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CPSC
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission on Thursday recalled 21,000 inflatable Banzai in-ground pool water slides.
After investigating the death of a 29-year-old woman and severe injuries in two other consumers, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has recalled 21,000 inflatable Banzai in-ground pool water slides.
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and Toys R Us, Inc., have agreed to offer full refunds for the slides that are returned to them.
The CPSC determined that the slides were defective and could deflate suddenly, allowing the user to crash to the ground. The commission also found that the slide is unstable and can topple over in both still and windy conditions.
At the heart of the investigation was the death of Robin Aleo, a Colorado mom who had been visiting relatives in Andover, Mass. During a pool party on July 29, 2006, Aleo, the mother of an 18-month-old girl, climbed to the top of the 6-foot-high Banzai Falls slide and then started sliding down head first, according to a report in the Merrimack Valley Eagle-Tribune.
As Aleo neared the bottom, the slide deflated and she struck her head on the edge of the pool. Her neck was broken and she was paralyzed and unable to breathe, according to the Eagle-Tribune. She died the following day at a Boston hospital.
Aleo’s family sued Toys R Us and a jury returned a $20.6 million verdict after less than an hour of deliberation, the Eagle Tribune reported.
The CPSC also knew of two other cases: a 24-year-old man from Springfield, Mo., who became a quadriplegic and a woman from Allentown, Pa., who fractured her neck after slide deflations.
The recall is for Banzai in-ground pool water slides. The vinyl slides have a blue base, yellow sliding mat and an arch going over the top of the slide. By connecting a hose to the top of the slide, water can be sprayed on its downward slope. The words “Banzai Splash” are printed in a circular blue, orange and white logo that is shaped like a wave and appears on both sides of the slide.
The recalled slides, which were manufactured in China by Manley Toys, Ltd, were sold at Wal-Mart and Toys R Us from January 2005 through June 2009 and were priced around $250. They have a barcode number 2675315734 and a model number 15734. While those numbers both were on the original package, they do not appear on the slides themselves.
While the CPSC began its investigation based on the three incidents, it’s not uncommon for more people to come forward with reports after a recall is announced, said Alex Filip, a spokesman for the CPSC.
“People sometimes attribute failures to poor maintenance or something they did wrong and if they’re not hurt, they may not report it," Filip said.
The CPSC urges consumers to immediately stop using the product and bring it to the nearest Toys R Us or Wal-Mart for a refund. Consumers don’t need to bring the entire pool. They can just cut out the two safety warning notices out of the slide and return those for a refund.
Filip warned people not to be lulled into a false sense of security because their slide hasn’t given them any problems yet.
“You could play on it all day Saturday and then the kids go out on Sunday and get hurt,” he said. “It’s dangerous. You need to do what’s best for your family. Just bring it back and you’ll get your money back.”
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If these companies that produce these defective products aren't held liable, they'll continue producing them, and it won't be an adult, one day, that we're reading about....(hopefully, they'll change if sued regularly).
But Toys R Us *didn't* manufacture the slide. So why were they sued?
dom -
Because they imported and sold a product that was not built or tested to US Standards.
I believe that the MFG.'s should always be held accountable....
I feel for the family that lost their mom/wife, however I have to ask the obvious: how much had she had to drink? and, was she overweight? It seems that everybody these days is looking to file a law suit against someone else in the hopes of getting rich quickly. My impression of this: if she was either drunk or overweight, the family gets nothing. If she was neither, that being drunk or overweight, the family should receive compensation. I, however, find it very shallow to place a dollar value on my wife and what she means to me, so I would have the money donated to community centers where this slide was in use and use the donated money to purchase a "safe" one. Again, my condolences to the family.
Sooo.... if they were using this properly (as an accessory to an in-ground pool), how did these brilliant people slide down and hit their heads "on the edge of the pool"? Do they mean the GROUND on the side or front of the slide? If they are hitting their heads on the pool, sounds like they were using the product improperly with something a bit more above ground!
The pool probably had some sort of edge around it, like a brick edge/border as many pools do, which is raised a few inches above ground (it's meant to keep debris from entering the pool), so that is probably what they meant.
See: http://www.hoho.co.uk/assets/images/db_images/db_DSCF09861.jpg
http://www.kudos-global.com/kudos_pool/img/InfinityPools/1.jpg
"dom625
Who else noticed in the story that this lady "slid head-first"? HELLO!!!! Anyone with half a brain should know not to slide head-first. "
Even on fiberglass and steel slides, people are TOLD AGAIN AND AGAIN NOT TO SLIDE HEAD FIRST! Why? Because you might crack your skull.
I agree with the posters who concluded that HORSEPLAY and STUPIDITY are the cause of these tragedies much moreso than the product.
