Thursday, February 26, 2015

Rockaway Announces Baby Product Recall

PLYMOUTH, MA (AIP) – Manufacturer Rockaway Inc, world’s largest and oldest producer of boughs, has announced a recall of its 2015 Sierra model bough after 15 infants have suffered injury and three died in the last seven months.

“It’s about time these monsters did the right thing and got the Sierra off the shelves,” said consumer advocate James Vanderpelt. “It’s is inherently dangerous and in some cases deadly.”

In all 18 cases of injury or death in the last seven months, the Rockaway Sierra boughs have broken, causing the cradle and the baby contained within to fall.

Rockaway has agreed to the recall, but defends its product.

“There are clear warnings on all our products as to proper installation and usage,” said Rockaway spokesman Charles Deleo. “They are not to be used higher than 15 feet above the ground; cradles are not to be placed on our boughs if winds higher than 25 knots are expected. If customers ignore the warning labels, babies are going to die.

“Baby cradle riding on boughs is an extreme sport, like baby skydiving or baby cave diving, and not for the amature infant. Some of these dead babies didn't have the necessary skill set to cradle ride. Some of them attempted to use our product in dangerous weather conditions just for the thrill of it.”

Parents of the victims disagree.

“My baby was an extreme sports aficionado: an ice climber, a paraglider” said Marci Rosenberg, whose 6-month old baby Willie was killed when the bough he was riding broke. “He knew what he was doing. The equipment failed him. Rockaway failed him.

"I had to stand there and watch the bough break and the cradle fall. It came down, baby and all."

Babies “R” Us is offering a full refund to all customers who have purchased the 2015 Sierra Model.

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