Playskool carry lite

The case: The collapsing crib

Executives at Chicago-based Kolcraft Enterprises became aware, in early February 1993, of two accidental deaths involving a discontinued product, the Travel-Lite crib.77 An 11-month-old boy in California and a 9-month-old girl in Arkansas suffocated to death when the portable cribs in which they had been placed suddenly collapsed, trapping their necks in the “V” formed by the two halves of the fold- ing unit’s top rails. News of these fatalities reached Sanfred Koltun, the CEO of the family-owned company and son of the founder, in a letter from the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC). The letter, dated February 1, 1993, requested information from Kolcraft about the design and testing of the Travel-Lite crib as part of the commission’s responsibility to determine “whether a defect is present in a product and, if so, whether the defect rises to the level of a substantial risk of injury to children.”

Developing the Crib

In the 1980s, the old fashioned playpen was reinvented as the portable play yard or traveling crib. This new product was typically square or rectangular in shape with a pad- ded floor, mesh sides, and a tubular frame. The whole unit folded into a lightweight, easily assembled bundle, suita- ble for convenient transport. The innovative Kolcraft model had two hollow plastic sides with handles, which formed a carrying case when the floor and top rails were folded. When unfolded, the hinged top rails were held rigid by turning round plastic dial-like knobs located on the plastic end panels.

The accidents occurred when the mechanism securing the top rails failed, allowing the hinged tubes to fold down- ward. The collapsed rails created a V-shaped notch in which a child’s neck could become lodged, leading to suf- focation. Such an accident is quite likely when a collapse is caused by a child leaning on the rails. One other infant death had occurred before the receipt of the CPSC letter, and afterward three more suffocation deaths resulted from collapses of the Travel-Lite crib. A total of six infant fatali- ties resulted from use of this one product.

Since its founding in 1942 from a producer of foam baby pads for playpens and high chairs, Kolcraft had grown into the manufacturer of mattresses, car seats, and other juvenile furniture products. The Travel-Lite crib was designed by an employee, Edward Johnson, who was a graduate of a technical high school with training in indus- trial draftsmanship. Hired by Kolcraft in 1979, he designed the company’s first car seat and was appointed head of engineering in 1989. In the spring of 1989, Johnson pro- duced a painted-wood mock-up of a portable crib, which was well-received by Koltun and the company’s marketing department. Johnson said of the crib, which was his first product of this kind, “It was unique because there was nothing out there with a carrying case.” A prototype model of the portable crib also created a favorable impression on buyers for the major retailers, including Sears, K-Mart, JC Penney, Walmart, and Target. Some buyers had difficulty operating the crib’s locking mechanism, and Johnson con- tinued to make improvements to this feature until the buy- ers were satisfied. In June 1991, a patent was awarded for the easy-to-fold-and-carry Travel-Lite design.

Rapid development of the Travel-Lite crib was a high priority at Kolcraft in order to introduce the new product in mid-September at the annual Juvenile Products Manufac- turers Association (JPMA) trade show, to be held in Dallas. The rush to get the product ready was rewarded by the favorable reception it received at the trade show, where the Travel-Lite crib was recognized as a winner in the “Ten Most Innovative Products Contest.” Further recognition was provided by a prominent mention in the “What’s New in Design” section of Adweek magazine.78

In order to market the company’s many juvenile products, Kolcraft entered into an agreement in the sum- mer of 1989 with Hasbro, a Rhode Island-based multina- tional toy and game company, to license the company’s prominent Playskool brand name. At the last minute, the category of portable cribs was added to the licensing agreement, and consequently the new product was mar- keted as the Playskool Travel-Lite crib. Hasbro licensed the Playskool name for many products manufactured by other companies. For Hasbro, licensing its many brand names generated significant income from fees, while requiring little attention from the company.

In the licensing agreement, responsibility for testing products for legal compliance and certifying the results rested with the manufacturer, in this case Kolcraft. Although Hasbro operated its own quality assurance lab- oratory, it did not perform any tests of the Travel-Lite crib. When test results were requested by Hasbro to assure conformity with the provision in the agreement that “the licensed articles will be designed, produced, sold, and distributed in accordance with all applicable U.S. laws,” Kolcraft responded in a letter that there were no government standards applicable to the Travel-Lite crib. Hasbro accepted this assurance without hesitation or raising any objection. Kolcraft claimed the same lack of applicable government standards for portable cribs in a response to the request from the CPSC for testing- related information.

Despite the distinctive design, the Playskool name, and the crib’s availability in major retail chains, the Travel-Lite did not sell well. Between January 1990 and April 1992, only 11,660 units were sold to consumers. Kol- craft executives blamed the disappointing sales on the premium price of the Travel-Lite and its comparatively heavy weight. They found fault not with consumers but with the retail buyers, who demanded improvements that increased the price and the weight and then stopped buy- ing the expensive, heavy product after their demands were met.