Recall Update: Suffocation Hazard from Fisher-Price Snuga Infant Swings
By Adam J. Langino, Esq.
Introduction
For over a decade, Fisher-Price Snuga Infant Swings have posed a hidden threat in homes across North America. After 5 infant deaths from the suffocation hazard posed by the swings, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has issued a mass recall of over 2 million Snuga Swings.1 This article will explain the dangers posed by the swings, what the recall may mean for you and your family, and why some safety experts say the recall doesn’t go far enough.
Suffocation Risks, Mass Recall, and the Remedy Offered
The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is the government entity charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risk of injury or death from hazardous consumer products. After five reported deaths involving infants between 1 and 3 months old using the product for sleep, the CPSC determined the Snuga Sleep products pose a significant hazard. The deaths transpired from 2012 to 2022 and involved added bedding material and unrestrained babies sleeping in the swings. On October 10, 2024, the CPSC issued a recall of all models of Fisher-Price Snuga Swings and warned that the swings should “never be used for sleep”, and bedding materials should never be added to it to prevent suffocation. If consumers do use the swings for sleep or add bedding material, the headrest and body support insert on the seat pad can increase the risk of suffocation. The remedy for the recall is listed to be repair and refund, affecting approximately 2.1 million consumers in the United States, as well as nearly 100,000 more swings sold in Canada and Mexico.
Snuga Swings haven’t been manufactured since 2022, but it was sold from October 2010 through January 2024 by Amazon, Target, Toys R Us, and Walmart for around $160. Additionally, as with most products for growing infants and children, it has likely been resold to many unassuming consumers. The Snuga Swings included in the recall came in 21 different themed models, including the following:
My Little Snugakitty Cradle ’n Swing
My Little Snugabunny Swing
My Little Snugabear Cradle ’n Swing
My Little Snugabear Ballerina Cradle ’n Swing
Safari Dreams Cradle ’n Swing
Moonlight Meadow Swing,
Sweet Snugapuppy Swing,
Deluxe Swing-Surreal Serenity,
Sweet Snugamonkey Swing,
Blooming Flowers Swing,
Fawn Meadows Deluxe Swing,
Peek-a-boo Fox Swing,
Dots & Spots Puppy Swing,
Snow Leopard Swing,
Hearthstone Swing,
Baby Raccoon Swing,
My Little Snugabunny Cradle ’n Swing,
My Little Sweetie Deluxe Cradle ’n Swing,
My Little SnugaMonkey Cradle ’n Swing,
My Little Snugapuppy Cradle ’n Swing, and
My Little Snugabear Cradle ’n Swing.
The Mattel website includes a small-print reference to the recall and a link to recall safety information.2 Though the hazardous swing cost $160, the company isn’t offering a full refund or replacing the product with a safer one. Fisher-price, a division of toy giant Mattel, is only offering a $25 refund to consumers who fill out a reform and remove and destroy the headrest and body-support inserts on the product. Those components of the product were found to be instrumental in the deaths, and consumers were urged to immediately cut them off.3
Is the Recall Enough?
The recall of the dangerous Snuga Swing products is a necessary step, but many experts say it’s not enough.4 CPSC Commissioner Richard L. Trumka Jr. criticized Fisher-Price for what he called a “flawed” recall, stating that the remedy provided by the company is not enough. Consumer Reports does not see cutting the hazardous components off and returning to use to be sufficient and advises parents instead to throw the entire swing away. The partial refund does not make consumers whole after spending money on a product that was hazardous to infants.
This is not the first time Fisher-Price has come under fire and been the subject of mass recalls for an infant product that led to multiple deaths after infants slept in their products. The Fisher-Price Rock ‘n Play recalls were part of the impetus for the CPSC study on infant sleep that ultimately led to the passage of the Safe Sleep for Babies Act of 2021 (SSBA), signed into law in May 2022.5 The Snuga Swing poses a threat similar to that of inclined sleepers that were first recalled and then eventually banned by federal statute for the dangers they pose to infants. Following this latest partial recall by Fisher-Price, Consumer Reports’ associate director of safety policy, William Wallace, lamented: “Once again, Fisher-Price is putting its bottom line first and safety last.”6
Instead, Wallace suggests Fisher-Price should be offering a full refund, as well as urging people to throw away the swings rather than modify them to prevent future problems. When a dangerous product has been in the marketplace for as long as the Snuga Swings have been, the potential for the product to be used by someone other than the original purchaser increases significantly. The recall now makes it illegal for anyone to sell any Snuga Swing listed in the recall announcement, and Fisher-Price should arguably being doing more to ensure hazardous Snuga Swings aren’t being sold by retailers, online platforms, and secondhand marketplaces. CPSC Commissioner Richard Trumka also agreed that the remedies offered from Fisher-Price and Mattel aren’t good enough. Trumka voiced his fear that “this dangerous approach will keep babies at risk of death just to save Fisher-Price money—a horrible example of putting profit over people,” and the recall is “doomed to fail and will keep many babies in harms way.”7 The CPSC also noted that when Fisher-Price recalled the Rock ‘n Play in 2019, it failed to offer full refunds then, too, and “eight babies died after the recall, bringing the total Rock ‘n Play deaths to over 100 babies.”7
Fisher-Price’s pattern of producing and selling unsafe infant items, resulting in deaths, and then failing to properly respond to the forced recall is alarming. As Commissioner Trumka admonished, “Fisher-Price can do more to save babies lives…and I firmly believe that consumers should demand more from this company.”9 Please report any incidents involving product injuries or defects to CPSC at www.SaferProducts.gov.
Conclusion
If you purchased any of these recalled Snuga Swings – whether new or used – and suffered as a result, an attorney may help you understand whether you have a claim against the manufacturer or seller of the product. I am deeply sorry if you are reading this because your child was injured or died as a result of these products.
Over my career, I have successfully resolved many child injury claims, and I am licensed to practice law in Florida and North Carolina and co-counsel claims in other states. If you would like to learn more about me or my practice, click here. If you want to request a free consultation, click here. As always, stay safe and stay well.
1 https://service.mattel.com/us/recall.aspx; https://service.mattel.com/us/productDetail.aspx?prodno=DRG43&siteid=27
2 https://www.npr.org/2024/10/12/g-s1-28002/fisher-price-recall-snuga-swings
3 https://www.consumerreports.org/babies-kids/baby-product-recalls/fisher-price-snuga-baby-swings-recalled-for-suffocation-risk-a2341467743/
4 https://www.langinolaw.com/article/inclined-sleepers-banned-what-to-know/
5 https://www.consumerreports.org/babies-kids/baby-product-recalls/fisher-price-snuga-baby-swings-recalled-for-suffocation-risk-a2341467743/
6 https://www.cpsc.gov/About-CPSC/Commissioner/Richard-Trumka/Statement/Commissioner-Trumka-Warns-That-Fisher-Price%E2%80%99s-Snuga-Recall-Is-Not-Good-Enough-to-Keep-Babies-Safe-Multiple-Babies-Dead
7 https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2023/Fisher-Price-Reannounces-Recall-of-4-7-Million-Rock-n-Play-Sleepers-At-Least-Eight-Deaths-Occurred-After-Recall
8 Id.