Hedstrom And Blazon-Flexible Flyer Renew Slide Guard Offer To Prevent Strangulation From Clothing String Entanglement

May 27, 1993 Release # 93-074 PRODUCT: "Hedstrom Big T" swing sets, Blazon-Flexible Flyer "T-Type Play Centers," and Sears brand T-style gym sets. Approximately 1.5 million sets were sold between 1973 and 1991. PROBLEM: Strings from children's clothing may become entangled in the area where the handrail attaches to the slide. This presents a strangulation hazard. This notice, originally released in August 1992, is being reissued now to reach consumers who did not receive the earlier announcement. WHAT TO DO: Hedstrom, Blazon-Flexible Flyer, Inc. and Turco are out of business. Consumers should discard or destroy these products immediately. WASHINGTON, DC -- CPSC, Hedstrom Corporation of Bedford, PA, Blazon-Flexible Flyer, Inc. of West Point, MS, and representatives of Turco, a firm that went out of business in 1986, reissued a notice to provide consumers with guards for the handrail attachment area on certain home playground slides. These guards prevent the entanglement of strings from children's clothing, which could result in strangulation. The firms renewed this offer because of low consumer response to the initial notice. Only about 5,000 consumers have called for retrofit kits so far. Altogether, about 1.5 million sets were sold between 1973 and 1991. A child's clothing may catch and possibly result in strangulation. The slides involved are on the "Hedstrom Big T" swing sets and the Blazon-Flexible Flyer "T-Type Play Centers," and on Sears brand T-style gym sets manufactured by all three firms. They should be discarded immediately. The Hedstrom Corporation received a report that a three- year-old-girl strangled when her mitten strings, which were strung through her coat, caught at the point where the handrail attaches to the Big T slide. In addition, the Commission is aware of a hood string of a child's jacket that became entangled in the handrail attachment area of an older, similarly-designed slide whose brand could not be identified. While Blazon-Flexible Fly