I'm just wondering if maybe their weight and height had more to do with the product suddenly deflating rather than the product being defective. A lot of kids' inflatable toys are only meant to withstand a certain weight, such as pool rafts, and anyone who is past the weight limit risks popping it. Is this something that was taken into account and investigated? I find it odd that all those who were injured always happened to be adults. Personally, I wouldn't want to get myself in a risky position on a child's toy, knowing it could pop any minute due to the fact I am not a child.
There also might have been pebbles or other sharp objects on the ground that caused the slide to deflate. Usually, it takes a few minutes for something to start deflating, unless there's a huge hole. I'm surprised they didn't see it was starting to feel soft or starting to topple over. These slides are meant to be used on a grassy lawn, and definitely not going down head-first. It's just as risky as a 6' man diving head-first into a pool that is only 5' deep.
no doubt-- probably had 6 kids, 2 teenagers a dog and a raccoon on the thing "when it malfunctioned"
The inflatable slide is probably for little children. Big adults are probably too heavy for it .Those adults probably need to grow up.I really don't think such a slide is for grown adults or even big teens-I've never seen a thing like that for adults-sounds like it's fo rlittle kids which weigh way less than adults.
It was while I was searching for a pool for my daughter that I was alerted to the shameful and unethical practices of this company. In fact, a quick search of Amazon shows that products from Banzai consistently rank very poorly amongst consumers for deceptive images on the packaging and extremely poor quality. Banzai is on my short list of companies I will never purchase from. Sad that it took the death of a young woman to bring the facts to the public. The lawsuit was well deserved, as it should be for any business that continues to sell products with so many complaints and concerns from consumers.
and thousands and thousands of kids/adults used & abused this product and had the time of their lives. The "defects" listed just made the slide MORE exciting to me.
A death during play is a near statistical certainty -- somebody will be seriously hurt/die from any activity if enough people do it. All chance of a poor outcome can not be removed from ANY activity -- cooking, eating, walking, showering have all injured and claimed lives. My point is-- so what, i'm still going to attempt them and encourage others to do so as well. Maximize fun and minimize risk, but do Play on good people.
I also want JARTS back on the shelves. Have you ever gone out and thrown them just before the tornado comes? They FLY hundreds and hundreds of feet !! And fast too... Awesome !!
I really wish some of these posters would read up on something like this before blathering on about what they think happened. There are all sorts of assumptions made about these cases. Take the McDonalds Coffee thing - did you know there were hundreds of complaints aout people getting burned - and that the Mickey D lawyers stated that they had given over all the data on coffee burns, when the lawyer for the lady who was suing McD noticed that he had another case for someone else who had been burned - and that case wasn't on the list that was put forward as "complete?" Oh, and the award was reduced on appeal to a lot less.
Lately there is an attitude to characterize any product complaints or accidents as stupidity by consumers, so much that people like these posters assume that there was stupidity involved if there was an accident. Sure stupid behavior leads to accidents, but accidents are not inevitably caused by stupidity.
Nobody these days can tell whether most of what they use is safe - can you look at a laptop and tell whether the battery is going to burst into flames? Can you tell whether the shocks on your car are good enough to keep it stable at 65 MPH? No - you rely on representations of the manufacturers and on .... wait for it ... regulations.
But when corporations break these regulations, what happens? usually nothing. Corporations fear the US government not at all any more.
Trial lawyers, however, seem to be the stuff of bad dreams. And breaking regulations is a big issue in a lawsuit. As a result, the US workplace is a lot safer, and working stiffs get home a lot more reliably. And usually, products are a lot safer.
A trick question...
It seems that this issue was not a priority for the company OR our government..... Considering that the incident with the woman that died in the article occurred in 2006.
Does it really take 6 years for a recall? If anyone were truly concerned about the people who may get injured from this product then it would have been recalled years ago!
this is a user error turned tragic !!! .. but i will never pay $200 some dollars for anything thats made in China ...
Because it's inferior quality makes it dangerous for the kids to play on it too !!!!!
the damn slide will start to rip and leak after 1 summer !!
I am very sorry for the family and their loss as well but a little confused as to why Toys R Us was sued and not the maker of the slide? Was it because more money could be sought from Toys R Us in comparison to the actual manufacturer of the defective product? I guess I just can't see the fairness of suing a company for selling a product that has been approved for sale. While I am truly sorry for the loss of their loved one I do believe that some protections should be in place for companies as it is more and more widespread to sue the companies that aren't actually at fault for what happened.
what about the other products from banazi i have a sidewinder the bottom of both slides deflate and the seams are tearing and my kids are all light weight dont buy any thing that is not from the great U.S.A.
lawyers will sue anybody so they get rich this is simple STOP buying from outside the us, and maybe some of our jobs will return,its truly sad that the judge let that happen, the judge should of used common sense and said no sue banazi
20 million? What the eff? Puke arse mother effers destroying this country! 2 million should have been the limit! 20 effen million!
PA dumbarse scurnsuking libtard puke arse eff faces should burn!
Maybe the problem is that a slide like this seems to be designed primarily for children, not to hold the weight of a full-grown adult.
So funny, I can't stop laughing.