Pottery Barn Kids Recalls Soft Dolls to Address Strangulation Concern

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Pottery Barn Kids

How many parents find it impossible to walk by a Pottery Barn Kids store, or avoid clicking on the Pottery Barn Kids website without stopping in for just a minute to see what adorable new product their creative team has come up with?  Pottery Barn Kids, a division of Williams-Sonoma Inc., of San Francisco, California began is canon of cuteness in 1999 when it produced it’s first mail order catalog filled with have-to-have furnishings, home goods and toys.  A year later they continued to reign supreme by opening their first retail location in the upscale Costa Mesa kingdom of South Coast Plaza.

Earlier this month, on September 8, 2011, Pottery Barn Kids found their crown slightly askew when they announced a recall of 81,000 soft dolls that go by the names of Audrey, Sophie and Chloe. It appears that the yarn hair on two of the dolls was not cut consistently.  This left some ends of the hair in a loop that ends up being large enough to allow a small child’s head to fit through the loop, settle around the child’s neck, creating a potential strangulation hazard. On the Audrey doll, the headband (if loose) can also form the same dangerous loop scenario. This strangulation hazard is addressed on the now federally-mandated toy safety specification ASTM F963. The problem was most likely created by a manufacturing error, and not a product design, but whatever the cause - the hazard remains and consumers need to be advised.

Audrey's head band issue; Chloe and Sophies' yarn hair loop issue
Photos: Pottery Barn Kids and CPSC

These adorable 17-inch stuffed dolls were sold for $40 at Pottery Barn Kids stores across the USA, through the PB Kids mail-order catalogs, and on the Pottery Barn Kids website  between July 2006 and April 2011.

Five customer complaints about the looped hair prompted the recall, including on incident with the Chloe doll, in which the loop was actually discovered around the neck of a toddler. Fortunately the child was not hurt, but it was enough to prompt the company to provide various options for customers:

1. Sophie and Chloe dolls: Take the dolls immediately away from children, check all of the ends of the yarn hair, and snip any looped ends to eliminate the hazard; and/or,
2.  Audrey doll: Remove the headband; or
3. Call Pottery Barn Kids at (855) 880-4504 to find out how to return the affected dolls for a merchandise credit; or
4. Access the recall on the Pottery Barn Kids website for instructions.

Note: Look for Health Canada's press release here.