Consumer Confusion

 

Every once in a while we will take a trip to the store and walk through the window covering section to see if things have changed on boxed window coverings.  Today we walked through Kmart and found Nein Made window blinds in boxes of all sizes.  All of the window blinds had the same packaging.  On the front of the boxes it reads, “child safety wand enclosed” making it seem that there are no cords on the product.  As we took a closer look at the product we found this on the back.

Carefully read the instructions on how to make the window cords safer….

What stands out to us is number 3.  Tie the cord to itself.

In a 2004 study with the CPSC and WCMA many accidents were ruled “caregiver manipulated” if the cords were tied together.   Such cases were ignored as “real” accidents and not included in the study which is why the numbers are low in the study.

If this type of wording is allowed on the box, how can Industry blame the parent for tying the cords together for safety reasons?   Why are fingers being pointed at the parent whose child died on operational cords that were tied together?   This is EXACTY why there needs to be a mandatory standard.  All warnings on boxes should be universal and should NEVER read “tie cords together!”

Shame on Nien Made in China for their window coverings in Kmart!

Help us by forwarding this to people you know.  Maybe your friends, family member, co-workers think tying cords together will make the product “safer” because they read such a warning on boxes.  If cords cannot be removed they should be cut as short as possible until a cordless option can replace it.  Better yet, you can take the cords down and pop up a 3 dollar Redi-Shade in its place until you can afford something safer!

Please watch this video showing how dangerous operational pull cords can be.