Trapeze Swings Recalled by Backyard Products

WASHINGTON, D.C. - In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Backyard Products, of Ontario, Canada, is recalling its 60,000 "Acrobatic Swings," sold with backyard gym sets in the U.S., for in-home repair. These trapeze swings have exposed bolts that cause serious lacerations to children.

Backyard Products has received reports of six children suffering severe lacerations that required stitches to the arms from contact with the trapeze bolts. Injuries occurred when children dropped down from the overhead ladder, or fell or climbed onto the exposed bolts.

The recalled trapeze swings were sold with Backyard Escapes, Backyard Products and WOW Wooden Play Centers brand gyms. Each gym set comes with various equipment, which can include an overhead ladder, slide, swings, or fort. The trapeze swing has a wooden bar and rings. The wooden bar is attached to the swing chains by a "U-bolt" bracket, whose bolts are too long and extend upward above the nuts.

Department, toy, discount, lumber and hardware stores nationwide, Including Toys "R" Us, Service Merchandise, Costco and Sears, sold the gyms with trapeze swings from December 1998 through July 1999 for between $250 to $450.

Consumers should remove the trapeze swings from the gyms immediately and call Backyard Products at (888) 446-0750 anytime to order a free repair kit. The repair kit will include new hardware and instructions for reattaching the trapeze swing to the gym. Consumers also can write to the company at 530 Third St., Collingwood, Ontario Canada L9Y 4X6.

Trapeze sets that are attached by a rope-type assembly are not included in this recall.

Consumers can also view a video clip about this recall (Transcript). It is about 20 megabytes long and the download time depends upon the speed of your Internet connection.