are that if you have one of these basketball sets, it is a new one and you don't have to worry. BUT to be on the safe side, the CPSC is asking all consumers to check with the companies to see it their basketball sets are part of the recall.

There are two problems with the nets, says Francis.

Some nets have knots that slide. As they slide, there are large openings created in the net.
The other problem has to do with nets easily coming off of the rim. When this happens, the child puts his head up through the center of the net, twists around, and the neck becomes entangles in the net, which can lead to strangulation.

The problem is not in the plastic hoop itself, but in the net. So the manufacturers are providing new, redesigned nets with installation instructions. If you have a toy basketball set, verify that it one of those involved in the recall. If it is, after you remove the net, your child can continue playing with the product until your new net arrives.

Toy stores nationwide sold the toy basketball sets for about $10 to $50. While most have been sold since 1988, some were sold as early as 1976.

For more information, call the Consumer Product Safety Commission at 1-800-638-2772.