On Mar 20, 9:40*am, "Lee Michaels"
wrote:
"nhurst" *wrote .
*"J. Clarke" wrote:

Martin H. Eastburn wrote:
Mommy regulations again. Give me a break.

Many people can't reach over and then down for some time after
delivery or if just short.

A problem which our society is going to have to learn to deal with is
excessively complete communications.

We're starting to see regulations to address one-in-a-million events.
Literally--did you see the numbers they quoted in the link that was
provided--3 deaths out of 3 million cribs?

It's all about risk management, though. If you're big enough to sell
one million cribs, then your chances of your product killing someone,
anyone, goes up to unacceptable levels. Changing something like this
is a no-brainer, all things considered.

Sure, some of the failures were because of incorrect assembly or
faulty materials that can crop of from time to time. It's not always
someone's fault, but that won't prevent an angry family from hiring a
lawyer and suing the company, costing them more money than it's worth
to just not manufacture the things in the first place.

I have a 2 year old and own a drop-side crib, and those drop down
sides are heavy, and can be tricky to get to work when you're trying
to be quiet. Honestly, I think the replacement of the drop side with a
fold-down rail is better for everyone involved. It accomplishes the
same goal of making allowances for shorter folks or those with back
problems, but reduces the risk of a guillotine-type failure or unsafe
gaps that the little squirmers can wiggle into. I bet assembly
wouldn't be any more difficult, and it would be pretty obvious if the
thing is backwards or upside down.

Also, this isn't the Federal Congress making the ruling, but a trade
organization issuing voluntary guidelines. Though the CPSC may adopt
them as their rules if they're put in place before the CPSC meets
about the situation.

=============================

My take on it is that the manufactureres don't want to lose money if they
don't offer the drop down model when others do. *So to level the playing
field, they mandate that nobody offers it. *I really think that safety is
not the major issue. *Competitiveness is. *And liability, of course.

And it is a good PR move. We care about babies. Buy our products. Of course,
this would render almost all present cribs obsolete. *So everybody has to
buy new cribs. *Wanna bet that there will be a brisk black market for the
drop down cribs for awhile?

While that's certainly possible, I would have liked the option of the
flip down rail. You lose a lot of rigidity in the crib when an entire
side is mobile. I would have been happier had just the part that
needed to move was movable.

The current cribs will be around for a while, simply because of
secondhand sales and family gifting and whatnot, and it's not like
they're DANGEROUS, just that they can be safer.

I think the major innovation, that of the side being able to be made
shorter, was enough to redefine what people expect in a crib, and now
the market is working on the best implementation.

-Nathan